Creativity at School? - Performance Dimensions in the Case of Polytechnic Higher Education

Capítulo de livroThis paper reports on the preliminary results of a project that aims to assess the state of the art of creativity in Portuguese polytechnic higher education institutions. The framework was based on the dimensions of creative potential and performance (e.g. Runco, 2007a and b) and on previously developed studies (Piteira, 2016). The research question that drove this work was: What is the state of creativity in the different schools that comprise the Lisbon Polytechnic Institute according to their creative potential and performance and with a view to developing future efficient innovation strategies? This was followed by a qualitative case study approach, which would later enable a cross-case comparison between the schools considered to be the most creative. The eight schools of the Lisbon Polytechnic Institute were included in this exploratory analysis; the dimensions and related outputs of creative potential and performance were identified through the analysis of newspapers, websites, and newsletters. Following this research design, exploratory interviews with actors with responsibility over innovation and entrepreneurship policies and strategies in the LPI were conducted so as to validate the content analysis derived from the newspapers, websites, and newsletters. The results show how these schools compare to one another in such creative potential and performance dimensions in terms of creative products and services outsourced to the community; projects with business potential that have entered in the entrepreneurship competitions; and awards and honourable mentions in (inter)national competitions. The salient finding is that efforts to implement strategies to trigger creativity in these schools are underway. Suggestions are provided for future research and effective strategies in the field of innovation through creativity in the polytechnic higher education system are discussed.