Rethinking the Research-Teaching Nexus in Undergraduate Education: Spanish laws pre- and post-Bologna

Abstract

In Europe, under the roof of the Bologna process, the emerging concept of the 'knowledge-based society' has its pillars in the so-called European Higher Education Area (EHEA) and the European Research Area (ERA). This new kind of society demands a new role for the universities and associated stakeholders, and could provide an ideal opportunity to explore new ambitions and roles, revisiting the old synergy between research and teaching, and rethinking why teaching and research have come into tension for academics in recent years. However, there is some evidence which suggests that actual initiatives are not that coherent in terms of the aims of the process. For example, explicit research training of graduate students is excluded. Has Bologna two faces? The authors consider the Bologna process in the context of Spain, and offer some possible scenarios of the actual and future undergraduate research-teaching nexus within the Bologna framework. These scenarios should have interest and implications for scholars and students entering a new era.