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HEFCE reports Synergies and Trade-offs Between Research, Teaching and Knowledge Exchange

Why should universities and their academics engage with society? This latest report from PACEC and the Centre for Business Research (CBR), University of Cambridge reminds us that engagement is essential to enable the use and application of ideas in society. Only through sharing ideas can all the complex understandings generated in fundamental discoveries be taken up for society's benefit - what is technically called the 'transfer of tacit knowledge'. But this report reminds us that this isn't a one-way agenda - higher education benefits from society as much as society benefits from universities. And this report describes a whole host of such benefits including: opportunities to try out research ideas and to stimulate new lines ofenquiry; making HE teaching more relevant to the world and students' more employable; improving teaching practice; and gaining investment for research equipment and staff.


David Sweeney

HEFCE Director, Research, Innovation and Skills
February 2010

View report

Visit HEFCE's research into knowledge exchange area on the website

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