Disciplines in Competition: Disciplinarity in International Comparison

• Applicant: Dr. Frank Meier
• Subject Area: Sociological Theory
• Term: since 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 447967785

The project is based on the core idea that disciplines differ in the extent to which epistemic and organizational characteristics of research make it easier or more difficult for scientists to make relevant contributions to the research-related organizational competition of universities. This results, ceteris paribus, in an intra-organizational favoring of disciplines with a better fit. Since competition of universities differs significantly between different higher education systems, discipline-specific fit should also vary and be based on factors dependent on the specific organizational competition. The aim of the project is to identify these factors in a systemic comparison of countries and to analyze the resulting dynamics and conflicts within universities and the higher education system. In a qualitative research design, comparative country studies for Great Britain, the Netherlands and Austria will be conducted and combined with the findings obtained in the first phase on the German case.

• DFG Programme: Research Units
• Subproject of: FOR 5234: Multiple Competition in Higher Education. Internationalization and International Comparisons
• International Connection: Poland
• Co-Investigator: Professor Dr. Uwe Schimank
• Cooperation Partners: Professor Dr. Mikolaj Pawlak; Dr. Tomasz Warczok