Engaging in mixed sector scholarly practice: scholarship on the edge

Following on from earlier research that examined the scholarship of teaching and learning in three Australian tertiary settings (Williams, Goulding and Seddon 2013), this paper explores a broader range of scholarship in mixed-sector institutions. Ernest Boyer (1990) originally proposed four separate, yet overlapping functions of scholarship: discovery, integration, teaching and application - or engagement as it later came to be known (Rice 2002). Although it is readily recognised as a 'natural fit' for mixed-sector institutions with their close industry ties, little is known in the scholarly community about the scholarship of engagement in these settings because it is often either undocumented or published in industry journals. Other forms of mixed-sector scholarship are similarly underrepresented in the scholarly literature.

This small-scale case study research examines three narratives about scholarly practice in Victorian public mixed-sector institutions, focusing on the scholarship of engagement. But in each example, the scholarships of discovery, integration and teaching are also evident. Each narrative was accompanied by a reflective commentary, based on a set of indicators of quality scholarly practice that was developed in the earlier research. The cases were analysed to identify the distinguishing features of mixed-sector scholarly engagement and to further refine understandings of 'quality scholarly practice'.

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