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V. Foreign Higher Education and Education Systems, International Relations, Bilateral Relations
B. Essays, Commentaries, Statements
Author SZUWARZYNSKI, Andrzej
Title Benefit of the doubt approach to assessing the research performance of Australian universities / Andrzej Szuwarzy?ski
Publication year 2019
Source/Footnote In: Higher education quarterly. - 73 (2019) 2, S. 235 - 250
Inventory number 48170
Keywords Ausland : Australien : einzelne Hochschulen ; Ausland : Australien : Forschung, Hochschullehrer
Abstract This paper proposes a benefit of the doubt (BoD) approach to assess the research performance of 37 public Australian universities based on data from 2015. The primary activities of Higher Education institutions are teaching and research, but the prestige of a university depends mainly on the results of its research activities. The BoD method is rooted in the data envelopment analysis methodology, which enables the flexible and data?based assignment of weights to aggregated variables. Full weighting flexibility, however, allows zero weights, which can lead to unrealistic results. For this reason, the proposed model has been supplemented with additional weight restrictions. The assessment considers key performance factors: number of publications and citations; number of completed doctoral degrees; amount of research grants; and percentage of science graduates. Unlike earlier research on Australian universities, this study uses the number of publications and citations from the Web of Science database. The results provide a ranking of universities and recommendations for decision makers regarding the direction of future improvement actions for the worst?performing universities. (HRK / Abstract übernommen)