The University of Queensland is one of four universities to dominate again the Federal Government's annual allocation based on research performance.
Nationally, the University of Queensland with $21.38 million was one of only four to exceed $20 million. In Queensland, it received almost two-thirds of the $33.8 million for the State.
According to provisional figures contained in the Higher Education Funding Report for the 1997-99 Triennium released this month, the other universities to exceed $20 million as part of the total $221.96 million research quantum available for 1997 were: the University of Melbourne ($28.21 million), the University of Sydney ($22.42 million) and the University of New South Wales ($21.99 million). Between them, the four universities attracted $94 million or 42 percent of the total amount available for 1997.
The research quantum is the research component of university operating grants allocated by the Federal Government on a performance basis to support research not directly linked to teaching and research training.
Institutions receiving the next six highest amounts were: Monash University ($17.65 million), The University of Adelaide ($14.13 million), The University of Western Australia ($14.13 million), Australian National University ($6.48 million), The Flinders University of South Australia ($6.03 million) and University of Newcastle ($5.95 million).
The University of Queensland's result represented a $1.1 million improvement on the $20.27 million received for 1996.
University Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Postgraduate Studies) Professor Peter Sheehan said the University was a quality research institution performing outstandingly in its research across a diverse number of disciplinary strengths.
'The resources acquired are absolutely essential to maintaining those strengths,' Professor Sheehan said.
Since 1995, the research quantum has been calculated according to a composite index (CI) measuring institutions' research performance. The index contains both research input (national competitive grants funding, other public sector research funding and industry and other research funding) and research output (numbers of research and scholarly publications and number of postgraduate degree completions) measures.
Different weightings are assigned to each CI component.
The report also provides information on the total research funding received by institutions for 1997 from competitive grants including Australian Research Council large and small grants, collaborative research grants, research infrastructure grants, research centre funding, fellowships, Australian Postgraduate Awards, Australian Postgraduate Awards (Industry) and Overseas Postgraduate Research Scholarships.
The University of Queensland received the fourth highest total amount nationally ($33.75 million) after the University of Melbourne ($44.59 million), the University of New South Wales ($43.08 million) and the University of Sydney ($41.74 million).
In Queensland, the University attracted 57 percent of the total $59.43 million allocated to the State.
Institutions receiving the next six highest amounts nationally are: Monash University ($26.01 million), University of Adelaide ($25.32 million), University of Western Australia ($23.10 million), Australian National University ($20.69 million), Macquarie University ($13.02 million) and La Trobe University ($12.28 million).
For more information, contact Director, Research Services, Jan Massey (telephone 3365 3640).
