School of Social Sciences

The mandate of the Centre for Research and Innovation is to develop a culture of research and innovation within the University through the promotion of scholarly research and the organisation of action research that improves BOU’s educational programmes and services.

The role of the Centre is to:

• • •  develop plans, strategies, policies, regulations and procedures related to research and innovation and provide oversight of their implementation
  • •  guide, monitor and evaluate the quality and ethical integrity of research and innovation output
  • •  promote researcher development for both staff and students
  • •  support the conduct of scholarly research and innovation through the mobilisation of resources and management of research funds and grants
  • •  develop research and innovation projects by engaging academic, government, industry and community partners
  • •  stimulate institutional and collaborative research towards improving BOU’s educational programmes and services and their responsiveness to educational needs
  • •  contribute to the theory and practice of open and distance learning, including open schooling
  • •  encourage the dissemination and communication of research results and facilitate maximum research impact
  • •  maintain a research information management system and report regularly on the University’s research and innovation output
  • •  provide the secretariat of the University Research Committee

Scholarly research

With respect to scholarly research, the Centre will: 

• • •  Promote and support an active academic research culture within the University
  • •  Develop research programmes that support the institution’s identified areas of research focus
  • •  Develop networks and partnerships to fund and resource research programmes
  • •  Monitor the work done by researchers under the various programmes
  • •  Promote the institution’s research with regional and international academic journals and publications
  • •  Manage research funds and grants and account for spending
  • •  Provide researcher development for staff

Action research

With respect to action research, the Centre will:

• • •  Develop the annual research plan
  • •  Write the terms of reference for action research projects
  • •  Conduct research to enhance BOU’s quality of programmes, learning and teaching practices, and learner support
  • •  Interface with research agencies for outsourced research and supervise the conduct of such research
  • •  Liaise with regional campuses for surveys and studies conducted in-house and at regional level
  • •  Present research findings and recommendations to BOU Management
  • •  Encourage the University to take measures to address issues emerging from research
  • •  Coordinate the institutional response to requests for statistical information originating from Government or other external stakeholders