DEST Undertakes the Setting Up of a "Research Quality Framework". (December 1, 2004)

    In May of this year the Prime Minister, John Howard, promised that his government would "establish Quality and Accessibility Frameworks for Publicly Funded Research." Now the Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST) has released a three page document it titles Research Quality Framework - Consultation Discussion Starter. "What's it all about?" it asks rhetorically and then replies:

 Two frameworks for publicly funded research are to be developed in consultation with universities and publicly funded research agencies:

1. A Quality Framework to measure the quality and impact of research conducted in universities and publicly funded research agencies, as well as its benefits to the wider community; and

2. An Accessibility Framework to ensure that information about research and how to access it is available to researchers and the wider community.

The aim of the Research Quality Framework initiative will be to develop the basis for an improved assessment of the quality and impact of publicly funded research and an effective process to achieve this.

And later on in the document:

The central purpose of this process is to develop a transparent framework for assessing research quality to assist institutions that receive public funding for research to focus on improving the quality and impact of that research...

 

[Ultimately] It is anticipated that the framework will be utilised by all government portfolios to assess the quality and impact of research funded by the Australian Government.

On the website http://www.dest.gov.au/resqual/default.htm#1 which DEST has up set to service the "Framework" initiative it lists its timeline from "Bilateral Consultations" (October 2004) through

"Recommendation to Minister" (December 2005).

    A yet to be named "Expert Advisor Group" is to be designated toward the end of this month. It remains to be seen just how influential the group are allowed to be, and  how able and independently minded its members will show themselves to be.

Bradley Smith, Executive Director of the Federation of Australian Scientific and Technological Societies (FASTS), makes the observation, "Whether this process arrives at a new model of resource allocation is yet to be determined. DEST argue in their public briefings that they are  well aware of the problems of measuring quality and have stated that it is by no means certain that a resource allocation model will be the objective. Frankly I find it difficult to believe that something of this nature will not be the outcome."

In any case all public universities, as well as the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS), the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) will have "[t]he first phase... focus[ed] on [them]" and the development of the "Framework will draw on learnings and outcomes from these processes and outcomes from these processes and other similar research assessment processes that may be undertaken in the next twelve months in other agencies and institutions."

Just who will be charged with doing the assessment isn't stated, but from past experience it likely to be or be strongly influenced by employees of DEST. Which of course leads back to the role and real importance of the advisory group and the submissions that will be called for and workshops to be scheduled.