In 2004, all national universities in Japan, which had previously been legally subordinate to the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), became separate National University Corporations. With this change, the importance of securing competitive funding increased significantly, and university researchers have had to…

This article begins by raising issues around the way in which ethical approval for research is managed in university settings, where committees often base their assumptions on a principlist approach making a number of assumptions that we consider to be contestable, such as a neat separation between researcher and researched. However, collaborative…

Smaller universities may produce research which is on a par with larger, elite establishments. This is confirmed by a recently developed mathematical model, supported by data from British and French higher education research-evaluation exercises. The detailed nature of the UK system, in particular, allows quantification of the notion of critical…

With the exception of academics, occupational groups within universities remain relatively under-researched. Based upon qualitative interviews with 27 research administrators in 19 UK universities, this article reports on a small-scale qualitative project to investigate the workday worlds of these "boundary-crossing" and…

Effective June 8, 1995, new patent laws resulting from the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) will become effective. Some would protect researcher rights to intellectual property. Others may make it harder for institutions to commercialize on faculty and graduate student research due to shortened patent terms. (MSE)

Stanford University (California) and the United States Navy have settled a dispute over 12 years of charges for research overhead, and the Navy has issued a rule requiring universities to negotiate multiyear overhead rates when appropriate data are available. Stanford agreed to pay back a total of $3.4-million. (MSE)

Enormous enrollment growth has created substantial management problems for Dutch universities. Based on the idea that government research policy should stimulate, not weaken, university capabilities to improve their management, a system of research schools has been integrated into the higher education system to better concentrate teaching and…

Differentiates between the legal functions that college- and university-sponsored research officers are required to perform and the quasi-legal functions in research administration. Introduces and discusses legal concepts integral to research administration, and offers practical pointers in carrying out both legal and quasi-legal functions.…

Finland has developed a national computerized database containing information on the performance and costs of universities for use in internal and Ministry of Education decision making. National evaluation of different research fields is also part of the performance evaluation system. (MSE)

A discussion of the management of research as a function of central university administration focuses on three topics: development of institutional plans for research management; issues of intellectual property as they concern institution and staff; and the establishment and management of research centers. These issues are addressed in the context…

The development of the technology transfer program at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston is described. Key elements in their approach include identification of research strengths and programs that have potential of patentable, commercially profitable technology; education of faculty and administrators; identification of…

After a continuing effort to improve its grant application process, the department of medical microbiology and immunology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is submitting many more applications and realizing increased funding. The methods and strategy used to make the process more efficient and effective are outlined. (Author/MSE)

Changes in private and public sectors are redefining the university research administrator's role, shifting it from a management to a marketing perspective. Increasingly, administrators are accountable for responsible use of both research results and funds. This trend is providing new opportunities for professional growth. (Author/MSE)

The American Technological University's pursuit of external funding through grants and contracts is described, and recommendations for staffing, policy, and practice related to sponsored programs are made. (MSE)

Saint Louis University has achieved a no-cost expansion of its staff and services by implementing a graduate-level Research Administration Practicum. The practicum has a dual focus: to enhance the graduate experience by integrating research skills and theory with practice; and to provide more staff at minimal expense. (MLW)