Introduction: Some Considerations into the Teaching-Research Nexus

In this chapter, we discuss the teaching-research nexus in the higher education sectors in Estonia, Finland and Sweden. We analyse the extent to which the teaching-research nexus has changed in Finnish dual higher education system, and based on APIKS 2018 data, compare findings to the notions of the relationships of teaching-research-nexus in Estonia and Sweden. We first looked at how Finnish research and the teaching based have changed between the CAP and APIKS surveys of 2008 and 2018, respectively. Second, we considered how the teaching-research nexus can be compared between these three countries. Estonia and Finland have binary higher education systems, and the Swedish university system has research universities and university colleges with an emphasis on teaching. Further, we outline the reasons why scholars moved into research. This phenomenon makes research- and teaching-focused higher education institutions convergent, and the chapter explores the change in teaching and research roles over time. The institutional and public expectations about the work in the academy are less focused on research as scholars’ use of their time suggests. Although the roles of the higher education sectors are different, in higher education sectors respondents considered that research activities reinforce teaching.This chapter begins with a short introduction to academics’ teaching and research activities from a historical and comparative perspective. In the second part, it presents a brief sketch of previous studies, primarily focused on academics’ teaching, research, and the nexus of their teaching and research. In the final part, it summarizes relevant findings from three international comparative surveys, focused on responses’ teaching and research activities and their perceptions of the linkage and/or separation of teaching and research. Also, it explains the purpose, research questions, and the organization of this volume