EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH IMPACT: IMPLICATIONS FOR UNIVERSITY MANAGEMENT

Nowadays, the Bologna Process emphasizes qualitative rather than quantitative aspects in scientific research as well as the need to focus on practical challenges. This change entails other changes at all levels, from research scientists' and academics' outlook to the ways in which scientific products are evaluated Given the inter-relationship between education and research, an excellent system of education presupposes high level research production. Well-prepared researchers and well-defined criteria are needed to evaluate scientific research. In this context, we propose a research project funded by the Executive Agency for Higher Education, Research, Development and Innovation Funding. The aim is to establish ways for the institutions that conduct research to enhance the visibility and impact of the results of research in educational sciences, in society in general, and policies and practices in particular. The study proposes an analysis of the actual models of research impact and assesses the current strategies and mechanisms used by research institutions to promote and make research products more visible to the social community and the educational actors. In this paper we focus on the first phase of the research project which consists in the design of the main indicators of research impact in education sciences. Our model consists of the interaction between three levels of the research impact: the context of the research production (researchers, university staff research groups, etc), the context of the research use (policy makers, practitioners, etc) and the level of society as a whole (mass media, research transfer and dissemination). The model would help us to identify commonalities of interpretations and practice of all the actors involved in the research impact. Finally we consider that for the future of the research in Education Sciences it is of paramount importance that all actors involved in education impact participate and take an informed and proactive stance that responds to the fast-changing political, institutional and technological environment..