Knowledge management to support innovation in higher education institutions

Abstract

This paper presents and discusses the use of knowledge management to support innovation in higher education institutions (HEI). The study was conducted at Brasil-STHEM Consortium - a network of Brazilian higher education institutions that work together in the implementation of innovation in their teaching and learning practises. 29 HEI participated in the study that was designed as an exploratory research and used the Asian Productivity Association (APO) knowledge management maturity level assessment tool as a framework for data collection and analysis.  Results demonstrate that there was openness for knowledge management and that there is technological infrastructure available for this to happen, but found  little evidence of the systematic use of knowledge management  practices. The study contributes to research and practise in education management  by proposing the use of KM theory and tools to understand how knowledge being generated by higher education institutions can be identified, stored, shared, created and applied in order to amplify its impact to educational change and innovation.