APIKS - Academic Profession in Knowledge Societies (completed 2020)

The German sub-study of the international project “Academic Profession in Knowledge Society (APIKS)” conducted a broad, internationally comparative analysis of working conditions at higher education institutions—in research, teaching, research- and teaching-related knowledge and technology transfer, as well as governance and academic self-administration—along with employment conditions and the attitudes of researchers. For the study, a representative random sample of 24 public German higher education institutions was drawn, comprising 12 universities of applied sciences and 12 research universities. The sample takes into account the regional distribution and size differences among institutions, as well as technical universities and universities recognized for excellence. Research teams from approximately 30 countries across five continents (e.g., Argentina, China, Japan, Canada, Mexico, New Zealand, Austria, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, South Africa, South Korea, and the United States) are participating in the APIKS study. In some countries, data collection has not yet been completed (as of 2020).

The 2018 APIKS survey was the third study of its kind; however, it is not a panel survey—similar surveys were conducted as early as 1992 and 2007. In 2007, the study “The Changing Academic Profession (CAP)” was conducted, and in 1992, the so-called Carnegie Study—INCHER-Kassel was also involved in both of these studies, contributing the respective German sub-studies. These three surveys of academics (professors and research assistants) at universities offer a unique opportunity to track the development of working and employment conditions in research and teaching over nearly three decades.

A new topic in the APIKS study was knowledge and technology transfer associated with research and teaching. Using a mixed-methods research design, an in-depth study involving interviews with researchers from universities of applied sciences and traditional universities, as well as their non-academic cooperation partners, mapped out processes of knowledge generation in collaboration between university and external partners.

7,283 professors and research staff (response rate: 28 percent) took an average of 37 minutes to complete the rather lengthy APIKS questionnaire—we would like to thank them for their time!

A comparison of APIKS 2018, CAP 2007, and Carnegie 1992 revealed some surprisingly clear trends over the roughly three decades of German higher education and academic development. These developments were categorized as “organized,” “metrified,” and “excellent.” In the (supposed) age of the knowledge society and knowledge economy, categories such as the societal relevance and economic benefits of research and teaching, or the socialization of science, could have been included as a fourth category in the list above. However, the authors decided against placing them alongside the categories “metrified,” “organized,” and “excellent,” because despite being a major topic of discussion in the 1990s, knowledge and technology transfer has not played a central role in the major reforms of the higher education and science sector over the past three decades, as the selected results presented here also demonstrate. Nevertheless, knowledge and technology transfer is an opportunity for knowledge creation seized by many researchers involving cooperation partners who do not belong to higher education or the research community. Accordingly, research- and teaching-related knowledge and technology transfer was the focal topic of the APIKS 2018 survey. The APIKS questionnaire surveyed a wide range of knowledge and technology transfer activities, covering both STEM subjects and the humanities and social sciences.

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Götze, N.; Carvalho, T.; Aarrevaara, T. (2021). 'Academics' Societal Engagement in Diverse European Binary Higher Education Systems: A Cross-Country Comparative Analysis'. Higher Education Policy 34 (1), 88-109. DOI: 10.1057/s41307-020-00222-w.

Müller, L.; Schneijderberg, C. (2020). 'The Emergence of the Organizational Academic Profession: Vertical differentiation of German universities and the research-teaching nexus.' Higher Education Forum 17, DOI: 10.15027/48954 .

Schneijderberg, C.; Götze, N. (2020). Organisierte, metrifizierte und exzellente Wissenschaftler*innen. Veränderungen der Arbeits- und Beschäftigungsbedingungen an Fachhochschulen und Universitäten von 1992 über 2007 bis 2018. International Centre for Higher Education Research Kassel (INCHER-Kassel), Universität Kassel. Kassel (INCHER Working Paper, 13). DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.3949756.

Schneijderberg, C.; Götze, N. (2021). ‘Academics’ societal engagement in cross-country perspective. Large-n in small-n comparative case studies.’ Higher Education Policy 34 (1), S. 1–17. DOI: 10.1057/s41307-021-00227-z.

Schneijderberg, C.; Broström, A.; Carvalho, T.; Geschwind, L.; Marquina, M.; Müller, L.; Reznik, N. (2021a). 'Academics' Societal Engagement in Humanities and Social Sciences: A Generational Perspective from Argentina, Germany, Portugal and Sweden'. Higher Education Policy 34 (1), 42-65. DOI: 10.1057/s41307-020-00218-6.

Schneijderberg, C.; Götze, N.; Jones, G.A.; Bilyalov, D.; Panova, A.; Stephenson, G.K.; & Yudkevich, M. (2021b). 'Does Vertical University Stratification Foster or Hinder Academics' Societal Engagement? Findings from Canada, Germany, Kazakhstan, and Russia'. Higher Education Policy 34 (1), 66-87. DOI: /10.1057/s41307-020-00219-5.

Schneijderberg, C.; Götze, N.; Müller, L. (2022). A study of 25 years of publication outputs in the German academic profession. Scientometrics 127 (1), 1–28. DOI: 10.1007/s11192-021-04216-2.

Schneijderberg, C.; Müller, L.; Götze, N. (2020). Is the German academic profession on metrification autopilot? A Study of 25 Years of publication outputs. DOI: 10.31235/osf.io/mcs3g.

Schneijderberg, C.; Götze, N.; Müller, L. (2021). Academic Profession in Knowledge Societies (APIKS) (ZA6709; Version 1.0.0) [Data set]. GESIS, Köln. DOI: 10.4232/1.13843

Carvalho, T.; Queirós, A.; Schneijderberg, C.; Geschwind, L. (2026): Shaped by Global and Regional Forces: Academics’ Societal Engagement and Knowledge Production in Germany, Portugal, and Sweden. In: Futao Huang, Glen A. Jones, Ulrich Teichler (Eds.): The Shifting Balance of Academic Systems: National, Regional, Global? Cham: Springer (The Changing Academy – The Changing Academic Profession in International Comparative Perspective, 25), 199–223. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-032-17936-4_10.