MINISTER BISHOP MUST TAKE NOTE OF LESSONS FROM AXING OF UK RESEARCH ASSESSMENT EXERCISE
March 24, 2006
News that the UK Government will scrap of the controversial Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) for universities has clear lessons for Australia and our efforts to develop a similar instrument, the National Tertiary Education Union said on Friday.
“The RAE has been the subject of controversy and upheaval in the UK higher education sector for years,” said Dr Carolyn Allport, National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) President.
“The decision by Chancellor Gordon Brown to axe the scheme has major implications for the Federal Government, which has borrowed heavily from the RAE in the development of its own instrument to measure the quality and impact of publicly funded research in Australia.”
The UK move, part of the Blair Government’s attempt to simplify research funding to universities, will see the RAE replaced with a simpler instrument that assesses research quality through metrics such as published papers and the amount of research income earned.
“It sends a clear signal to the new Education Minister, Julie Bishop, that if she continues with the development of a research assessment instrument and it is to be successful, it must learn from and not repeat the failures of the UK model.”
“Minister Bishop has already made encouraging statements that while she supports the development of a research assessment mechanism, she is aware of concerns from the sector about its design and implementation and is moving to address them.”
“The UK announcement provides the Government with a chance to take stock of what is currently being considered, consult further with the sector, and come up with a mechanism that the sector is happy with.”
“There have been a number of serious concerns expressed in the UK about the RAE, including the huge bureaucratic and financial cost for the Government in overseeing and administering the process and individual universities taking part in it, and claims that it has concentrated research funding into fewer institutions.”
“The RAE has also been responsible for poor staff morale, significant job losses and the closure of entire university departments.”
“While NTEU supports efforts aimed at encouraging research excellence, we have expressed concerns about similar impacts in Australia of an exercise based on the UK model.”
“We are particularly concerned about the significant bureaucratic burden on universities and workload pressures of individual academics that the exercise could entail, especially given that currently no new research funding has been made available for universities taking part in it,” said Dr Allport.
Information and Comment:
Andrew Nette, NTEU Policy and Research Coordinator: (03) 9254 1910