Public funding based on dialogue and setting agreed outcomes is beginning to edge out quantitative performance-based funding formulae
Ben Jongbloed, senior researcher at the Centre for Higher Education Policy Studies (CHEPS) at the University of Twente. Photo credits: University of Twente
As university to-do lists expand inexorably, with new societal and labour challenges to tackle, experts believe this is ushering in a new addition to universities’ core funding mix: dialogue-based funding.
Dialogue-based funding is based on direct interchange and conversations between the government providing the funding and the university receiving it. The university promises to deliver certain outcomes and in exchange the government provides a funding boost.
Currently, performance-based funding makes up a part of core university funding in most EU countries, and as much as 60 to 100% in Scandinavian countries. But rather than performance being related to agreed outcomes, this is often based on quantitative metrics, such as numbers of students, degrees awarded or research publications, which are…
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