Quality and Renewal 2011 (Q&R11)
In 2006-07 Uppsala University became the first university in Sweden to carry out a self-initiated evaluation of all research activities at one and the same time, Quality and Renewal 2007 (Q&R07). In 2010-11 a second assessment was performed, Quality and Renewal 2011 (Q&R11), with the same format and structure.
The purpose and goals were:
- To chart the areas of strength and successful research constellations in the University’s research operations
- To facilitate renewal by identifying budding and possible new research directions with great potential for development
- To reinforce quality by providing a basis for targeted support and strategic decisions
- (For Q&R11: To follow up how recommendations and conclusions from Q&R07 had been dealt with at various levels throughout the University.)
The evaluation was carried out along two tracks, which were held as separate as possible from each other. The first track was based on peer review, whereby external subject experts visited departments and groups for a week to obtain a concrete picture of the conditions, operations and outcomes of research.
The second track consisted of a so-called bibliometric analysis, in which the academic production of various departments, in the form of publications and citations thereof, was compared with equivalent subjects/fields in an international perspective.
Q&R11 involved ca 200 experts, divided into 25 different subject panels corresponding to the research at the University’s 60 departments.
The underlying material for the panels’ conclusions and recommendations.
The panels each presented a report with conclusions and recommendations along with a ranking of the research level, assessed in an international perspective and on a five-point scale (Top-quality/world leading level, internationally high standard, internationally recognized, acceptable, insufficient).
After Q&R07 evaluations were carried out at Lund University and the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm (2008), the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (2009), and the University of Gothenburg, Örebro University and the Karolinska Institutet (2010). A second assessment cycle can be said to have started with Q&R11 at Uppsala, continuing with a new evaluation at Lund University in 2013.