Roles, Constraints, and Prospects of Scientific Knowledge Transfer at Science Shared Campus: Kotebe University of Education

Abstract

Scientific knowledge transfer (SKT) across various settings is currently increasing worldwide, though it is little in Ethiopia. The purpose of this study was to identify the existence and magnitude of the application of SKT based on the concept of the prevailing linkage between tacit and explicit knowledge transfer provided in the regular mainstream teaching and learning processes. This research is theoretically based on problem-solving and SECI (Socialization, Externalization, Combination, and Internalization) models of knowledge transfer. Different tools for data collection including questionnaires, observation, interviews, and document review were employed. Based on the lottery method, 114 students and their respective parents out of the total 350 students were involved in the study. The questionnaire data were analyzed using SPSS, and qualitative data were analyzed by verbatim translation and interpretation methods. The data were validated by the principals, top scorer students, cluster coordinates, and key informants. As a result, about 56.7% of student respondents, 61.9% of parent respondents, and 50% of teachers indicated that the external knowledge transfer was carried out in the field of natural science through academicians, researchers, and laboratory experts with unreserved effort owing to pay for their effort. The result also shows that concerns on time, scope, language, complexity, and strategy were found to be barriers. The identified constraints on SKT are internal factors in the instructors’ views like communication problems, language problems, interpretation problems, and technologies and techniques used in the transfer of knowledge. Thus, working with these limitations could improve SKT rate in educational institutions.