Conceptualizing 'synergy' in higher education policy processes

This paper reports on the first stage of a doctoral study that explores how research can influence policy in the sphere of Higher Education in Australia.  Specifically it presents the author's conceptualisation of synergy. Synergy here refers to a state in which policy personnel and researchers in higher education work together in a way that produces an effect greater than the sum of their individual effects.

Stage one of the study is now complete, and incorporates two reviews of literature across disciplines. The first of these linked policy making and research and use of evidence from research in policy. The mechanics of the search strategy are specified in the paper. The author at this point identified in a few papers that 'synergy' was mentioned and seemed a potentially powerful construct in the context of participatory decision making in the policy process. This led to the second review that focussed on the interactional dynamics and definitions around 'synergy'.

Various authors write about the gap between research and policy in general, but few focus on the interactions and the nature of participation in the process and rarely in higher education specifically. Synergy, in turn, is sparsely conceptualized in evidence-based policy making literature, however, several dimensions of synergy were identified by the author and these included: political context, evidence, links, trust, characteristics of the actors, operational structures and processes.

The next stage of the research is to move into a mixed methods design with two phases: i) to refine the conceptualisation of synergy, and what has proved to be successful in translating research into policy in higher education,  ii) explain the factors most likely to lead to successful synergy. From the model of synergy outlined above a range of foci were developed to inform interview protocols. The groupings of items in the protocols will also be presented as part of the paper. The identification of the key groups of actors that the study will draw on will also be justified.

Considering the increasing role played by higher education in the knowledge economy and the increased emphasis on evidence-based policy making; it is imperative that there is (a) translation into higher education of the knowledge about synergy that has been used in other policy contexts (b) investigation of the issues that will affect the use of this knowledge if it is taken into account in higher education.