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Research quality: the ERA

Research quality: the ERA

Snippet from Minister Carr's speech to the Plenary Meeting of Universities Australia (Wed 12/03/08)

One mechanism designed to strengthen our national R&D effort is the new system of research quality assurance – Excellence in Research for Australia, or ERA.

It is vital that we have a strong university research capacity benchmarked against international standards. We need to know how Australian research measures up against that of other, similar countries. And we need to know that the billions of dollars we spend on research each year are being spent wisely. That is what ERA will deliver.

We will base our new system squarely on peer review. Peer review keeps everyone honest. Leading Australian and international researchers will evaluate research activity in each of the ARC discipline clusters, as well as clusters covering health and medical research.

The cluster reports will set out by institution and also by discipline those areas that are internationally competitive. They will also identify emerging areas where there is potential for development.

We plan to start off with disciplines where metrics are widely accepted as an appropriate measure – such as the physical and biological sciences. At the same time, we will continue to consult with those in other disciplines about quality measures appropriate to them. We will ensure that there is expert review of metrics in all disciplines where they are used.

The ERA will build on the good work already carried out in universities to define research strengths. ERA will inform the development of our “hubs and spokes” model for research infrastructure.

I must emphasise again that the aim here is not to deny to any university, or any university academic, the right to undertake research. All universities will be research-active, and all academics who wish to do so will have the opportunity.