Teaching/research relations in departments: the perspectives of built environment academics

This article presents an analysis of the perceptions of built environment academics in four post‐1992 universities in the UK on teaching/research relations. Whilst set in particular departments, institutions and disciplines, it addresses issues that are of central concern worldwide. This study indicates that securing effective teaching/research links is potentially vital for ensuring that students learn of the complexity of knowledge and develop high order academic and ‘professional’ skills. However, it also demonstrates how issues of department organisation and culture—in particular the effective policy separation between teaching and research—result in failures to support staff to achieve potential synergies between these activities. Evidence is also provided that, in built environment disciplines there are distinctive features of teaching/research relations that need to be considered in department policies (and national funding). This study questions the policies of those governments and institutions that in effect seek to separate teaching from research. However, it leaves uncertain the extent to which all staff need to be involved in high‐level research, or whether ‘scholarship’ is adequate to effectively underpin student learning in these disciplines.