EU grant procurement in the modern European university - The role of university research management structures

The goal of this research is to find out how research management can contribute to enhancing successful grant proposals for the EU Framework Programs. During the last decades, universities have gone through a transformation from being ‘loosely coupled systems’ to more corporate systems. This transformation also had effects on research management structures. Based on a model developed by De Boer et al. (2007), four case studies are to be carried out to find out to what extent specific research management items affect the success of universities’ grant procurement in the EU Framework Programs. The case studies consist of four universities that are within the top-5% of increase in participation rates from FP5-FP7. It turns out that these universities see increased importance in lobbying strategies, clear hierarchical structures and better registration and overview of results. One can clearly recognise an increasingly performance-based and market-driven form of university governance.