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RQF "new opportunities for HASS"
15 November 2006
The announcement that the government will go ahead with the Research Quality Framework (RQF) has been welcomed by the Council for the Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (CHASS), but with a degree of caution.
Professor Stuart Cunningham, President of CHASS, said this new way of assessing the quality and impact of research has several potential advantages. This includes the capacity to identify more accurately the research most likely to benefit Australia. "I welcome the emphasis on impact, because we believe that it will provide an opportunity for HASS researchers to make good their claims for the social, cultural, environmental and economic benefit of their work," he said.
"In the past, like most countries, Australia has taken a narrow view when it comes to identifying which research and which researchers offer the best potential returns. The system has relied heavily on counting things."
It counted the dollar amount of research income, the quantity of research students completed, and the number of papers researchers have published.
Most researchers in the humanities, arts and social sciences have felt that this method of assessment marginalises their contributions.
HASS researchers might edit books or contribute to major policy statements and reforms. They write libretti for opera, curate art exhibitions, and work with their local community to solve problems in crime, health and education.
"Some of this work has been undoubtedly world class, but it was not always counted under the old system," Professor Cunningham said. "The RQF's emphasis on quality and impact will address these deficiencies.
"You can't always measure quality and value by counting. We hope the new system will get past the old mentality of 'never mind the quality, feel the width'."
He stressed that many details still needed to be sorted out, including the composition of the panels which will assess research proposals and providing adequate funding for universities to compensate for the additional work the RQF will entail.
"As the Productivity Commission recently warned, the costs of introducing the RQF may outweigh the benefits if the implementation costs and the opportunity costs of administering the system are not addressed adequately," he said.
- For more information, please contact:
- Toss Gascoigne
- Executive Director
- Council of the Humanties, Arts and Social Sciences
- Phone: +61 2 6249 1995
- director@chass.org.au
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