Case Study 9: Internationalisation in Research - University of Adelaide

[next chapter] [previous chapter] [contents]

The University of Adelaide, founded in 1874, is Australia’s third-oldest university. The University is a major partner in 11 Cooperative Research Centres where industry, higher education and government work together on projects of national importance. It has many advanced specialist centres in the sciences, technologies, the environment, business, social sciences, medicine and dentistry. The Waite Campus is the site of one of the Southern Hemisphere's most important agricultural research complexes, while the University is also the United Nations Southern Hemisphere base for UNEP's international postgraduate training course in environmental management.

The University has an enrolment of 14,000 students including 1400 international students from over 70 countries. It offers undergraduate and postgraduate courses in a highly developed and well-recognised research arena. In a recent management restructure, the University’s eleven faculties have been grouped within six divisions for planning, resource allocation and management purposes.

The Vision of the University is that, by the year 2020, the focus and culture of the University will be global.

The University of Adelaide is selected as an example of good practice in its strategies for internationalisation in research because it has a long-standing culture of recognising and promoting the importance of research, it has received high ranking in the Quality Reviews and in the measurement of the research quantum per staff member (the Brennan Index), and because of the high level of success of its applications for research funds.

Adelaide is one of only five universities (Adelaide, Melbourne, Queensland, UWA and UNSW) which were awarded top ranking in the first two quality rounds and top ranking in all but one of the categories in the third round; it is second in the 1996 Brennan Index ranking.

There is a positive "state of mind" towards the importance of research due particularly to the influence of its Vice-Chancellors in the post war years and high profile research academics especially in Agriculture and the Biological Sciences.

Strategy

The high profile research of the University attracted international interest and numerous academic links have been established. The University’s internationalisation plans and expectations are based on two fundamental factors:

Consistent with this international philosophy is the special importance placed on the international research reputation of the applicants in the selection of. senior academic staff.

Thus the University has a culture of internationalisation and, to further this interest, an International Research Plan is being developed. The disparate international research activities across the campus are being coordinated as part of the University’s internationalisation strategy through the Research Management Group. Similarly, the work of the 11 Cooperative Research Centres is being referenced in the University’s internationalisation strategy.

The University’s research has been concentrated in particular areas focussing especially on:

Research training of international postgraduate students is recognised as an important contributor to the University’s research effort and is specially recognised through:

The University aims to have a global focus and culture by the year 2020 and to be the best in the world in selected disciplines.

Two examples of good practice in internationalisation in research have been chosen, one in the Division of Humanities and Social Sciences and one in the Division of Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences.

An excellent example of the internationalisation of research is given by the Department of Geography within the Division of Humanities and Social Sciences. The Department has given special attention to Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and recent activities have been the establishment of the GIS Cooperative of Adelaide (GISCA) and the introduction of the Graduate Course in Applied GIS and Remote Sensing. The GISCA initiative brought together partners from the University, the private sector and government with the stated objectives of providing a high standard training facility in spatial information systems, remote sensing and Unix operating systems. The success of these and related initiatives established a strong base for the successful submission by the University for the Key Centre for Social Applications of GIS.

The Department of Geography of the University of Adelaide is the lead organisation for the Centre, the partners being Flinders University, the University of South Australia, the Australian Bureau of Statistics, two State departments and seven private firms.

Key Centre for Social Applications of Geographical Information Systems

The Key Centre for Social Applications of GIS has brought together a range of expertise, experience, equipment, software and data to carry out basic and applied research, especially in the social application of geographic information systems technology. The Centre has built its research strategy on the fact that, although Australia has one of the most comprehensive social data systems in the world, the effective incorporation of this information into the planning and delivery of community services has been very limited. The Centre’s research activities have been separated into five research clusters:

The Centre’s computerised three-dimensional model of the City of Adelaide was showcased internationally at the Second United Nations Conference for Human Settlements, Habitat II, in Istanbul early in 1996.

The Centre offers strong postgraduate and short courses and, while its prime concerns are directed to issues of national priority, it is recognised that the international dimension is critical for its success through the training of regional students in skills directly relevant their home country’s planning needs and through research directed to the needs of the region.

The Centre is at the forefront in the application of new technologies in its programs and a major focus of research on Population Dynamics has been on small area population forecasting, which has significant international applicability. Substantial collaborative arrangements have been established with universities in The Netherlands, in Canada and in Indonesia from where over 40 students are enrolled in Masters programs and the Centre is developing a database for Indonesia.

A key factor in the successful development of the Centre was the judicious use of Quality funding whereby the investment of $90,000 has resulted in a facility worth in excess of $750,000.

A second example of the successful internationalisation of research is the Special Research Centre for Basic and Applied Plant Molecular Biology.

The University of Adelaide has long possessed great research strengths in Agriculture and the Biological Sciences. While excellent projects had been established in areas such as plant genetics, pathology, physiology and biochemistry, it was recognised that plant molecular biology, so critical to the future of Australian agriculture, lagged behind North America and Europe.

Special Research Centre for Basic and Applied Plant Molecular Biology

The Molecular Virology group has a strong international reputation with a substantial number of international researchers, post-doctoral fellows and postgraduate students.

The Cereal Biotechnology group has targeted molecular marker technology, with in-Australia links and links to the International Mapping programs. The Centre uses and is at the forefront of the development of "state-of-the -art" technology in this area.

The Centre has also targeted cereal transformation, with a well established link with the University of Hamburg.

The Special Research Centre for Basic and Applied Plant Molecular Biology now has achieved critical mass of research personnel, adequately funded to carry out strategic internationally competitive research. The postgraduate training function receives high priority and, together with an active post-doctoral program, helps redress Australia’s shortage of skilled personnel as well as a training ground for international students. In 1996 there are 23 postgraduate students supervised by the staff of the Centre of whom 8 are from overseas.

To rectify this, the Special Research Centre for Basic and Applied Plant Molecular Biology was established in 1991 with Commonwealth funding. The Centre comprises two nodes; one for molecular virology and the other for cereal biotechnology plus the nucleic acid and protein chemistry unit.

Planning and Evaluation

The University undertakes continuous planning and evaluation of its research. Such a process is inherent in the reporting structure of the Cooperative Research Centres and reflects the University’s commitment to achieving systematic quality assurance through best practice and continuous improvement. One of the tools is benchmarking and internal and external benchmarking projects have commenced, with external benchmarking partners including other universities in Australia and overseas. Agreements have been made with Western Australia, Edinburgh and Nottingham.

The Division of Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences is recognised worldwide for the outstanding contribution it has made to agricultural teaching and research for more than 100 years. Its Research Management Plan makes specific reference to national and international priorities in its strategic research; research programs ........which accord most closely with Australia’s export opportunities and targeting specific countries and carefully chosen topics for international collaborative programs. Reference is also made to research links with national and international institutions.

Benefits of the Strategy

Benefits of internationalisation in the University’s research include:

For the University:

For postgraduate students:

Nationally:

Internationally: