DEBATING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ACADEMICS AND PRACTITIONERS IN THE HIGHER EDUCATION FIELD
In: Teorija in praksa, S. 5-24
Abstract. In this article we present findings from focus
groups (FGs) consisting of academics and practitioners in
the higher education (HE) field from different parts of the
world, who debated their perceptions of the current state
of the art in the HE field. The main findings, which call for
further research, as well as activities of academics, practitioners
and policymakers at various levels, are as follows: 1)
there is a gap between basic academic research and applied
research (with the latter often not meeting the appropriate
conceptual level), which needs to be closed; 2) this gap is
expressed also in the global context of the HE field; 3) multidisciplinarity,
interdisciplinarity, transdisciplinarity, methodological
quality of both basic and applied research need
to be developed and 4) scholars', practitioners' and governments'
(policymakers') responsibilities need to be addressed.
Keywords: higher education (HE), research, academics,
practitioners, government, policy