Senator the Hon. Kim Carr, the new Minister for Innovation, Industry,
Science and Research, has announced that the Australian Government
will
not be proceeding any further with implementation of the Research
Quality Framework (RQF).
See the Minister’s Media Release
below.
Senator Carr has announced that the Australian Government is
committed to a new streamlined, internationally-recognised, research
quality
assurance exercise using metrics or other agreed quality measures
appropriate to each research discipline.
The Minister will announce early next year a timeline for implementing
the new approach, as well as the process for consulting with the
sector
on appropriate quality measures.
Further communication will be made with the university sector
in the New Year.
I would like to thank you for your efforts and look forward
to working with you in the future.
Kind Regards
Leanne Harvey
Media Release
Senator the Hon Kim Carr
21 Dec 2007
CANCELLATION OF RESEARCH QUALITY FRAMEWORK IMPLEMENTATION
Senator Kim Carr, Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science
and Research, today announced that the Rudd Government will cease
implementation of the Research Quality Framework (RQF).
The RQF was developed by the Howard Government in an attempt
to measure the quality and impact of research conducted in Australian
universities.
Senator Carr said cancellation of the RQF was because it is fundamentally
flawed.
"The RQF is poorly designed, administratively expensive
and relies on an ‘impact’ measure that is unverifiable
and ill-defined," he said.
Senator Carr said the Rudd Government is committed to a new streamlined,
internationally-recognised, research quality assurance process
using
metrics or other agreed quality measures appropriate to each research
discipline.
"The Rudd Government will work hand in hand with researchers,
and their institutions, to develop a robust approach to research
quality assurance
that is internationally recognised to be of the highest quality.
"This approach will take advantage of the existing work
that has been done on metrics development but also make sure that
robust quality
measures are developed for the humanities, creative arts, and
the social sciences," he said.
Senator Carr confirmed that the 2008 funding for the RQF project
(approximately $15.6 million) under the Australian Scheme for
Higher
Education Repositories (ASHER) Program and the Implementation
Assistance Program (IAP) will still be received by universities.
"I want to implement a less cumbersome and less costly process
that still provides the Australian Government and taxpayers with
an efficient
and transparent process. A process that ensures valuable research
dollars are allocated to the university sector using internationally
verifiable measures," Senator Carr said.
The Rudd Government will announce early next year a timeline
for implementing its new approach to research quality assurance,
as well as
the process for consulting with the sector on appropriate quality
measures.
