Ylijoki, Abstract

Ylijoki, O.-H. (2003), 'Entangled in Academic Capitalism? A Case-study on Changing Ideals and Practices of University', Higher Education 45(3): 307-35

In recent years universities have increasingly engaged iin academic capitalism as a response to the drop in budget funding and the external push towards entrepreneurial activities.

This paper explores what impacts the changing funding patterns have on university research at the micro level, how changes are responded to in different research units, and how researchers experience them.

Based on focused interviews with senior researchers in three types of research setting in Finland, the paper argues that engaging in academic capitalism is a daily reality in all units, but takes different forms depending on how close or distant the field is from the market. In addition the disciplinary and institutional cultures shape the process of adaptation to the changing environmental conditions.

Ylijoki concludes that increasing market-orientation does not displace traditional academic practices, values and ideals as researchers try to accommodate them to entrepreneurial activities. However, the growth and intensification of project work on short-term contracts, makes achieving a balance between the two value-sets is increasingly difficult, and generates a range of tensions in the daily work of researchers and even endangering the quality of research.