RESEARCH

EMBOLDENED QUESTIONS

The priority questions and points are emboldened.  These are intended to act as a guide and help in deciding to what to address/include in preparing the report on the each area.  They are intended to help report compilers to identify points for inclusion.

The emboldened questions and points are followed by unemboldened words and numbers.  The unemboldened words indicate useful sources of documentation, whilst the numbers refer to the number of the pro-formas distributed as part of the documentation for the Faculty Review.

For initial Faculty Reviews, there are three key questions to be asked for each area:

1. How high is the quality of the research in the Faculty?
2. How do we know and how will we continue to know?
3. What is being done to improve research in the Faculty?

CORE QUESTIONS FOR RESEARCH

There is a core of 9 questions that are asked of research, and some supplementary priority questions:

1. What are the policies and strategies for research in the Faculty? 
2. What procedures and processes does the Faculty have for planning, monitoring, reviewing, and developing research in the Faculty? (‘Procedures’ are the mechanisms, whereas ‘processes’ are how the mechanisms actually come to life – how they work in practice.)
3. How does the Faculty know and inform itself and stakeholders if these procedures and processes are working/being used?
4. Are the procedures and processes for planning, monitoring, reviewing, and developing research in the Faculty in place, operating and effective in meeting the Faculty’s stated mission, values, purposes, policies, self-evaluation contents and criteria for the effectiveness of the Faculty?
5. How does the Faculty inform itself/stakeholders about how these procedures and processes for the Faculty are effective in terms of outcomes and quality (i.e. impact analysis)?
6. How high is the quality of research in the Faculty, and how does the Faculty know?
7. How has the Faculty improved research over time, and how does it know?
8. What recommendations can be made for needed interventions in, and development of, research in the Faculty?
9. What does the Faculty do to monitor and improve research in the Faculty?

SUMMARY OF THE AREAS OF RESEARCH

1. Current strengths and weaknesses in research in the Faculty.
2. Future directions for research in the Faculty.
3. Key challenges and prospects for research in the Faculty.
4. Key opportunities for developing research in the Faculty.

KEY AREAS OF FOCUS

1. Faculty policies and strategies for research and supervision.
2. Overall quality of research and supervision.
3. Main kinds of research in the Faculty.
4. Identification of strengths and weaknesses in research and supervision in the Faculty.
5. Provision for research.
6. The uses made of research in the Faculty.
7. Quality assurance practices for monitoring and reviewing the actual quality of research and supervision in the Faculty.
8. Plans for interventions and staff development to improve the quality of research and supervision in the Faculty.

QUESTIONS FOR CONSIDERATION

In the material that follows, the priority questions are emboldened.  These are intended to act as a guide and help in deciding to what to address/include in preparing the part of the (self-evaluation) report on research.

1. What is the Faculty’s research strategy and policy?
2. What are the Faculty’s research priorities and main areas?  How are these decided and pursued?
3. How is the quality of research, publication and supervision monitored, reviewed, developed, evaluated and improved in the Faculty? 
4. How, and how far, does the Faculty promote, support and sustain research and publication activity, and a research culture?
5. Who leads and manages the Faculty’s research activity?
6. What are the strengths and weaknesses observed in research/research activity and output in the Faculty? How does the Faculty know?
7. Which members of staff and proportion of full-time and part-time are ‘research active’, and how does the Faculty know?
8. What support for research and what research training, induction and knowledge transfer is provided for new and existing staff and novice researchers, how effective is this (quality, timeliness, uptake, impact), and how does the Faculty inform itself of such effectiveness? 
9. What research grants have been awarded to the Faculty, for what projects/research, from whom, and for what sums of money?
10. How high is the quality of the research supervision, and how does the Faculty know?
11. What research supervision training and development is provided in the Faculty?
12. What strategies does the Faculty have for improving its supervision arrangements, practices and quality, and what is the impact of these?
13. What innovations and developments in research are taking place in the Faculty? 
14. What improvements to the supervision arrangements and practices in the Faculty have been made over the last two years?
15. What research teams are there in the Faculty, what is their work and its impact?
16. What is the percentage of full-time and part-time staff who are active in research?
17. How is the research in the Faculty aligned to its mission and goals?
18. What improvements/enhancements to research and supervision in the Faculty have been made over the last two years?
19. What funded and non-funded research has taken place in the Faculty over the last two years?
20. What research seminars and other related programs take place in the Faculty?
21. What research evaluation and productivity takes place in the Faculty?
22. How is the support for research evaluated in the Faculty?  How effective is that support in the Faculty, and how does the Faculty know?
23. How are research supervisors allocated, how effective is this, and how is this evaluated and improved?
24. What are the admission requirements for research degrees and research projects, and what is the level of compliance with the admission requirements?
25. How does the Faculty’s research performance compare to those it sees as its local and international peers?
26. How, and how far, does the Faculty engage in commercialization and knowledge transfer activity from its research?
27. How, and how successfully, does the Faculty attract and support doctoral students?
28. Which research in the Faculty is of local, national and international significance?
29. What national, international and cross-institutional research is undertaken in the Faculty?
30. How is the Faculty’s research disseminated to key communities?
31. How are new research opportunities identified and addressed?
32. What resources for research are there in the Faculty?
33. What key services are provided by the Faculty for research and its development, and how are these evaluated?
34. How does the Faculty evaluate and review its supervision arrangements and practices, and their effectiveness?

SUMMARY OF RESEARCH IN THE FACULTY

1. What provisions are there for the long-range planning of the Faculty?
2. Current strengths and weaknesses in leadership and management of the Faculty.
3. Future directions in leadership and management of the Faculty.
4. Key challenges and prospects in leadership and management of the Faculty.
5. Key opportunities for leadership and management of the Faculty.

Research-related Documents

• List of current research students, thesis topics, and supervisors.
• Numbers of research students per capita for full-time and part-time staff.
• Number of doctorates awarded per capita for full-time and part-time staff.
• List of research grants awarded over the last two years, to whom, and for what.
• List of papers published, and an indication of their status (e.g. internationally peer-reviewed journals, peer-reviewed conference papers, non-reviewed academic journals, nationally peer-reviewed journals, professional journals, magazines etc.).
• Student admission policy, detailing entry qualifications and language proficiency requirements, if any.
• The process of student admission.
• Planned student numbers of proposed research programs for the next 2/3 years.

Download a pdf of Research (pdf)

Back