Research Assessment Exercise : Report 2023 : International evaluation of research at the University of Vaasa
Vaasan yliopisto
31.01.2023
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-395-063-4
https://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-395-063-4
Tiivistelmä
The University of Vaasa is a business-oriented and multidisciplinary science university established in 1968. The university’s strategy focuses on three areas of research: management and change, finance and economic decision-making, and energy and sustainable development. It highlights multidisciplinary research with strong disciplinary knowledge integrated through research platforms to support solving important global challenges. The core mission is to advance new knowledge and to “Energise Business and Society.” The University of Vaasa has a core faculty of 584 and 5,203 students with 190 international students and 296 PhD students. International accreditations, unique research infrastructure, and partnerships with global businesses and organisations make the University of Vaasa a trusted and valued partner within both regional and international innovation ecosystems.
The Universities Act (Section 87. Evaluation (Amendment 1302/2013)) stipulates that universities must
evaluate their research activities. In line with the strategy of the University of Vaasa, the university evaluates its research activities every five years in order to strengthen the quality of the research internationally, to advance academic and societal impacts of the research, and to further develop the research activities and environment. The previous research evaluations were carried out in 2010 and in 2015. This third research evaluation covered research activities from 2015 to 2020. Diversity, meaningfulness, and focus on future were important features of the research assessment exercise (RAE). The RAE was carried out as a multilevel and multidimensional evaluation targeting research environment, research cooperation and funding, publications, and scientific activities including societal impact. In addition to research groups and the university as a whole, it focused on schools and platforms. The evaluation material and the expert panels’ interviews thus covered three different levels of the university organisation.
A Steering Committee consisting of members of the Research Council of the University of Vaasa (2021–2023) was nominated to support and guide the research evaluation. The RAE Univaasa 2022 followed practices of responsible evaluation. Engagement of the research units and researchers was an important aspect of the evaluation process. The evaluation team designed, organised, and implemented the different phases of the RAE in collaboration with the heads of the schools, platforms, and research group leaders. All evaluated units got basic summaries of their research output and bibliometric reports before preparing their self-evaluation reports. The material and the bibliometric reports aimed to provide the units tools for self-reflection and further development of their research. In addition to the CWTS analysis prepared by Leiden University, SciVal analyses on Scopus publications were performed for each unit by the Tritonia Academic Library. Bibliometric analyses also included results from AI-analysis of the themes of open access publications (OSUVA, 2018-2021).
The external evaluation was performed by five panels of independent scientific experts. Four of the panels were discipline-specific (based on the school’s disciplines). These school-based panels were asked to provide written comments by comparing each research group’s research to the international and national level of research in the respective field. Based on the research group level evaluations, each school-based panel was asked to offer an overall assessment of the school’s research activities and quality of research. A separate team of the panellists were responsible for the assessment of the three research platforms. The University Panel, consisting of the panel chair and the chairs of the school-based panels, was asked to provide an integrating evaluation of the quality of research activities and environment at the University of Vaasa and to offer recommendations for how the university should develop its research. The results of the assessment and the expert panels’ reports and recommendations will have an effect on the strategic development of research within the university from 2023 onwards.
Evaluation indicated that several research groups are currently at a high international level. The areas represented at the University of Vaasa are ones where excellent researchers have many possibilities. The societal impact of research and the industrial cooperation with regional businesses and also the wider interaction with the society work very well at the University of Vaasa. The flexibility of the cooperation seems to be far greater than in many other universities. Many of the projects contribute clearly to the research and the education of the university and provide useful information for the companies the research groups partner with. However, building international research capacity will remain challenging. This is partly a product of the size of the University and the research groups, most of which are relatively small and rely on a small number of high performing professors.
The international experts gave several recommendations on how to improve the quality of research at the University of Vaasa. Externally funded projects that support the university’s aim to become an international research university should be encouraged. The experts suggested that the strategy is augmented with more concrete goals on the research focus, quality, and volume. The implementation plan should specify at some level what would be the areas, or modes of operation, in which the university wants to excel, and how this excellence is going to be measured. Recruitment should be prioritised based on the strategy of the university and the availability of excellent people. The university also should consider using international Professors of Practice and inviting more international Visiting Professorships. Moreover, increased possibilities for faculty and PhD students to engage in international activities could boost production of top-level research.
The panels also assessed the role of the evaluated units and the internal cooperation within the university. The research groups vary a lot in their size, but also in their cohesion. The panellists saw that in terms of organisation, some groups were tight clusters, while other groups did not seem to have a clear structure. They considered that it would be very useful if each researcher would have an intellectual home base at the university. The panellists perceived the relationship between research groups and platforms to be unclear. The model was considered complicated relative to the size of the schools and the university. The panellists suggested reviewing the role and form of the platforms. In particular, the panellists suggested that in relation to the service of schools and their research groups, the platforms should have a supporting role, instead of trying to form research identities of their own. However, the panellists also considered that there is no definite need to have all the platforms operate in the same way.
The Universities Act (Section 87. Evaluation (Amendment 1302/2013)) stipulates that universities must
evaluate their research activities. In line with the strategy of the University of Vaasa, the university evaluates its research activities every five years in order to strengthen the quality of the research internationally, to advance academic and societal impacts of the research, and to further develop the research activities and environment. The previous research evaluations were carried out in 2010 and in 2015. This third research evaluation covered research activities from 2015 to 2020. Diversity, meaningfulness, and focus on future were important features of the research assessment exercise (RAE). The RAE was carried out as a multilevel and multidimensional evaluation targeting research environment, research cooperation and funding, publications, and scientific activities including societal impact. In addition to research groups and the university as a whole, it focused on schools and platforms. The evaluation material and the expert panels’ interviews thus covered three different levels of the university organisation.
A Steering Committee consisting of members of the Research Council of the University of Vaasa (2021–2023) was nominated to support and guide the research evaluation. The RAE Univaasa 2022 followed practices of responsible evaluation. Engagement of the research units and researchers was an important aspect of the evaluation process. The evaluation team designed, organised, and implemented the different phases of the RAE in collaboration with the heads of the schools, platforms, and research group leaders. All evaluated units got basic summaries of their research output and bibliometric reports before preparing their self-evaluation reports. The material and the bibliometric reports aimed to provide the units tools for self-reflection and further development of their research. In addition to the CWTS analysis prepared by Leiden University, SciVal analyses on Scopus publications were performed for each unit by the Tritonia Academic Library. Bibliometric analyses also included results from AI-analysis of the themes of open access publications (OSUVA, 2018-2021).
The external evaluation was performed by five panels of independent scientific experts. Four of the panels were discipline-specific (based on the school’s disciplines). These school-based panels were asked to provide written comments by comparing each research group’s research to the international and national level of research in the respective field. Based on the research group level evaluations, each school-based panel was asked to offer an overall assessment of the school’s research activities and quality of research. A separate team of the panellists were responsible for the assessment of the three research platforms. The University Panel, consisting of the panel chair and the chairs of the school-based panels, was asked to provide an integrating evaluation of the quality of research activities and environment at the University of Vaasa and to offer recommendations for how the university should develop its research. The results of the assessment and the expert panels’ reports and recommendations will have an effect on the strategic development of research within the university from 2023 onwards.
Evaluation indicated that several research groups are currently at a high international level. The areas represented at the University of Vaasa are ones where excellent researchers have many possibilities. The societal impact of research and the industrial cooperation with regional businesses and also the wider interaction with the society work very well at the University of Vaasa. The flexibility of the cooperation seems to be far greater than in many other universities. Many of the projects contribute clearly to the research and the education of the university and provide useful information for the companies the research groups partner with. However, building international research capacity will remain challenging. This is partly a product of the size of the University and the research groups, most of which are relatively small and rely on a small number of high performing professors.
The international experts gave several recommendations on how to improve the quality of research at the University of Vaasa. Externally funded projects that support the university’s aim to become an international research university should be encouraged. The experts suggested that the strategy is augmented with more concrete goals on the research focus, quality, and volume. The implementation plan should specify at some level what would be the areas, or modes of operation, in which the university wants to excel, and how this excellence is going to be measured. Recruitment should be prioritised based on the strategy of the university and the availability of excellent people. The university also should consider using international Professors of Practice and inviting more international Visiting Professorships. Moreover, increased possibilities for faculty and PhD students to engage in international activities could boost production of top-level research.
The panels also assessed the role of the evaluated units and the internal cooperation within the university. The research groups vary a lot in their size, but also in their cohesion. The panellists saw that in terms of organisation, some groups were tight clusters, while other groups did not seem to have a clear structure. They considered that it would be very useful if each researcher would have an intellectual home base at the university. The panellists perceived the relationship between research groups and platforms to be unclear. The model was considered complicated relative to the size of the schools and the university. The panellists suggested reviewing the role and form of the platforms. In particular, the panellists suggested that in relation to the service of schools and their research groups, the platforms should have a supporting role, instead of trying to form research identities of their own. However, the panellists also considered that there is no definite need to have all the platforms operate in the same way.