22 | JADE
ARTICLE #2 | 23
ANGELO LEONE ET AL.
main function of teaching is to prepare and disseminate knowledge
in the society, both existing and new knowledge. Traditionally,
the Universities have been regarded as places where the newest
knowledge is available, and how can a University best demonstrate
this if not by producing itself some of the knowledge, if possible
the most relevant one for its own teaching? If we assume that
knowledge is the “product” around which the University “business”
is organized, then the model we look for becomes clearer: research
is the “production process” of knowledge and teaching and learning
is the “marketing” of knowledge. Starting from this model, it is clear
that the two processes have been organized together in the first
universities and this continued unchanged until modern times. The
lack of change comes mostly from the very conservative nature of
the old universities that over the years gathered another specific
item that is the “tradition” (Healey and Jenkins, 2006). Of course,
in our times of sophisticated business models, one could argue that
the two processes could be perhaps better organized apart, since
they are not very linked. For example, the professions of Teacher
and Researcher became nowadays too different in their nature, and
it has been demonstrated that very rarely the good researchers are
simultaneously good teachers and vice-versa. Another argument
from the management point of view is that both teaching and
research could be better organized if the two processes were
apart. All these debates have been exacerbated when the idea of
“entrepreneurial University” appeared and increased the complexity
of the problem as a whole (Jenkins et al., 2007)
III Different synergies between teaching and research
The synergy between teaching and research is not an independent
item but rather a mutual enhancement in quality, effectiveness and
profoundness, even from the financial point of view. For this reason,
the analysis of the synergy should be done both from the teaching
point of view and from research.
A) Teaching: the research added value
A multi-university project developed in UK by Jenkins and
colleagues in 2007 has led to important new interpretations of the
links between teaching and research. The project investigated the
nature of scholarship in relation to the advancement, synthesis, and
application of knowledge. Results from the project suggested that
at the curriculum level, the integration of research, teaching, and
learning comes in a multiplicity of ways: Actually, the introduction
of new knowledge, resulting from research into curriculum, will have
TEACHING AND RESEARCH SYNERGY IN A COMPETENCY BASED EDUCATION ERA
thus the possibility to present not only what is already done in a
subject but also the prospect from the research point of view.
Staff research activities should be visible to students; they will
increase the extent to which student learning mirrors research
processes. It will also enhance the ways and extent to which student
research competencies are developed and assessed. (Jenkins et
al.2007)
Earlier research by Healey and Jenkins (2006, 2007) had
demonstrated that students value learning from research active
staff. The project has extended this understanding to suggest
that students benefit from research processes and skills, a