Late in 2023, the university conducted a research quality assurance exercise to determine the effectiveness of its research plans, and to measure the extent to which research meets the world standard threshold in the fields of education in which we teach. The research quality assurance exercise encompasses internal assessments of the quality of the research outcomes completed by the Faculties of Bond University and external reviews of those self-assessments conducted by independent expert assessors. The input from independent research experts to provides verification of our evidence for inclusion in our submission to the TEQSA re-registration process. This is outlined in the 2023 Research Quality and Assurance Report.
The quality of research at Bond was last externally assessed as part of the ARC 2018 Excellence in Research for Australia Assessment (ERA). This historical assessment has limited current relevance as it relates to research outcomes during the reference period 2011 – 2016. Bond University has implemented many research improvement initiatives since that time. Our research plans have included strategies to recruit and retain talented researchers, develop research capacity and introduction of research quality assurance policies and processes to further enhance research performance. These initiatives have resulted in significant improvements in research outcomes across all areas of the university. For example, in 2023 more than 65% of Bond research was published in the top quartile of research journals in the world. Bond was well prepared for the intended 2023 ERA and was anticipating favourable assessments. Unfortunately, the intended 2023 was cancelled, and the ARC has not yet firmly committed to the nature and timing of future nationwide assessments. In the absence of an external review process, such as the ERA, the University must provide other verifiable evidence of the quality of the research we conduct.
Bond researchers conduct research across ten of the broad Fields of Research (FoR) set out by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The research outcomes for six of those FoR have been assessed by the responsible Bond University Faculty and an independent external expert for each FoR. The results of those assessments are that the research outcomes for four of the FoR are rated, by both the lead Faculty and the independent expert, as being ‘above world standard’, and that the research outcomes for two of the FoR are rated by the independent experts as being ‘at world standard’. The remaining four FoR have not been assessed because Bond does not conduct material volumes of research in these areas, so it is not possible to reasonably rate the research. These results indicate that our strategy of focusing on areas of strength and our research plans have been successful in improving the overall research outcomes for the university.