Universities Australia | 4 December 2015
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The inaugural State of Australian University Research 2015–16: Volume 1 ERA National Report comprehensively details the quality of Australian university research benchmarked against world standards. It identifies the excellence in research across a broad range of universities and the outstanding performances in areas of specialisation. Overall the quality of Australian university research continues to improve.
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The report confirms Australia’s university research performance is amongst the best in the world.
In 2015, 89% of the assessed research areas in Australian universities is rated as world class, up from 68% in 2010.
The number of research fields deemed “national research strengths” for Australia also doubled – up from 20 in 2012 to 43 this year.
To qualify for that status, 10 or more institutions must be producing “above world standard” research, with four or more of them contributing work rated “well-above” world-standard.
Universities Australia chief executive Belinda Robinson says:
This latest data reveals the full depth and strength of the research done by our universities. It also confirms the very high quality of the research from our universities – a national imperative to drive economic transformation. The results … can make the nation proud of the contribution that our universities make to the global research effort, in delivering the big research breakthroughs and producing the solutions that companies and the wider community are seeking.
Key points
- 89% of university research areas assessed were rated as “at or above world standard”;
- Australia has 43 areas of national strength in diverse areas of research – including health and medical, science, engineering, history and culture research; and,
- The number of patents has grown by 20% and the number of research “outputs” has risen by 5% since 2012.