1

uniVeRsiTY poliTiCs

and

pRaCTiCe-Based

ReseaRCh

Torsten Kälvemark

The emergence of practice- based research in and through the arts is closely connected
with politics of higher education and research, nationally and internationally. This
connection is twofold. on the one hand the discussion around practice- based research
as a special concept has in some countries been prompted or encouraged by politically
motivated structural changes in the university landscape. on the other hand the
development of practice- based research has led – and will certainly in the future lead
to – significant changes in national research policies and institutional patterns.
The aim of this chapter is to describe and analyse this process. The perspective
will partly be historical. The historical prism is due to my own academic background
(although i have been a university administrator for most of my life) and the reason is
simple: it is impossible to understand the present state of discussion without looking
back at a process which has been going on for the last decades in the international
academic world.
The description and discussion will be done under five different headings:

• art schools and structural reforms of higher education systems


• european integration, the Bologna process and the third cycle


• Research and the ‘creative industries’


• Quality assurance and research funding


• practice- based research and degree- awarding powers

Writing from a swedish perspective i may be excused for taking some of my examples
from my own country. The reason is that i have been rather heavily involved in the
national debate here. i have also to some extent taken part in the decision- making
process, in particular with regard to funding artistic research. since sweden has a rather