National Assessments of Research Excellence and Impact: UK and Australian Experience

Abstract

This chapter reviews recent developments in assessing research quality and impact within a number of national higher education systems. It focuses particularly on government initiated and mandated schemes that are employed not only to serve the needs of public accountability and international benchmarking but also to allocate substantial sums of block research funding within diverse national higher education systems. Particular attention is paid to the British and Australian experience over the past two to three decades, with a focus on common themes in the search for replacement mechanisms.