PBRF Results – a response to Nigel Haworth

PBRF Results – a response to Nigel Haworth
Press Release: Carey Baptist College
Friday 4 May 2007

‘Carey Baptist College is happy with its progress in research development and does not at all feel out of place in the PBRF process’, says Dr Martin Sutherland of the college.

‘Dr Nigel Haworth of the University of Auckland and as President of the Association of University Staff has criticised the PBRF process and in particular called into question the place of institutions like Carey Baptist College in the exercise. Sadly, he demonstrates the blinkered approach too often encountered among university staff. He completely misses the point that the PBRF Quality Score is just that, a measure of quality, not quantity. Of course the Universities produce the greatest bulk of research – that is more than recognised in the funding formulas which are also part of the PBRF process.’

‘Specialist Colleges are not universities and do not aspire to become them. They have a range of responsibilities which are different from those of the universities and which lead to different priorities. However, they can be effective and efficient in their areas of research expertise – as, indeed, Carey has shown itself to be in both PBRF rounds. That Carey Baptist College has achieved a rating nearer those of the smaller universities than the polytechnics and the rest of the private sector is the more remarkable given the fact that it is currently funded at less than a third of the rate per student that the universities enjoy.

‘The outstanding feature of Carey Baptist College’s result is that the quality of its research is recognised as being far ahead of anyone else outside the universities. Those genuinely interested in the development of tertiary education and scholarship in New Zealand might better expend their energies celebrating such successes rather than defending their patch.’

ENDS

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