18 February 1997
Streamline research data collection, recommends AVCC

The Australian Vice-Chancellors' Committee (AVCC) has called on the Government to streamline the DEETYA Financial and Publications Research Data Collection which is carried out by all universities every year.

The AVCC's recommendations are that only those data which are used in the Composite Index for calculation of the Research Quantum allocations of the Commonwealth-funded operating grant should be collected.

At a meeting in Canberra today, the AVCC Board of Directors also endorsed the streamlining of the publications index to include only four major items, namely journal articles in scholarly refereed journals, refereed conference publications, research books and book chapters.

Other recommended changes to the research data collection include the removal of the categorisation of both the financial and publications data by fields of research and the categorisation of National Competitive Grants by individual schemes.

AVCC president Professor Fay Gale said the AVCC was committed to the notion of measuring research output by universities as a basis for the allocation of research funding.

"However, the efficacy of the collection has been called into question in the context of the Government Review of Universities' Reporting Requirements which was foreshadowed in Minister Vanstone's 9 August 1996 Budget Statement.

"This is a major collection of data, which imposes considerable strain on the universities, so the AVCC has taken the initiative to cut back the volume of data sought."

"It is important that the accuracy of the collection be maintained while still reducing the amount of work involved. This is not sampling, but a particular mathematical model which is designed to give the necessary degree of accuracy."

Using the streamlined publications index would result in only a relatively small change in the 1997 Research Quantum allocations by institution, using the currently submitted data, Professor Gale said.

"It would also result in a reduction of 26,105 - some 46.7 per cent - in the total publications collected. This would significantly decrease the workload involved in the collection and subsequent audit of the required data, while still maintaining its value and credibility.

She said the need for a review of the data collection had been raised within the higher education sector because of concerns about the growth, complexity, frequency and overlap of both Commonwealth and State/Territory accountability requirements.

"These concerns have intensified as the level of Government funding for higher education has contracted, and as the perceived marginal financial benefits through the Research Quantum compared to the costs to the Commonwealth and individual universities of collecting and auditing the full set of data have been queried."

Professor Gale said that the AVCC would seek the Government's agreement to the streamlined index being implemented in time for the revised 1997 Research Quantum allocations, the resubmission of the 1995 publications data, and the submission of the 1996 publications data.

Back to Media Releases 1997

18 February 1997 Streamline research data collection, recommends AVCC

18 February 1997
Streamline research data collection, recommends AVCC