Science in the hands of strategic management: The metrification of scientific work and its impact on the evolution of knowledge

Abstract

Following the global triumph of New Public Management (NPM), universities are required to improve their performance in research and teaching by strategic management. The entrepreneurial university striving for monopoly rents in terms of competitive advantages as regards the availability of money and prestige on the outside is coupled with the audit university on the inside, which tries to improve research and teaching by quality management. Both are complemented by the third-party funded university, which targets its research to recruiting thirdparty funds. This essay focusses on the non-intended effects counterproductive to progress in knowledge that are triggered by this transformation of universities in the context of the German science system’s specific backdrop. The evaluation of the statute of a Technical University will serve as an example here concerning its quality management regarding the system of appointments and careers.