Excellence in Research for Australia Initiative (ERA)

This report outlines the key issues and priorities for Australia’s 280,000+ postgraduate students in the lead up to the 2010 Federal Election. The report is informed by the efforts of the Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations (CAPA) to support improvements and reforms for postgraduates for over 30 years, as well as ongoing engagement and consultation on the interests and needs of this important group.

[Below is an edited version of the information available on the DIISR website].

The Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations (CAPA) has welcomed the release of the Consultation Paper for informing the development of the Federal Government’s Research Workforce Strategy. The Consultation Paper follows directly from Building Australia's Research Capacity, the Final report from the 2008 House of Reps Inquiry into Research Training and Research Workforce Issues.

On 23 April 2008 the Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, Senator the Hon Kim Carr, asked the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Innovation to undertake an inquiry into research training and research workforce issues in Australian universities.
The Committee invited interested persons and organisations to make submissions addressing the terms of reference by Friday 30 May 2008.

The stage is set for a series of important reforms in higher education, with a range of reports due between now and the end of the year.

The Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations (CAPA) has published a summary of important developments for postgraduate students in an Issues Paper released today.

The stage is set for a series of important reforms in higher education, with a range of reports due between now and the end of the year.

The Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations (CAPA) has published a summary of important developments for postgraduate students in an Issues Paper released today.

The issues paper is available via the link below:

Draft ERA Pilot Submission Guidelines available - Physical, Chemical and Earth Science disciplines. This pilot program for the ERA will run from October 1 through to November 14. Guidelines are available below.

On the 4th of June 2008 Senator Kim Carr, Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, announced the release of the Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) initiative consultation paper.

Administered by Australian Research Council (ARC), the Consultation Paper was the first formal step in communicating with the sector regarding the ERA initiative (it is worth noting that the ERA is being administered by the ARC, whereas its predecessor, the Research Quality Framework (RQF), was administered by the (then) Department of Education, Science and Training(then DEST, now DEEWR)).

KIM Carr's Excellence in Research for Australia initiative so far looks to be a welcome one. The scheme is transparent, comprehensible and doesn't ignore the contribution of early career researchers, including research postgraduates. There are pitfalls inherent in any measure of research quality, but this scheme already represents a remarkable improvement on its predecessor.

A good research assessment initiative avoids creating incentives that work against support for innovation across a broad range of disciplines, regions and institutions.

UNIVERSITIES will lose the right to claim credit for the publications of researchers they have nurtured under a proposal to ensure federal research money follows them from post to post.

The proposal to use the location of researchers at a specified census date rather than the institution where the research activity took place is contained in the Australian Research Council's discussion paper on the federal Government's Excellence in Research for Australia initiative.