I forgot to thank you for the information about Swansea. By the way, you were right about the doctorate being a level 8 qualification in England and Wales.

My expectation is that the trend towards STEM as the main epistemology will run its course eventually. Gibbons, Limoges, and Scott (2011) continue to promote the notion of Mode 2 knowledge, i.e. “knowledge production is carried out in a context of application … characterised by … by heterogeneity … is more heterarchical and transient … is more socially accountable and reflexive” (p. 362) than Mode 1 which can be summed up as “Problems defined by academic community, Disciplinary knowledge, Homogeneity: hierarchical and stable institutions, Research as objective, Quality control by ‘invisible colleges’” (from Bresnen & Burrell, 2012, p. 27).

A fundamental driver for Mode 2 knowledge and the “university-industry-government” triple helix model (Leydesdorff & Meyer, 2003) is the necessity to reposition the university and knowledge creation inside an unproblematic, productive framework that enables institutional longevity. Yet, Mode 2 has not attracted empirical acclaim (Hessels & van Lente, 2008), and my prediction is that a knowledge-based economy will have to recognise the ultimate weaknesses eventually. At least I hope this happens before the universal institutional destruction of those epistemic methodologies of critical reflection.

Jim

Bresnen, M., & Burrell, G. (2012). Journals a la mode? Twenty years of living alongside Mode 2 and the new production of knowledge. Organization, 20(1), 25–37. doi:10.1177/1350508412460992

Gibbons, M., Limoges, C., & Scott, P. (2011). Revisiting Mode 2 at Noors Slott. Prometheus, 29(4), 361–372. doi:10.1080/08109028.2011.641384

Hessels, L. K., & van Lente, H. (2008). Re-thinking new knowledge production: A literature review and a research agenda. Research Policy, 37(4), 740–760. doi:10.1016/j.respol.2008.01.008

Leydesdorff, L., & Meyer, M. (2003). The Triple Helix of university – industry – government relations. Scientometrics, 58(2), 191–203. doi:10.1023/A:1026276308287