This section of the website examines the ways in which policies at system, institutional and faculty or departmental level promote or hinder the teaching-research nexus. A range of resources is provided for university leaders responsible for developing and implementing policies that might encourage closer links between research and teaching in higher education.

Though there is a widespread expectation that research informs teaching and learning in higher education and that students benefit from the teaching-research nexus, these connections are often not explicit in policies and in the administration and management of universities. For example, it is usually the case that research activities and teaching and learning activities are funded and administered through quite separate mechanisms. The separation of research and teaching is also often evident in public policy and well as the policies of institutions. These policy settings often place teaching and research in competition with each other for priority and resources, with the advancement of either perceived as being at the expense of the other.

The goal of this section is to examine how teaching and research can be accommodated more harmoniously and mutually beneficially within the policies and cultures of universities. Recognising the complexity involved in trying to develop policies that support and reward the integration of teaching and research, we have included several resources to assist policy-makers and their colleagues as they take stock of how teaching-research links might be integrated into policy and practice at all levels of the university. We have developed a series of self-review questions for adaptation to local context and needs, and to guide discussions and self-evaluation exercises. Also included in this part of the website are TRN performance indicators that policy makers could use and adapt for the purposes of quality assurance and enhancement activities.

Included in this section are:

• resources to assist leaders with faculty and department strategies;
• an analysis of ways for embedding the TRN in institutional policies, including findings on the ways in which Australian universities depict teaching-research linkages in their policy documents;
• an exploration of the influence of public policy including funding policies, on the relationships between teaching and research in

The project has identified several perceived benefits for universities of forging closer connections between teaching and research, including a greater capacity for effective knowledge transfer and exchange between universities, industry and the community. Once universities have identified the value of the TRN it is essential that policies also support the reward and recognition of staff activities in relation to the TRN.

Throughout this section, we have integrated findings from our interviews with university leaders and academics. In particular, we share some of the challenges that policy-makers in our study face as they try to draw teaching and research closer together in their universities. To inform this component of the study, the project team interviewed:

• five Deputy Vice Chancellors (Academic)/Pro Vice Chancellors (Learning and Teaching);
• two Deputy Vice Chancellors (Research);
• one Pro Vice Chancellor (Community Engagement);
• two leaders of Academic Development Units; and
• one Curriculum Coordinator responsible for shaping and supporting policies on integration of teaching and research.