Supporting quality research in institutions of higher education

OVER the past three decades, governments and universities in OECD countries have relied mainly on six different mechanisms to safeguard quality in uni versity research: competitive allocation of research funding to institution s; competitive funding of research projects using peer review; use of peer review by scholarly journals; citation indices; performance indicators; and external reviews. More recently, many countries have added new quality ass urance mechanisms which have included emphasis on research, particularly 'h orizontal' reviews of disciplines and 'vertical' academic audits. Two recen t Australian developments of importance have been the national program of q uality assurance from 1993-1995 and use of the Composite index for allocati on of the Research Quantum.