INDUSTRY & RESEARCH campusreview. com. au
Opinion: Close ERA loopholes
Quality ratings are meaningless if the process for evaluating research is easily subverted.
By Peter Drummond
We try to regulate many things in modern life, and often wonder at the total perversity that results. Yet the answer is simple. Just regulate what matters and do not reward irrelevance.
The Australian Research Council( ARC) regulatory body is tasked with implementing Excellence in Research for Australia – the framework for measuring research quality. The Go8 has suggested that the ERA’ s ratings be used to decide funding for graduate studies. This is not a bad idea. Graduate coursework is Australia’ s weak point. Unlike the six years of courses normally required for researchers, we mostly require just three to four years. Funding to improve this is urgent!
One must hope, however, that the ERA measures what matters if its numbers are to be used more widely, as the Go8 suggests. Unfortunately, the framework’ s rules appear to have more loopholes than Swiss cheese. This creates a range of opportunities for ducking and diving.
Does the ERA outline the right procedures to make the Go8’ s idea a robust and reliable mechanism? Strangely, even though the framework puts universities under a microscope, its procedures are
16