This volume presents recent scholarship on the changing research mission of the university and on the implications of these changes for the university itself. As these papers make clear the leading nations increasingly view the research mission of the university as a principal component of national innovation policies. The papers therefore examine the current preoccupation of higher education policy with concentrating knowledge production to enhance national innovation and competitiveness and with assessing research. The authors explore how this new policy emphasis has influenced: research funding mechanisms; research evaluation; initiatives designed to encourage university knowledge transfer; and reforms of doctoral education. The papers analyse the impact of these reforms and the response of universities to the changing policy environment. The volume has a strong comparative focus drawing on research from a range of European countries as well as from Australia and the United States. It combines papers from some of the leading scholars in research in higher education together with papers from younger scholars in the field. This is the first volume in a new series which will publish selected papers from the annual conferences of the Consortium of Higher Education Researchers (CHER). The volume will be of particular interest to researchers in the field of higher education, to those who occupy leadership roles in higher education institutions and to those involved in the development of higher education policy at national and international levels.