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No 6 February 2005

 

← No 7 April 2005 | eNewsletters | No 5 November 2004 →

1.  Quality and excellence in research

We start of this year’s series of eNewsletters with a look at quality and excellence in tertiary education research.

Quality and excellence is an underlying theme of the research strategy in the TES (Page [[TESDoc/Strategy 6 is undefined.]]) and is explicity referenced in Objective 29 — Page Objective 29 is undefined..

The PBRF results provide some insight into quality and excellence. For instance, they show:

• there is a good proportion of staff producing work of national or international reputation

• there are subject areas with particular strengths in terms of overall quality and number of high-reputation research staff

Rising university contract income also provides a proxy for the esteem of university researchers and their ability to attract research contracts.

See Success Criteria 28 for details of these indicators.

However, these basic indicators raise more questions than they answer. For instance:

• what is the desirable make up research staff in terms of experience and reputation? to some extent this will reflect whether areas are expanding or consolidating

• how much does it matter that there is variation in excellence and quality across subject areas?

• to what extent does increasing research income reflect greater overall investment in research vs increased reputation of tertiary education researchers?

Further analysis can shed light on these question. However, there will also be a subjective aspect that depends on perspective and circumstance.

These questions also lead into questions of knowledge transfer and uptake, alignment of research investment with national goals and development of areas of specialised expertise — which are the greater focus of the research strategy.

These are areas that will be further explored in the monitoring project as information becomes available.

What are your views on this?

Go to Your Views? to add your views on this article.

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2.  Add your views

Due to low responses, we have decided not to keep running the ‘question of the month’.

In its a place is a new Your Views? page. It replaces the Guest Book and allows for you to discuss issues, ask questions and add your views.

A link will be included at the end of feature articles in the newsletter to encourage feedback and discussion.

3.  2004 Monitoring Report out next month

The 2004 Monitoring Report will be released in March — around the same time as the 2005 STEP. This report will follow up on the Baseline Monitoring Report and cover:

• updates of key indicators
• progress with implementation of policies related to the TES
• an initial analysis of TEI and ITO profiles and their responses to the TES.

It will also include new baseline indicators from the Ministry’s work on qualification retention, completion and progression rates and the PBRF.

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4.  Related information of interest

New Zealand’s Tertiary Education Sector Report — Profile & Trends 2003

Sixth edition in an annual series. This report provides a primary information resource on the tertiary education sector in New Zealand with statistics on participation, achievement, resourcing, capability, research and much more, covering New Zealand’s diverse range of tertiary education learners, providers and programmes.

Click here to view

Hui Taumata 2005 — Maori in Tertiary Education, a Picture of the Trends

This analysis of trends in Maori in tertiary education was commissioned for Hui Taumata 2005, and is available along with other research on the Hui Taumata 2005 website.

Click here to view

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Please direct any questions you have about this eNewsletter to David Earle (Ministry of Education)

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