The Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, Senator Kim Carr, today announced the timeframe for the Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) trial, which will evaluate the Physical, Chemical and Earth Sciences (PCE) and Humanities and Creative Arts (HCA) clusters.
 
“The Australian Government is committed to the development of a world-class research quality and evaluation system that has the confidence of the sector,” Senator Carr said.

“Recent feedback on the ERA Submission Guidelines and ERA–SEER Technical Specifications raised concerns about the proposed timing of the ERA trial.

“To ensure universities are adequately prepared for the trial, submissions for the PCE cluster will now commence in June 2009, and submissions for the HCA cluster will commence in August 2009.

“The outcomes of these trials will inform the full ERA process in 2010.
 
“This timeframe will ensure that universities are able to collect and submit quality and accurate data for ERA.

“Recent feedback also raised concerns about the scope of some of the data to be collected.

“Following this feedback, esteem indicators will not be included in the ERA trial. I have asked the ARC to further investigate the collection of esteem indicators, which will be included in future evaluations.

“The expert review and feedback that the ARC has received so far has been crucial in shaping ERA.

“I trust universities will be pleased with the timeframe I have announced today and I ask that they continue to provide constructive feedback on ERA to the ARC.”

The ARC will release the final ERA Submission Guidelines and ERA–SEER Technical Specifications for the trial, in early March. You can find out more about ERA at www.arc.gov.au

Media contacts:
Patrick Pantano, Minister's office, 0417 181 936
Sheena Ireland, ARC, 0412 623 056