Sydney's results
Introduction
The Excellence in Research for Australia (or ERA) assessment is "Australia's national research evaluation framework" to understand the quality of research produced across 42 Australian institutions. The assessment facilitates the identification of leaders in current and emerging fields of research. It also facilitates benchmarking of research breadth and depth against global institutions and countries.
Background
Since the initial assessment in 2010, institutions are assessed every three years and the results are released publicly. Areas of research are grouped into Fields of Research (FoRs) codes as defined by the Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (2008) system. There are three sets of FoRs: two-digit, four-digit and six-digit codes; the latter of these is not assessed within ERA.
Two-digit codes group research into broad subject areas or divisions. For example, the two-digit FoR code 17 represents all research within the subject area of Psychology and Cognitive Sciences. Four-digit codes are areas of research that can be logically grouped within a division (i.e., a two-digit FoR code). For example, the four-digit FoR code of 1702 represents all research relating to Cognitive Psychology. Six-digit FoR codes provide a more granular breakdown of research areas. For example, the six-digit FoR 170201 is specific to research in Computer Perception, Memory and Attention.
The Fields of Research (FoR) classifcation system allows for consistent assessment of research across institutions using a standardised rating system. Each institution receives a rating of 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 per FoR code where a rating of 5 is the best possible result. Institutions may receive a rating of "not assessed" (NA) if the institution did not meet the minimum criteria or they did not prepare a submission for an FoR. The official definitions of each rating can be found under What do the results mean? on the Interpreting the data page.
Purpose
The purpose of this report is to provide an overview of the results for the University of Sydney at the two- and four-digit FoR levels. This report is structured into three sections. The first section summarises the ratings by ERA assessment at the two-digit and four-digit code level. The second section discusses the change in ratings across all two- and four-digit FoR codes from ERA 2015 to ERA 2018. The final section shows the change in ratings by four-digit FoR code.
Additional information about the ERA assessment can be found on the Interpreting the data page and The ERA Assessment page. Further information is available on the ERA intranet site.
Summary of results
This section focuses on the number of FoRs achieving each rating, which provides a concise overview of performance.
Number of two-digit FoRs by ERA rating
To get an overall picture of the University’s performance, we look at the total number of two-digit FoRs that received a rating of 3, 4, and 5 by ERA assessment year. In the chart below, the total number of two-digit FoRs for the 2012, 2015 and 2018 assessments are grouped by rating.
- 2012
- 2015
- 2018
Number of four-digit FoRs by ERA rating
To further understand the University’s performance, we will look at the number of four-digit FoRs that received a rating of 3, 4, and 5 by ERA assessment year. This provides a more detailed look at the types of ratings received for research themes.
In the following chart, the number of four-digit FoRs rated 3 declined across the 2012, 2015, and 2018 assessments as more four-digit FoRs received a rating of 5.
- 2012
- 2015
- 2018
Summary of changes
The previous section presents the number of FoRs achieving each rating. The focus now shifts to examining the change in the number of FoRs by rating between the ERA 2015 and ERA 2018 assessments.
Change in four-digit FoRs by rating
The chart below shows the change in the number of four-digit FoRs rated 3, 4, and 5 over the last two assessments. The total number of four-digit FoRs that received a rating of 3, 4, or 5 in 2015 are displayed on the left, while the corresponding figures for 2018 are displayed on the right.
Since ERA 2015, there was an overall increase in the number of four-digit FoRs rated 5 (50 FoRs; up from 48 FoRs in ERA 2015). The salient result was a substantial decrease in the number of FoRs rated 3, and a concomitant increase in the FoRs rated 4.
Change in four-digit FoRs by two-digit FoR and rating
The previous chart displays the change in rating of all four-digit FoRs at the University, which gives a broad indication of improved research performance. The following chart displays change in ratings between ERA 2015 and ERA 2018 grouped by broad field of research (i.e., by two-digit FoR code).
Results by FoR
The previous section provides a summary of the change in ratings over time. The following table facilitates a deeper dive into the results by revealing which specific four-digit FoRs changed from ERA 2015 to ERA 2018. Use the following filters to limit the results by two-digit FoR code and to focus on specific types of ratings changes (i.e., improved, decreased, no change, or not assessed).
Further reading
This report focuses on the ERA results for the University of Sydney. Additional information about the ERA assessment can be found on our Interpreting the data page and The ERA assessment page. Further information is available on the ERA intranet site.