The funding of UK higher education has increasingly moved in the direction of separating teaching and research. In 2003-4 over one-third of all research funding in England will go to four universities and institutions are being encouraged by funding mechanisms to develop their strengths in either teaching or research rather than making connections between them. Such a radical shake-up of the funding of institutions ensures that the Humboldtian insistence on the link between teaching and research is being seriously brought into question, if not effectively severed. The UK is not alone in facing these dilemmas as the the agenda for the Easter 2003 conference of European University Rectors indicates. The paper is based on a current investigation of some aspects of the relationship between teaching and research in both higher education and school-teaching. The initial study involved students taking a Masters-level introductory unit in research methods in a research-intensive school of education in England. Using a participatory technique, students were interviewed by their peers on their experiences of research and their views about learning to do research and asked to reflect on the relationship between teaching and research from their own perspective. These interviews took place in term one. They were then followed up with in term two with other data collection including focus groups, where students were given an opportunity to further elaborate on their own experiences of learning about research and planning their own research project for a dissertation. The data are used to examine two debates in higher education. One is about the learning of research methods, on which much is written but which rarely examines how and what students learn about research (Birbili, 2002). The second is the relationship between teaching and research, since teaching students about research is one of the arenas in which this can be explored. The comparative models of a 'global nexus' versus an 'intangible nexus' (Neumann, 1992) and a 'cultural' versus a 'learning' model of the relationship between research and teaching are utilised. The paper also draws on a debate initiated by McIntyre (1997), in which he examines the very different characteristics of research and school-teaching and suggests that school teachers are likely to find some aspects of research somewhat alien to their practice. The findings of this study include the differential involvement of Masters students in the research culture of a research-intensive graduate school, their perceptions about being involved in doing research, the ways in which this twin-involvement develops and changes over time and the impact of it on student learning. These aspects of the research and teaching relationship have considerable implications both for how we induct Masters students in education into research practice in higher education and for the policy directions being imposed currently by the UK government about the separation of research and teaching. The paper also has implications for higher education in other European countries, where it is likely that rising costs of universities, together with global competition for students are also raising questions about the relationship between teaching and research. In addition, the 1999 Bologna agreement on higher education is bringing different models of taught Masters degrees in European countries closer together, so that the issue of teaching research methods in social science programmes in general (and to educational practitioners in particular) is increasingly becoming a shared issue. ReferencesBirbili, M. (2002) Teaching Educational Research Methods, http://escalate.ac.uk, date accessed March 2003.McIntyre, D. (1997). "The Profession of Educational Research." British Educational Research Journal 23(2): 127-140.Neumann, R. (1992) Perception of the Teaching-Research Nexus: a framework for analysis, Higher Education, 23: 159-171.