Suchergebnisse

This report presents an assessment of the Australian research system through the identification of indicators and the presentation of data from metrics that encompass such indicators. The aim of this paper was to develop a framework to allow for the assessment and evaluation of the Australian research system. This paper was developed in response to the Boosting the Commercial Returns from Research report that was presented by the Australian government in 2014. It begins by examining the current assessment framework and claiming that the assessment mechanisms currently in place are fragmented and do not provide a holistic approach to the evaluation of the assessment. The current assessment tools are the National Survey of Research Commercialisation (NSRC), the Higher Education Research Data Collection (HERDC), Excellence in Research Australia (ERA) and University rankings (QS, THE & ARWU). These tools, whilst useful, do not provide a complete assessment of the research system. Australia has been held in high regard for the quality of the research and its researchers. However, these statements are often made when making comparisons of metrics such as citations or publications. This report argues that a comparison between Australia and the countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development at a system level allows for determinations on how Australia could improve its research system. Internationally, the current framework does not compare to the European Union, which make their assessments through ERAWATCH, which completes an assessment annually and presents country reports. Australia however, is fairing better than the United States, where there currently exists no assessment framework. This report collected data through the data-mining available databases and through data request from organisations. Data was collected for metrics that were identified by the Department as potential indicators, which would be helpful in developing the assessment. This data was presented against the OECD average in order to determine how Australia was progressing internationally. Trends in data were explained, however not mentioned as it is out of the scope of the course, and would require much further research. Data was examined through statistical analysis to make recommendations on how the sector could be improved. Australia does well in the quality of its research, doing much better than the OECD average in both citations per publication, publication per researcher and research excellence. Australia could improve on resourcing its research system through an increase in investment in research from all sectors, as well as providing incentives for increased industry collaboration and for the translation of research into commercial outcomes. This paper makes several recommendations. Firstly, whilst this report outlines a clear framework for the assessment of the research system, much of the data is incomplete to the current time period and some indicators do not have sufficiently robust data. The Australia Government should improve and increase its data collection on research indicators. Secondly, commercialisation metrics are almost non-existent in practice, and should be developed and assessed annually in order to improve data collection in this area. Lastly, a review of this framework in practice should be conducted to test its robustness as an evaluation mechanism.