Higher education institutions are seen as pivotal for fostering national economic growth in a globalised knowledge economy. Conducting research is an important aspect of that role, and there is pressure on institutions to increase their knowledge production, as well as to offer advanced research degrees. This requires academics with doctoral level qualification who research in their field. Research productivity is important for institutions because it contributes to prestige and better rankings in league tables, which result in more or better resources. This qualitative study examines the notion of ‘turning teachers into academics’ through the experiences of lecturers in a teaching-focused institution in Malaysia seeking university status. Becoming research active requires resources and a supportive environment that were largely unavailable, and so participants experienced an unhealthy intensification of their academic work and struggled to do research or complete their PhD qualifications. The study showed that a successful transition required teachers to be genuinely motivated to do research and the institutions to provide adequate support. Under current circumstances of fierce competition between institutions and the inability to compromise teaching allocations, it is not clear how, or if, such a transition can happen without adversely affecting staff wellbeing.

高等教育机构被视为在全球化知识经济中促进国民经济增长的关键。进行研究是该角色的重要方面，并且机构面临着增加知识生产以及提供高级研究学位的压力。这需要在其领域进行研究的具有博士学位水平的学者。研究效率对机构很重要，因为它有助于提高信誉和在排行榜中排名，从而产生更多或更好的资源。这项定性研究通过在马来西亚寻求大学地位的，以教学为重点的机构中的讲师经验，研究了“将教师转变为学者”的概念。要使研究活跃起来，需要的资源和支持性环境在很大程度上是不可用的，因此，参与者的学术工作经历了不健康的发展，并且难以进行研究或完成博士学位的学业。该研究表明，成功的过渡需要真正地激励教师进行研究，并且机构要提供足够的支持。在当前机构之间竞争激烈且无法妥善分配教学资源的情况下，目前尚不清楚这种过渡如何或是否会在不对员工福利造成不利影响的情况下发生。