A procedure for identifying performance indicators of university research attainment are presented, and definitional issues concerning these indicators are examined. The model, developed at the University of Western Australia, is seen as allowing for both diversity and comparability across the institution. It is stressed that an underlying…

This reprinted 1971 article reports on analysis of a 1968 survey of 221 research administrators in terms of organizational affiliation, duties and responsibilities, titles, and educational background. The paper argues that administration is like the doughnut hole, but research is the doughnut, and points out that research as an activity needs to…

The experience of Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville suggests that encouraging research office staff to apply for grants can be a rewarding learning experience and can improve office visibility and credibility, staff confidence and professionalism, and staff sensitivity to faculty involved in grants development. (MSE)

A study explored the links between success in receiving federal funding and characteristics of research/sponsored programs offices at 46 state-supported higher education institutions. A linear predictive model indicated funding success could be predicted from the level of direct institutional commitment to research and grant-seeking efforts.…

Planning, creation, and current operation of the Transgenic Mouse Research Facility at the New York University Kaplan Cancer Center are discussed. The university considered need, space, funding, supervision, and marketing and followed a logical and structured management process embodying both scientific and administrative input. (Author/MSE)

A Society of Research Administrators national survey of research administrators gathered information on their organizational units, funding, professional, educational and personal characteristics, and areas of professional experience and involvement. Results are reported as compiled questionnaire response data and in the form of an administrator…

A new model for administration of institutional research in small colleges is proposed as an alternative to the traditional centralized program model. Application of the model for two years suggests that its decentralized but integrated approach responds well to the institution's internal and external research needs. (MSE)

When conflict-of-interest issues affect research programs and sponsored activities, research administrators make take several crucial roles: participant/advisor in forming, implementing, and overseeing relevant institutional policies and guidelines; counselor to develop ways of avoiding conflict-of-interest situations; and mediator-expeditor for…

The role of the university research administrator has evolved from that of "mediator-expeditor" among faculty, university, and sponsor to that of regulator of the grants process. This has had a significant impact on the kinds of research administration jobs available, characteristics of research administrators, and nature and content of…

Discusses the international negotiations and cooperation involved in cross-national studies of academic achievement sponsored by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement. Criticizes a previous article for its views of which research is and is not policy relevant; the relationship between between-country and…

The history of university research suggests that it has generated a form of social contract, previously implicit but becoming explicit, due in part to the emerging links between government and university. This contract has changed over time and will become even more compelling. Educators are urged to view this as an opportunity for finding new…

This article uses the political struggles that have enveloped the research assessment exercises (RAEs) to interpret the UK's current funding council model of governance. Ironically, the apparently widespread improvement in the research performance of British universities, as demonstrated by RAE 2001, has made it more difficult to distribute…

Although education researchers have spent years pondering what makes a good school or a good lesson, not much thought has gone into what makes a good researcher. Does the job require extensive training in a wide range of research methods? Or is it better to become an expert in just one? Should a budding education researcher steep himself or…

This article portrays the research development strategies followed by a University of Technology in an attempt to increase and sustain a research culture. It discusses the approach of research development through building structural and intellectual capacity amongst the existing population of researchers which includes, predominantly, lecturing…

An evaluation was done of the State University of New York (SUNY) Research Foundation's controls over direct expenditures for research and sponsored activities. The Foundation is a private, non-profit educational corporation established to expand the educational mission of SUNY through fund raising, administration of gifts and grants, and…