New Perspectives in Science Education

The Chinese government promulgates a number of policies to support collaboration among industry, university and research. It provides additional funding and incentives to attract academics to participate more in applied research and collaborate with business sectors. Facing the increasing demands to collaborate with external funders, academics use various strategies to respond. This study employed a qualitative research approach; we interviewed 32 informants from one first-tier university and one second-tier university in Mainland China. Our study found that first, academics are exposed to market logic through early exposure in their graduate programs and informal communication at faculty and department level. Second, most academics are moderately familiar with market logic but have found ways to maintain limited academic autonomy in the process of applied projects. Third, academics package their proposals with trendy topics and highlight their professional image to deal with the increasing market demands. 

Keywords: Academic capitalism, applied research, collaboration between university and business sectors, competing logics.  

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