Research collaborations and Performance of Academicians: An Empirical Analysis

Abstract

The term “collaboration” is the action of working together with others to produce or create something, and in the context of academic bodies, it is used mostly on the level of research. In other words, it is the mutual engagement of participants in a coordinated effort to solve a problem together. However, the collaboration also involves cooperation, in which the responsibilities of each partner may not be shared equally. Collaborative learning is a widely used instructional method, but the learning potential of this instructional method is often underused in practice. Higher education institutions are facing an increasing demand to collaborate with each other in the knowledge economy. Yet, research on how higher education management enhances collaborative work is rare. Present study takes research collaboration as a catalyst for improving the faculty performance in higher education institutions. Since, it has ben observed by many researchers that better faculty performance leads to the higher productivity and student’s learning. This study focuses on factors collaborative Research i.e., “physical facilities of the institute helpful for collaborative research work”, “availability of sufficient time for collaborative research practices”, “availability and allocation of funds from the institute or competitive authorities for collaborative research” and “receiving the inspiration by the superior / fellow colleagues for collaborative research”. Series of Focused group interviews were conducted and data were analyzed. Results show that factors evoking effective collaboration were student autonomy and self-regulatory behaviour, combined with a challenging, open, and complex group task that required the students to create something new and original are directly related with the faculty performance.  It is concluded that collaborative research practices in higher education should be designed that build shared growth and academic development. In this article, It has been also explored that how collaborative teacher research can reposition teachers to be powerful stakeholders and policymakers rather than skilled technicians and implementers.