Site visits of expert panels to public research institutes, organized within the thematic review carried out by the Agency for Science and Higher Education, began on February 28th 2011 and will be finished in May 2011.
Agency for Science and Higher Education (ASHE) launched the thematic review of public scientific organizations as one its strategic activities, based on the Act on Quality Assurance in Science and Higher Education (OG 45/09).
The aim of the thematic review is to establish the rationality and efficiency of all public scientific organizations in the Republic of Croatia, a total of 25 organizations. This comprehensive approach is to result in an analysis of the current state and possible directions of further development of the public scientific organizations, with a focus on the soundness of their functioning as separate institutions, their involvement in the national system of science as well as opportunities for improved involvement in the European Research Area. The review will primarily focus on their research output, sources of funding and their use and the organization and management of the institutes.
Members of the review panels are renown international scientists, with exceptional research productivity, experienced in management of research organizations and evaluations and quality assurance in science or higher education. The final outcome of the review will be the report on the thematic review of all 25 public research institutes, which will include an analysis of the state of affairs in all five scientific fields, as well as analyses of individual institutes with recommendations for improvement and increased efficiency through mergers with other institutions with similar research interests.
The institutes will be able to comment on the reports, and the final report is to be published in September.