RESEARCH EXCELLENCE

All in a league of their own

Bernard Lane IN Lake Wobegon, the mythical town of US satirist Garrison Keillor, "all the children are above average".

Unis put best spin on research performance scores

Andrew Trounson SOME crowed from the rooftops, others complained, and a few claimed to be better than their numbers.

Macquarie top dog for plant evolution

Julie Hare AS leader of the Genes to Geoscience Research Centre at Macquarie University, Mark Westoby is in the vanguard of research into plant evolution and ecology.

More than mates' ratings

Andrew Trounson THE head of the Australian Research Council has had to defend the world-standard benchmark used in its Excellence in Research for Australia exercise.

Hard work begins to reinforce research

Julie Hare, Higher education editor THE ERA process showed many of our universities fail global standards.

Expensive exercise in subjectivity

James Allan THE ERA process was opaque and produced shonky data with a faux gloss of objectivity.

Research ranking ensures taxes are well spent

Kim Carr QUALITY assurance is the aim of the ERA process.

Doherty favours funding boost for bigger advances

Jill Rowbotham NOBEL Laureate Peter Doherty has said the Excellence for Research in Australia exercise shows the existing competitive funding mechanisms are working well.

Cross-disciplinary dilemma for some

Bernard Lane JANE Hall is recognised as a leader in health economics.

Sandstones face growing competition

Peter Hoj and Caroline McMillen THE Excellence in Research for Australia results highlight two strong messages for Australian research.

Experimental boost likely for the creative arts

Jill Rowbotham ARTISTS who are also academics may push the experimental boundaries even further following Australia's first research quality assessment exercise.

Areas below world class at greater risk

Gavin Moodie WHAT is possibly less expected from the ERA report is the extent of research strength in the non-Go8 universities.

Gem of a centre at Macquarie

Bernard Lane EARTH sciences is on a roll at Macquarie University.

ERA lays bare research myths

Julie Hare and Andrew Trounson MISSION-BASED compacts can be used to drive a multi-layered higher education sector, but only if there is the political will.

Scattergun sector needs some diversity

Julie Hare THE release of the Excellence in Research for Australia report yesterday will give a few university bosses cause for introspection.

Most unis below par on research

EXCLUSIVE Julie Hare, Higher education editor MORE than two-thirds of Australia's universities have an overall research performance that doesn't reach international benchmarks.

Physical sciences leading the pack

Bernard Lane KEY science fields outperformed the humanities and social sciences in the first official audit of university research quality

Absence of top-flight experts

Luke Slattery THE phrase "punching above their weight" applies to a number of Australia's scientific research institutions.

Engineering focus pays off for CQU

Jill Rowbotham CENTRAL Queensland University's commitment to engineering has been recognised as world standard, according to an ERA exercise

No link between discovery and teaching

Andrew Trounson RESEARCH measurement has stripped away the comfortable notion that all universities are comprehensive with significant research

From legal studies to crickets

Julie Hare, Andrew Trounson HILARY Charlesworth admits she had doubts about how her discipline, law, would go in the first assessment of Australian research quality