National Performance-Based Research Funding Systems: Constructing Local Perceptions of Research?

Abstract

In recent years, performance-based research funding systems (PRFSs) have been introduced in all of the Nordic countries. In this chapter, we compare these systems and explore how their introduction is reflected within universities. Through interviews with academics, managers and administrators, we study how the performance measures of these systems are used at the university level and how that affects research activities. The results indicate that the introduction of PRFSs at the national level have had significant effects at the institutional level. The PRFSs contribute to the institutionalisation and consolidation of research metrics as the main way to describe research performances, and thus as the organising principles of research. Differences are also noted between the countries in the reactions of the university actors, which are believed to be a consequence of the variations of the PRFSs.