ITI Articles

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Private education providers intend to contest the Performance Based Research Fund this year, most of them citing respect and reputation as key to their decision to put staff research portfolios forward for evaluation.

All five were among the seven private providers that entered the PBRF quality evaluation in 2003 and expected to improve on the results they received in that round. Those results ranged from Carey Baptist College’s institution score of 1.16 to the Bethlehem Institute’s score of zero, and saw three providers, Carey, Anamata, and the Bible College of New Zealand, rank above Auckland University of Technology, Unitec, Waikato Institute of Technology and all four colleges of education.

Both Carey and the Bible College were set to enter this year’s PBRF, but Anamata had not responded to Education Review’s inquiries. Other 2003 entrants that said they would enter the PBRF were Whitecliffe College of Arts and Design, AIS St Helens, and the Bethlehem Institute.

Te Whare Wananga o Te Pihopatanga o Aotearoa, which entered the 2003 evaluation, would not enter this year’s evaluation.

Independent Tertiary Institutions Executive Director Dave Guerin expected more PTEs to enter this year’s PBRF than in 2003. Guerin said one factor likely to drive up participation was that more money would be at stake because the full amount of research funding would be removed from Student Component subsidies and placed in the PBRF from next year.

Guerin said ITI’s members believed they were doing a good job, and the PBRF provided them with an opportunity to prove that. He noted that some provided postgraduate programmes, and were therefore particularly keen to prove they were doing good research and to recoup money lost to the PBRF from their Student Component funding.

Carey Baptist College director of the RJ Thompson Centre for Theological Studies, Martin Sutherland, said the organisation expected to enter about 10 full-time equivalent staff in the PBRF, about the same number as in 2003. Sutherland said the college expected to significantly improve its quality score because it had been working hard since the 2003 event on the research outputs for a number of faculty members. He said the college contested the PBRF because it recognised the link between research and teaching at degree and postgraduate level and because funding was involved. The bragging rights of getting a good score in the PBRF were not a big consideration as they did not help attract undergraduate students, but could be useful in establishing links with other institutions, including overseas organisations. Sutherland agreed that it might be easier for an institute with a small number of PBRF-eligible staff to improve its PBRF score significantly that it would be for a larger institution.

The college recently announced the creation of a joint postgraduate venture with the Bible College. The Tyndale-Carey College would provide Masters programmes and support doctoral candidates who were studying with the University of Otago or Australian College of Theology.

Bible College dean of studies Tim Meadowcroft said his institution was concentrating on those staff who had a realistic chance of improving their grade. Meadowcroft said the college’s participation was driven by the funding issue and also by its own mission to under take research. The PBRF would provide a benchmark for that research and a point for comparison with other organisations.

Bethlehem Institute Executive Dean Amy Edwards said the Institute’s return to the PBRF showed that it was serious about doing research and doing it to the required level. Edwards said the Institute would aim to improve its score in every PBRF, but for its internal benchmarking rather than for competitive purposes and was likely to enter between four and six staff.

Te Whare Wananga o Te Pihopatanga o Aotearoa tumuaki Pare Aratema said the wananga would not contest this year’s PBRF because, though it offered two degrees, it was not worth its while.
“The funding is not worth the effort we put into it,” she said.

AIS St Helens Academic Director Mike Roberts said about 20 of the organisation’s staff were eligible for the PBRF because they were engaged in degree teaching and he expected between 10 and 15 would submit evidence portfolios. AIS St Helens had an institution-level score of 0.22 in the 2003 PBRF, placing it above Wellington and Christchurch Colleges of Education and the Bethlehem Institute, and Roberts expected the institution to improve its score in this year’s round. He said the result would not mean a lot of money for AIS St Helens, and credibility as a degree provider was the main reason for entering the PBRF this year.

Whitecliffe College of Arts and Design Chief Executive John Shaw said participation in the PBRF enhanced the reputations of the college and of its staff. “Last time we came eighth in New Zealand in research productivity and we hope to enhance or maintain that position,” he said. Shaw said about 25 per cent of the institution’s students were in degree or postgraduate programmes and about half of its staff were expected to submit evidence portfolios.

Written by John Gerritsen

PTEs and the PBRF – who’s in and who’s out

In
AIS St Helens
Bethlehem Institute
Bible College of New Zealand
Carey Baptist College
Whitecliffe College of Arts and Design

Out
Te Whare Wananga o Te Pihopatanga o Aotearoa

Unknown
Anamata