The European Center of Science Productivity: Research Universities and Institutes in France, Germany, and the United Kingdom

in International Perspectives on Education and Society (2017), 33

Growth in scientific productivity over the 20th century resulted significantly from three major countries in European science—France, Germany, and the United Kingdom. We chart the development of ... [more ▼]

Growth in scientific productivity over the 20th century resulted significantly from three major countries in European science—France, Germany, and the United Kingdom. We chart the development of universities and research institutes that bolster Europe’s key position in global science. We uncover both stable and dynamic patterns of productivity in the fields of STEM, including health, over the twentieth century. On-going internationalization of higher education and science has been accompanied by increasing competition and collaboration. Despite policy goals to foster innovation and expand research capacity, policies cannot fully account for the differential growth of scientific productivity we chart from 1975 to 2010. Our neoinstitutional framework facilitates explanation of differences in institutional settings, organizational forms, and organizations that produce the most European research. We measure growth of published peer-reviewed articles indexed in Thomson Reuters’ Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE). Organizational forms vary in their contributions, with universities accounting for nearly half but rising in France; ultrastable in Germany at four-fifths, and growing at around two-thirds in the UK. Differing institutionalization pathways created the conditions necessary for continuous, but varying growth in scientific productivity in the European center of global science. The research university is central in all three countries, and we identify organizations leading in research output. Few analyses explicitly compare across time, space, and different levels of analysis. We show how important European science has been to overall global science productivity. In-depth comparisons, especially the organizational fields and forms in which science is produced, are crucial if policy is to support research and development. [less ▲]

Europe’s Center of Science: Science Productivity in Belgium, France, Germany, and Luxembourg

E-print/Working paper (2016)

European countries have increasingly invested in higher education and science systems, leading to rising numbers of scholars and scientists, considerable infrastructure development, and dense cross ... [more ▼]

European countries have increasingly invested in higher education and science systems, leading to rising numbers of scholars and scientists, considerable infrastructure development, and dense cross-cultural networks and collaboration. The result: significant growth in scientific output and productivity in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields. For four EU member states in Western Europe of different size and institutionalization pathways of science, we assess the development and current state of universities and research institutes, and the resulting science output. We measure output in peer-reviewed research articles collected in Thomson Reuters’ Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE). Based on a comprehensive historical database, this comparison uncovers both stable and dynamic patterns of productivity from 1975 to 2010 in Germany, France, Belgium, and Luxembourg.[1] This emphasizes different institutionalization pathways that created the conditions necessary for continuous, but varying growth in scientific productivity in the European center of global science. Today, these countries invest considerably in research and development (R&D) and in higher education, the smaller ones doing so through a single national research university (Luxembourg), or a set of strong research universities in different regions (Belgium’s language communities of Flanders and Wallonia). The two larger countries (France and Germany) maintain differentiated systems of universities—of varying size and prestige—and extra-university research institutes that are connected in large umbrella associations or coordinated by government agencies. Rising science productivity reflects considerable state investment, yet the impact of any individual scientific article remains difficult to measure. [less ▲]

Educational Opportunities through Scholarships? The Social Status of Scholarship Holders of Germany's Hans Böckler Foundation

Poster (2014, June)

German University-based Science: From Model to Contemporary Reality?

Poster (2013, November)

This QNRF-funded project features a cross-national investigation of the influence of higher education development and science capacity-building on scientific knowledge production. Measuring science on the ... [more ▼]

This QNRF-funded project features a cross-national investigation of the influence of higher education development and science capacity-building on scientific knowledge production. Measuring science on the basis of published papers in selected STEM disciplines, we identify factors behind national differences and global similarities. How does variation in national models and strategies to develop higher education and research universities explain long-term cross-national trajectories in science productivity over the 20th century? Observing unprecedented growth in scientific knowledge productivity, we selected six national cases that represent three phases of higher education development and science-based societies: a major European precursor model (Germany), American broad institutionalization of the currently dominant model, and, finally, Asian (Japan, China, Taiwan) and Middle Eastern (Qatar) innovators seeking to learn from the best. The enormous potential of a knowledge economy and society depends on continued production of scientific knowledge, but also its specification and enhanced quality. Even though scientists globally add to the world’s store of scientific knowledge, there are significant cross-national differences in relative contribution. While global production grows substantially, a few nations still produce the overwhelming majority of new science. For example, the U.S. leads the world in research, producing 21% of all research papers (2004-2008). Together with China (10%), UK (7%), Japan (6%) and Germany (6%), these five countries contribute 60% of all publications globally. Our preliminary research suggests that differences in key aspects of institutional models of higher education development and science capacity-building are associated with cross-national differences in scientific knowledge production over time. We use mixed-methods to analyze the institutional model of higher education development and science capacity-building in these nations over time. Our main measure is the number of published papers in journals, relying on a unique dataset from Thomson Reuters’ Web of Science (1900-2011). Examining trends in journal publications in selected STEM disciplines, we analyze how universities, investments in higher education and science, international collaborations, and scientific networks have changed to create the conditions for the “knowledge society”. Mainly, this poster presentation explains the influential German institutional model of the research university, which enjoyed preeminent status in modern science’s early institutionalization. Placing primacy on autonomous science and valorizing the unity of teaching and research, this type of university continues to dominate German higher education. Yet massive tertiary educational expansion, the rise of extra-university research institutes, and establishment of praxis-oriented universities of applied sciences challenge the foundational principle, threaten this globally popular model, and reduce university-based research capacity in Germany. Nevertheless, Germany’s dual pillars of mass universities and prestigious independent research institutes continue to boast one of the largest national scientific outputs globally. With an annual R&D investment of 2.84% GDP (2011), Germany has among the highest levels of science investment in Europe. Measured in publications, Germany still competes at the very top. While still a model for other countries, other top science countries today rely on their universities more in producing competitive science than does Germany. [less ▲]

Bildungsbeteiligung und soziale Partizipation von Migrantinnen und Migranten - Erkenntnisse einer Vollerhebung unter den Stipendiatinnen und Stipendiaten der Hans-Böckler-Stiftung

in Soziale Ungleichheit in der Einwanderungsgesellschaft. Kategorien, Konzepte, Einflussfaktoren (2012)