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BaselineMonitoringReport Quality of Research ← Nature and Coverage of Research | Home Page | Development of Networks and Clusters of Specialisation → There are a number of ways of assessing the overall quality of research from the tertiary education sector. Tertiary education sector research papers cited at international levelsOne aspect of quality is the impact of research on a body of knowledge. A common measure for this is citation rates - ie the number of times a research paper has been cited or referred to in subsequent research publications. The National Bibliometric Report 1997 to 2001 reports on citation rates for recent New Zealand research publications. It found that tertiary education sector research publications that appeared in 1997 were cited during the period 1997 to 2001 on average 6.1 times. This is consistent with international citation rates, given the fields of research concerned and the journals used. Increased patenting by New Zealand universitiesAnother aspect of quality is conversion of research knowledge into a commercialisable application. One measure of this is patents. Ministry of Research, Science and Technology data shows that the amount of patenting by New Zealand universities has increased, although their share of domestic patenting has been stable since 1992 at around two to three percent per annum. Between 1993 and 1997, Auckland Uniservices Ltd (a subsidiary of the University of Auckland that manages the university’s research contracts) ranked second in the list of New Zealand’s top patenting organisations. Most university patents were in biotechnology and scientific instruments. External research contracts increasingResearch contract funding also provides a good proxy measure of research quality as contracts are often won through competitive bidding and can be subject to rigorous peer review. Research contract income has grown substantially from 1997 to 2002, both in absolute terms and as a proportion of institutional income. In 2002, research contracts in universities constituted $235 million, compared with $218 million in 2001 and $193 million in 2000. This constituted a one-year rise of 7.6 percent. The figure for 1997 was $131 million, meaning that, over the previous six years, research contract income grew by 78.5 percent. Research contract income accounted for 13.1 percent of all university revenue in 2002, compared with 12.9 percent in 2001, 12.8 percent in 2000 and 11.1 percent in 1997.
Greater focus on quality through new funding policyThe new PBRF has been established to provide a greater focus on the quality of research in the tertiary education sector. The purpose of the PBRF, which is being phased in over 2003 to 2007, is to encourage TEOs to improve research performance at all levels in the system. By aligning the allocation of the funding for research with research performance, the PBRF aims to:
The PBRF will create a pool of funding to be allocated to providers on the basis of their performance in:
The government expects that, in aligning research funding to research performance and in separating it from tuition funding, it will create a climate that rewards innovation and excellence in research and hence it will foster and enhance the sector’s research capability and, consequently, its performance. In making this reform, the government has committed some new funding to the PBRF. However, most of the funding for the PBRF will come from the progressive transfer to the fund of the research component of the tuition subsidy. An evaluation of the implementation of the PBRF is currently underway. ← Nature and Coverage of Research | Home Page | Development of Networks and Clusters of Specialisation → Page last modified on 26 November 2006, at 06:29 PM |
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