Research Quality Framework (RQF) was a component of

Backing Australia's Ability Backing Australia's Ability (BAA) was a five-year innovation plan launched by the Howard Government in January 2001. Previous policy Previous policies for this group of portfolios under the Howard Government were: * ''Investing for Growth'', De ...

, an initiative of the

Australian Government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Like other Westminster-style systems of government, the Australian Government i ...

to formulate a best practice framework for assessing

research Research is "creativity, creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge". It involves the collection, organization and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular att ...

quality and the impact of research, and ensure that public funding was being invested in research which would deliver real benefits to the wider community. RQF was to bring public funding of research in line with government policy for funding to be determined by outcomes achieved. It was an assessment framework and a funding model, similar to the

Research Assessment Exercise The Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) was an exercise undertaken approximately every five years on behalf of the four UK higher education funding councils ( HEFCE, SHEFC, HEFCW, DELNI) to evaluate the quality of research undertaken by British h ...

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

and the

Performance Based Research Fund The Performance Based Research Fund (PBRF) is a New Zealand tertiary education funding process, assessing the research performance of tertiary education organisations (TEOs) and then funding them on the basis of their performance. The PBRF will pro ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. On 21 December 2007, the new Australian Government announced that it would not be proceeding with the RQF project, which was an initiative of the former Government, and began developing the

Excellence in Research for Australia Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) is Australia’s national research evaluation framework, developed and administered by the Australian Research Council (ARC). The first full round of ERA occurred in 2010, and subsequent rounds followed ...

initiative.

Assessment framework

Focuses on quality and impact. The quality of research includes its intrinsic merit and academic impact – that is recognition of the originality of research by peers and its impact on the development of the same or related disciple areas. The broader impact is an assessment of value through use, i.e. the extent to which research is successfully applied – that is recognition by qualified end-users that quality research has been successfully applied.

Ratings

* Simple ratings scale ** Quality : 5 points ** Impact : 3 points * Sensitive to discipline differences * Informs funding at institutional level, with institutions distributing funds according to their own priorities * The implementation will be assessing the five-year period prior to its commencement, e.g. 2001–2006.

Assessors

* Decided on the recommendation of the EAG

Oversight Committee

* Chairs of assessment panels and other significant Australian and international experts * Sets eligibility, assessment and assessor guidelines as well as guidelines relating to early career research and other emerging areas of research priority * Approves moderation (across panels) and validation (or measures) mechanisms

Funding model

Will replace the RTS block funding model, and will be at least 50% of the determinations of funding. Nelson says : all of the Institutional Grants Scheme (IGS) and at least 50% of the Research Training Scheme (RTS).

Committees

Expert Advisory Group

UK's Professor Sir Gareth Roberts was appointed as the Chair of the Expert Advisory Group, having been commissioned in June 2002 to review the future of research assessment in the UK. ;Members The list of members was announced 21 December 2004 as: * Professor

Paul Callaghan Sir Paul Terence Callaghan ( ; 19 August 1947 – 24 March 2012) was a New Zealand physicist who, as the founding director of the MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology at Victoria University of Wellington, held t ...

, Director of the

MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology The MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology (often simply called the MacDiarmid Institute) is a New Zealand Centre of Research Excellence (CoRE) specialising in materials science and nanotechnology. It is hosted by Victoria ...

Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington ( mi, Te Herenga Waka) is a university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of Parliament, and was a constituent college of the University of New Zealand. The university is well know ...

, New Zealand. Professor Callaghan chaired the Moderation Panel of New Zealand's Performance-Based Research Fund (PBRF) in 2003 * Dr Michael Barber, Executive Director, Science Planning,

CSIRO The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) is an Australian Government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentar ...

, and previously the Pro Vice Chancellor (Research and Innovation) at

University of Western Australia The University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Perth, the state capital, with a secondary campus in Albany, Western Australia, Albany an ...

. * Professor

Ian Chubb Ian William Chubb (born 17 October 1943) is an Australian neuroscientist and academic, who was the Chief Scientist of Australia from 23 May 2011 to 22 January 2016. Career Chubb has a Masters in Science, a DPhil from the University of Oxford, ...

, Chair of the

Group of Eight The Group of Eight (G8) was an inter-governmental political forum from 1997 until 2014. It had formed from incorporating Russia into the Group of Seven, or G7, and returned to its previous name after Russia left in 2014. The forum originated ...

from November 2003 to September 2005, and Vice-Chancellor of

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies and ...

since 2001 * Professor

Peter Høj Peter Bordier Høj (born 29 April 1957) is a Danish-Australian academic and Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of Adelaide. He has previously served as Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of Queensland and the Universit ...

, CEO of the

Australian Research Council The Australian Research Council (ARC) is the primary non-medical research funding agency of the Australian Government, distributing more than in grants each year. The Council was established by the ''Australian Research Council Act 2001'', ...

since 1 October 2004 * Dr Ian O Smith, Executive Director,

Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation The Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) is a statutory body of the Australian government, formed in 1987 to replace the Australian Atomic Energy Commission. Its head office and main facilities are in southern outs ...

since May 2004. * Dr Robin Batterham, chief technologist of

Rio Tinto Group Rio Tinto Group is an Anglo-Australian Multinational corporation, multinational company that is the world's second-largest metals and mining corporation (behind BHP). The company was founded in 1873 when of a group of investors purchased a mine ...

. Formerly chief scientist of Australia. * Professor Peter Sheehan, Chair of the AVCC's RQF working group, and currently Vice-Chancellor of the

Australian Catholic University Australian Catholic University (ACU) is a public university in Australia. It has seven Australian campuses and also maintains a campus in Rome. History Australian Catholic University was opened on 1 January 1991 following the amalgamatio ...

. * Philip Clark, representing the

Business Council of Australia The Business Council of Australia (BCA) is an industry association that comprises the chief executives of more than 100 of Australia's biggest corporations. It was formed in 1983 by the merger of the Business Roundtable – a spin-off of the Comm ...

, member of the J P Morgan Advisory Council, and was the CEO of

Minter Ellison MinterEllison is a multinational law firm, and professional services firm, based in Australia. The firm has fifteen offices and operates in five countries. By number of lawyers it is the largest law firm in Australia. History MinterEllison is ...

. * Professor Ross Milbourne, representing the Australian Technology Network of Universities and Vice Chancellor and President of the

University of Technology An institute of technology (also referred to as: technological university, technical university, university of technology, technological educational institute, technical college, polytechnic university or just polytechnic) is an institution of te ...

, Sydney. * Professor Anne Edwards, Convenor of the

Innovative Research Universities Australia Innovative Research Universities (IRU), formerly Innovative Research Universities Australia, is a network of eight comprehensive universities in Australia. The main purpose of the group is to undertake advocacy on issues related to higher educ ...

and Vice Chancellor of

Flinders University Flinders University is a public research university based in Adelaide, South Australia, with a footprint extending across 11 locations in South Australia and the Northern Territory. Founded in 1966, it was named in honour of British navigator ...

. * Professor Alan Pettigrew, CEO of the

National Health and Medical Research Council The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) is the main statutory authority of the Australian Government responsible for medical research. It was the eighth largest research funding body in the world in 2016, and NHMRC-funded rese ...

since January 2001. * Dr Evan Arthur, Group Manager of the Innovation and Research Systems Group in

Department of Education, Science and Training The Department of Education, Science and Training (also called DEST) was an Government of Australia, Australian government Government department, department that existed between November 2001 and December 2007. Scope Information about ...

(DEST).

Development Advisory Group

Minister Julie Bishop received the ''Research Quality Framework: Assessing the quality and impact of research in Australia – Final Advice on the Preferred RQF Model'' paper from

Sir Gareth Roberts Sir Gareth Gwyn Roberts (16 May 1940 – 6 February 2007) was a Welsh physicist specialising in semiconductors and molecular electronics, who was influential in British science policy through his chairmanship of several academic bodies and his ...

, approved its release, and announced the establishment of the RQF Development Advisory Group (RQFDAG), to be chaired by Australia's chief scientist, Dr Jim Peacock AC

https://web.archive.org/web/20060917201118/http://www.avcc.edu.au/content.asp?page=%2Fnews%2Fmedia_releases%2F2006%2Favcc_media_06_06.htm] ;Members The following members of the ''Expert Advisory Group'' continued on to the DAG: * Dr Michael Barber * Phil Clark * Dr Ian O Smith The other DAG members are: * Terry Enright, Chairman of the Grains Research & Development Corporation (GRDC) Board * Emeritus Professor Chris Fell AM, representing the

Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering The Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering (ATSE) is a learned academy that helps Australians understand and use technology to solve complex problems. It was founded in 1975 as one of Australia's then four learned academies (now five) ...

* Leanne Harvey, Branch Manager of Research Systems Branch in the Department of Education, Science and Training * Dr Warren King, representing the

Cooperative Research Centre Cooperative Research Centres (CRCs) are an Australian Federal Government program and are key bodies for Australian science, scientific research. The Cooperative Research Centres Programme was established in 1990 to enhance Australia's industri ...

s' Committee * Professor Jane Marceau, representing the

Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia The Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia (ASSA) is an independent, non-governmental organisation devoted to the advancement of knowledge and research in the social sciences. It has its origins in the Social Science Research Council of Austr ...

, Pro-Vice Chancellor (Research),

University of Western Sydney Western Sydney University, formerly the University of Western Sydney, is an Australian multi-campus university in the Greater Western region of Sydney, Australia. The university in its current form was founded in 1989 as a federated network u ...

. * Dr Phil McFadden, representing the

Australian Academy of Science The Australian Academy of Science was founded in 1954 by a group of distinguished Australians, including Australian Fellows of the Royal Society of London. The first president was Sir Mark Oliphant. The academy is modelled after the Royal Soci ...

is the chief scientist,

Geoscience Australia Geoscience Australia is an agency of the Australian Government. It carries out geoscientific research. The agency is the government's technical adviser on all aspects of geoscience, and custodian of the geographic and geological data and knowl ...

. * Professor Ian Davey, representing the AVCC * Professor

Deryck Schreuder Derek is a masculine given name. It is the English language short form of ''Diederik'', the Low Franconian form of the name Theodoric. Theodoric is an old Germanic name with an original meaning of "people-ruler". Common variants of the name are ...

, representing the Australian Academy of Humanities, retired in 2004 as Vice-Chancellor and President of the

Timeline

2003

* 18 December – AVCC released a major policy statement ''Advancing Australia's Abilities: Foundations for the future of research in Australia'' in response to the Government's various research review

2004

* 3 May –

Australian Bureau of Statistics The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) is the independent statutory agency of the Australian Government responsible for statistical collection and analysis and for giving evidence-based advice to federal, state and territory governments ...

released figures indicating that Higher Education Expenditure on Research and Development (HERD) had increased overall by 23% over the previous two years to 2002. HERD as a percentage of gross domestic product has increased from 0.42% in 2000 to 0.45% in 2002. * 6 May – Prime Minister

John Howard John Winston Howard (born 26 July 1939) is an Australian former politician who served as the 25th prime minister of Australia from 1996 to 2007, holding office as leader of the Liberal Party. His eleven-year tenure as prime minister is the s ...

announced the start of an 18-month process to establish "Quality and Accessibility Frameworks for Publicly Funded Research" as part of the

– Building our Future through Science and Innovation''

ref> * 8 September - New Information from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) shows that while government expenditure on R&D increased by almost 6% from 2000-01 to 2002-03, when expressed as a proportion of gross domestic product (GDP), it has fallen from 0.35% to 0.33

* 13 September – the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) information on national investment in research and development (R&D) shows R&D has only just climbed back to the point it was at ten years ag

* 28 September – ALP releases its research and innovation policy, ''Enterprise Australia'

{Dead link, date=April 2019 , bot=InternetArchiveBot , fix-attempted=yes * 5 October – Labor reissues ''Aim Higher policy''

2005

* 1 February – AVCC releases preliminary comments on the Government's "consultation discussion starter" paper on the research quality framework. The Vice-Chancellors agreed to develop a common position on the framework and provide input at each stage of its development

* 7 March –

released a statement

* 29 March – Australian Vice-Chancellors' Committee (AVCC) welcomed the release of the issues paper "Research Quality Framework: Assessing the quality and impact of research in Australia"

* 31 March – AVCC welcomed the release of the Governments discussion paper "Building Better Foundations For Higher Education in Australia: A discussion about re-aligning Commonwealth-State responsibilities", which focused on three aspect

** the implementation of the National Protocols on Higher Education Approval Processes ** universities' powers to engage in commercial activities ** and the operation of governing bodies * 19 April – AVCC states that the benefits of the Government's own Backing Australia's Future Reform Package are significantly reduced by failing to adequately index funding to the higher education sector in the 2003 Reform Package

* 9 May – Formal launch of the

Flagship Collaboration Fund, announced as part of the second Backing Australia's Ability packag

* 11 May –

Australian Vice-Chancellors' Committee Universities Australia (formerly the ''Australian Vice-Chancellors' Committee'') is an organisation founded in Sydney in May 1920, which attempts to advance higher education through voluntary, cooperative and coordinated action. After being ba ...

(AVCC) submitted a statement "Enhancing Australia's core research capacity – developing a Research Quality Framework", incorporating a preliminary model of how Vice-Chancellors believe the Research Quality Framework (RQF) should work, to the Government's Expert Advisory Group

* 25 May – AVCC responds to Governments 31 March pape

* 26 May – AVCC releases "Quality and Diversity: A framework for approving higher education providers in response to the Government's issues paper Building University Diversity: future approval and accreditation processes for Australian higher education." (Appears unrelated

* 31 May – Government released the Advanced Approaches Paper, "Research Quality Framework: Assessing the quality and impact of research in Australia"

* May 2005 – RQF Issues Paper * 2 June – Research Quality Framework National Stakeholder Forum * 3 June – Expert Advisory Group meet

* 15 July – the Minister for Education, Science and Training, Dr Brendan Nelson's announcement to abolish the

Board. As part of the Review of the Corporate Governance of Statutory Authorities and Office Holders (Uhrig Report), of the ARC, Minister Nelson has made the decision to abolish the ARC's Board in favour of an executive management system. In 2004 the Minister exercised his power under the ARC Act to reject grants recommended for funding by the ARC Board

* 17 August – AVCC released an updated proposal for the Research Quality Framework as a work-in-progress

* 19 August – EAG meeting held * September 2005 – The RQF Preferred Model was released. * 9 September – AVCC welcomes the release of the "Research Quality Framework: Assessing the quality and impact of research in Australia – The Preferred Model.

* 6 October – Australian Vice-Chancellors' Committee's Board of Directors, AVCC President Di Yerbury put forward a proposal, for discussion at the plenary meeting of AVCC in November, for a full review of AVCC. * 12 October – AVCC submits an issues paper to the Expert Advisory Group's (EAG) Preferred Model for the Research Quality Framework (RQF

2006

* 27 January – Minister for Education, Science and Training (Australia), Minister

Julie Bishop Julie Isabel Bishop (born 17 July 1956) is an Australian former politician who served as Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2013 to 2018 and deputy leader of the Liberal Party from 2007 to 2018. She was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Curtin ...

is sworn in. * 28 February – Chief Scientist

Jim Peacock William James Peacock, (born 14 December 1937) is an Australian molecular biologist who was Chief Scientist of Australia (2006–2008), President of the Australian Academy of Science (2002–2006) and Chief of CSIRO Plant Industry (1978–200 ...

AC appointed. In a

Press Club Organizations A press club is an organization for journalists and others professionally engaged in the production and dissemination of news. A press club whose membership is defined by the press of a given country may be known as a National Press ...

address Minister Bishop recognised the importance that the role the chief scientist has in raising the profile of science and innovation in Australia, encouraging links and acting as an effective liaison between government, the private sector, and the research sector. The AVCC states that it is concerned that the position has been appointed on a part-time basi

* 10 March – Treasurer Peter Costello and Minister for Education, Science and Training, Ms Julie Bishop announce the Productivity Commission Review into the benefits of public investment in science and innovation in Australi

* 28 March – Minister Julie Bishop received the ''Research Quality Framework: Assessing the quality and impact of research in Australia – Final Advice on the Preferred RQF Model'' paper from

, who chaired the Expert Advisory Group (EAG). The Minister approved the release and announced the establishment of the RQF Development Advisory Group (RQFDAG), to be chaired by Australia's Office of the Chief Scientist (Australia), Chief Scientist, Dr Jim Peacock AC

https://web.archive.org/web/20060917201118/http://www.avcc.edu.au/content.asp?page=%2Fnews%2Fmedia_releases%2F2006%2Favcc_media_06_06.htm] * 30 March 2006 – The Australian Research Council Amendment Bill 2006 and its ''Explanatory Memorandum'' is introduced into the House of Representatives, endorsed the peer review processes of the Australian Research Council (ARC

* 4 April – Minister for Foreign Affairs, Alexander Downer and the Minister for Education, Science and Training, Julie Bishop announce a five-year, $1.4 billion Australian Scholarships program. The initiative is expected to more than double existing scholarships for the Asia-Pacific over the next five years, and was scheduled to commence on 1 July 200

* 4 May – AVCC Chief Executive Officer John Mullarvey recommended told the Senate Employment, Workplace Relations and Education Legislation Committee that universities had concerns about a number of changes proposed in the ARC Amendment Bil

* 9 May – 2006–2007 Budget is release

* 10 May – Senate Committee is scheduled to release its finding

* 21 July –

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also simply known as Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia, one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party forms the f ...

Shadow Minister for Education

Jenny Macklin Jennifer Louise Macklin (born 29 December 1953) is an Australian former politician. She was elected to federal parliament at the 1996 federal election and served as the deputy leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) from 2001 to 2006, unde ...

releases ''Australia's Universities: Building our future in the World – A White Paper on Higher Education, Research and Innovation'

* 4 August – AVCC submits its response to the Productivity Commission research study, recommendin

** increased investment in research and innovation from 1.6% of

Gross Domestic Product Gross domestic product (GDP) is a money, monetary Measurement in economics, measure of the market value of all the final goods and services produced and sold (not resold) in a specific time period by countries. Due to its complex and subjec ...

(GDP) to 3% by 2020, and ** new incentives for private sector participation in research * 30 August – AVCC issues a statement regarding Australian business investment in research and innovation, which was 0.86% for expenditure as a percentage of gross domestic product, compared to the

OECD The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; french: Organisation de coopération et de développement économiques, ''OCDE'') is an intergovernmental organisation with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate e ...

average of 1.53%. The United States is at 1.87% and Japan at 2.36

Source: OECD Main Science and Technology Indicators Database 2006. * October 2006 – The RQF – ''Development Advisory Group'' (DAG), headed by Chief Scientist

, provided Minister for Education, Science and Training (Australia), Minister

with the "Recommended Model". * 19 October – The latest impact study on the Cooperative Research Centres (CRC) Programme, released by the Minister for Education, Science and Training, the Hon Julie Bishop MP, provides proof positive that CRCs are delivering considerable economic, social and environmental returns to their respective partners and to the natio

* 2 November – The Productivity Commission releases a draft research report ''Public Support for Science and Innovation'' raising concerns about the cost/benefits of the proposed Research Quality Framework (RQF) in the absence of a substantial increased research funding poo

* 27 November – Funding announced under the

National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

( NCRIS

* 19 December – Minister Julie Bishop announced $87.3 million funding for the implementation of the Research Quality Framework (RQF), $41.9 million specifically for universities preparing for the implementation of the first cycle of the RQF, due in 200

2007

* 23 January – ALP Leader

Kevin Rudd Kevin Michael Rudd (born 21 September 1957) is an Australian former politician and diplomat who served as the 26th prime minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010 and again from June 2013 to September 2013, holding office as the leader of the ...

and Shadow Minister for Education and Training, Stephen Smith release ''New Directions Paper

References

Research management Research in Australia