A Focus on Pedagogy

Abstract

There is more and more a call for universities to be relevant to society. ‘Impact’ buzzes all around academia. In this discourse, universities typically are presented as centres that generate knowledge and research. Measuring, evaluating, and comparing the societal impact of different universities and research centers is now taking place in national frameworks (like the REF) and international rankings (like the THE Impact Ranking). However, education and teaching are structurally underrepresented in these practices. Most of the rankings and evaluations are based on publication metrics and case studies that do not particularly represent how and to what extent academic teaching activities are of use to dealing with societal issues. Along these lines, this paper seeks to analyze how and why research and teaching become separated in rankings and evaluations of societal impact. We explore the question of how universities’ core teaching activities can contribute to answering societal issues and how this is present in the emerging field of impact evaluation. In this paper, we argue that there is a need for developing a line of research on impact-driven education to study the efforts universities worldwide are taking to adopt educational models that allow a learning environment where students have the opportunity a) to use their knowledge and skills to answer real-life problems instead of fictional problems; b) to have more agency in their learning process c) work in close collaboration with stakeholders. These new approaches to teaching and learning demand a certain level of preparedness before these can lead to evidence-based outcomes. In this context, we aim to outline the state-of-the-art of research in impact-driven education efforts, especially in the Netherlands. In conclusion, we reflect on the consequences of separating teaching and research activities when it comes to the achievement of societal impact.