This text is part of the special Acfas Congress notebook
Sometimes unknown to the general public, collegial research allows for advances in many areas. However, it does not benefit from the same prerogatives as university research, which challenges its influence, sometimes even making its practice difficult. These difficulties will be the subject of a conference entitled The dissemination of collegial research: a great and great challenge! during the next Acfas congress.
When it comes to research, we think that it is “necessarily academic”, recognizes Marie-Chantal Dumas, project manager at the Association for Collegial Research (ARC).
College research and its challenges
The conditions for college research are significantly different from university research. And for good reason, college research is not included in the Private Education Act or in the General and Vocational Colleges Act, says Lynn Lapostolle, director general of the ARC. It is imperative that the government recognizes research in the same way as teaching in the mission of establishments, she believes. “It would put us in a completely different position and provide us with equally different resources. »The lack of recognition of collegial research greatly harms the dissemination of knowledge, adds Mme Dumas. “If research is not part of the mission, there is no time to prepare for the next project or for knowledge dissemination or transfer. »
Since college research is not paid, unlike its university counterpart, it requires great scientific passion. Access to funding is a major problem and financial support for collegial research is “currently lacking”, specifies M.me Lapostolle. There are programs reserved for college researchers, but which do not provide support for “release from teaching, for example”. However, to have time to do research, “you have to be freed from teaching tasks. University professors are, but not those who work in CEGEPs,” the director further indicates.
Research support is designed according to a university system, while the practical conditions are different at college. Disseminating the results therefore requires “colossal energy” at the college level, because researchers are concerned with publishing the research, which requires more resources. As the research system has become more complex, according to Lynn Lapostolle, a multitude of additional resources are necessary. In addition to direct costs, indirect costs are essential for “administering research”, including responsible conduct, ethics, research data management, security and even equity and inclusion.
The importance of college research
College research has certain repercussions both on society and on the academic world. Proof of this is that more and more colleges are developing research training programs. For the director of the ARC, there is a growing interest in training research students at the college level. Some are developing programs aimed at integrating students into research teams.
Inter-order collaboration, in concert with universities, is currently emerging, adds Lynn Lapostolle, who welcomes the links between college and university research. These are spontaneous collaborations of people wishing to work together, because they have the same research object.
Lynn Lapostolle indicates that in Quebec, 95% of the population lives less than 50 km from a college. This important presence allows them to carry out local work, going hand in hand with their role of participation in the “economic, cultural and social development of the region”. The fact that colleges are “anchored in their local environment” has positive benefits for society, she continues.
Unlike university research, college research does not follow a logic of publication at all costs. Besides publication, other ways of communicating research results can be used. This also involves the use of other indicators of success in order to evaluate the impact. For example, the transfer of knowledge, the impact on the environment, on employment or even the creation of positions are all indicators that could be used to measure success. Much work is carried out with small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), non-profit companies or community organizations “which could also demonstrate the impact on their mission or their activities,” reveals Lynn Lapostolle.
To improve the influence of collegial research, Marie-Chantal Dumas believes that dialogue between research stakeholders, particularly during conferences, is a first step.
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