An analysis of funding allocations for staff and research degree completions in the Performance-Based Research Fund

Introduction

In each year, the Performance-Based Research Fund (PBRF) contains a fixed sum¹ that is allocated according to how Tertiary Education Organisations (TEOs) rate on three measures of research performance. So the level of funding for each PBRF eligible staff member and for each research degree completion is unknown at the start of each year. The funding allocations under the PBRF depend on the results of the quality evaluation, the number of research degree completions and the value of the external research income earned by TEOs. This paper analyses the amount of funding generated under the PBRF by each category of research degree completion and by each quality category for staff. It explores incentives provided to TEOs by those funding levels. The funding per researcher and per research degree completion is calculated under the assumption that the PBRF had been fully implemented in 2004². This allows for the full effect of the policy settings and the incentives they create to be evaluated.

Footnotes:

1. The fixed sum is calculated from estimated research top up funding and additional budget allocations. Total indicative PBRF funding was $18.2 million and $46.3 million in 2004 and 2005, respectively.
2. The PBRF is being phased in gradually over the period between 2004 and 2007. In 2004, 10 percent of the estimated research top up funding was diverted to the PBRF along with an additional budget allocation.

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