Research Policy as “Carrots and Sticks”: Governance Strategies in Australia, the United Kingdom and New Zealand

Over the last three decades, governments in many nations have pursued a set of goals that have substantially changed research policy, transformed how universities are governed and altered how academics do research. The massive expansion of higher education, the growing importance of training for the knowledge economy, and the need to tighten and justify expenditure on universities in many Western nation-states have all contributed to a redefinition of the relationships between national governments, knowledge-based industries, universities and academic disciplines. This chapter focuses on the strategies that governments have used to direct national research policy. It begins with an examination of higher education and research policy, and then considers two modes of governance: new public management (NPM) and network governance (NG) in relation to research policy. It argues that, since the 1980s, governments have pursued their strategic goals for the sector, by assessing and rewarding the research outputs of universities (NPM) and providing incentives to collaborate (NG). An empirical examination of each of Australia, the United Kingdom and New Zealand is then used to demonstrate the use of these two governance strategies, and two specific policy tools associated with them, in action. Finally, the effects of these on individual academics in three universities in different nations are analysed, to highlight the resulting “carrots and sticks” of research policy.