Excellence in research - where is it?
31 March 2011, by Prof Alan Pettigrew
The Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) National Report 2010 has been in the public arena since January this year. Naturally enough the report has attracted considerable attention across the university sector. Some of this attention has arisen from the universities themselves as they describe their place in the perceived hierarchy of the nation’s research institutions. Some individuals in the academic community have also commented upon the nature of the ERA methodology. Relatively little attention appears to have been given yet to the distribution of Australia’s excellence as measured by the ERA across the 180 or so (2 and 4 digit) coded disciplines that were the subject of the report.
Leadership and management of international partnerships
31 March 2011, by Prof Robin Middlehurst
The nature and number of ‘international partnerships’ has become a matter of strategic concern to institutions as they seek to develop comprehensive internationalisation strategies or to follow a trajectory towards recognised ‘world-class’ status. The search for sound partners and sustainable forms of partnership are significant and difficult issues for institutional leaders, managers and governing boards, particularly in an international context which is increasingly complex and volatile.