Massey scoops third-biggest funding share
massey-university
Mon May 07 2007 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)
Massey scoops third-biggest funding share
Monday, 7 May 2007, 2:23 pm
Press Release: Massey University
Friday, May 4, 2007
Massey scoops third-biggest funding share from national research quality assessment
Massey’s research staff under the Government’s national ratings system have boosted funding and strengthened its position as a national leader in the core areas for which it is internationally recognised – sciences, creative arts, business and social sciences.
The Performance-Based Research Fund’s 2006 Quality Evaluation, released today by the Tertiary Education Commission, determines the allocation of annual funding (currently $137 million) based on the performance of academic researchers at each university and tertiary institution. This is the second Quality Evaluation; the first was in 2003.
Massey’s share of the PBRF funding pool has increased by $2 million this year as a result of the evaluation, from $32.7 million to $34.7 million, third highest in New Zealand behind Otago and Auckland, both of which have medical schools with access to pools of research funds not available to other research institutions.
It now has 13 subject areas ranked in the top three in New Zealand, compared with seven in 2003. It is ranked first in Design, Nursing and Veterinary Science; second in Agriculture and other Applied Biological Sciences, Public Health, Pure and Applied Mathematics, and Visual Arts and Crafts; and third in Clinical Medicine, Engineering and Technology, other Health Studies, Physics, Sport and Exercise Science, and Statistics. In 19 subject areas Massey achieved quality scores above the sector average.
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The overall “quality score” of the University as an institution has improved from 2.11 in 2003 to 3.05, a 45 per cent increase.
That has led to a national ranking of sixth among the universities, one place higher than in the first evaluation, although Vice-Chancellor Professor Judith Kinnear says such comparisons are less rigorous than comparisons between subject areas because of the huge differences in the types of courses run by different tertiary education organisations.
“It’s not about improving our rankings in PBRF, it’s about creating a research-active community offering research training and offering research-led undergraduate teaching,” Professor Kinnear says. “That gives us credibility in an international environment.”
Massey now has now has the third highest number of active researchers of any university. It has 874 researchers with rankings of A, B or C, compared with 689 in 2003, a 27 per cent increase. The number of A-ranked researchers increased by 52 per cent, B-ranked by 32 per cent; and C-ranked by 22 per cent.
Because it exceeded the targets it set for itself in the number of A and B-ranked researchers it now has slightly fewer C researchers than expected. The percentage of research-active staff has increased from 56 per cent to 78 per cent.
“We’ve achieved a huge shift of people between categories and, while we’ve made improvements in the process, ultimately it is the quality of our academic staff that has enabled us to achieve this outstanding result.”
Each of the five colleges achieved increases in their overall quality scores, with the College of Creative Arts and the College of Education making dramatic improvements from 2003.
Within the colleges, there were significant improvements in the rankings for engineering and technology, nursing, education, veterinary science, visual arts, physics, statistics, mathematics, chemistry and veterinary science.
“This is a superb result and a testament to the hard work of staff, particularly the heads of departments and institutes, who led by example and encouraged their colleagues to strive for higher rankings,” says Professor Kinnear.
“It is also a direct result of a management strategy put in place after the first PBRF results were released three years ago. Our policy, that all staff will be research-active at a level appropriate to their stage of career and appointment, has been embraced. We’ve set targets and we’ve exceeded them.”
The PBRF evaluation announcement coincided with a meeting of the University Council. The Council congratulated staff for their achievements in improving their individual and subject area rankings, and it recognised the significant benefit to the University of receiving the third-largest share of the funding pool.
ENDS
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