MIT welcomes Quality Evaluation score

Monday, 14 May 2007

Manukau Institute of Technology welcomes Quality Evaluation score

Manukau Institute of Technology has welcomed the Performance-Based Research Fund’s (PBRF) Quality Evaluation score for the institute, which places MIT among the top ranking Institutes of Technology and Polytechnics in the country.

“This is the first time MIT has participated in the PBRF process so we are pleased with the Quality Evaluation score we received,” says MIT chief executive, Dr Peter Brothers. “This gives us a good platform on which to build for the future.

“We are proud of our researchers and the success they are achieving. As a polytechnic we focus on applied research and look particularly at the impact our studies have on the communities that make up the greater Counties Manukau region.”

Managed by the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC), the PBRF serves to encourage and reward research in the tertiary sector by assessing the research performance of tertiary education organisations. Funding is then decided upon based on their performance.

The 2006 Quality Evaluation PBRF results were released on Tuesday, 01 May.

ENDS

Manukau Institute of Technology researchers include:

- Electrical and Computer Engineering Research department senior lecturer Dr Andrew Chalmers has been actively involved in research for many years. His successes include: working with AgResearch, Ruakura, Hamilton, on the use of digital colour imaging for food colour and quality assessment. This led to further collaboration on the assessment of consumer type digital cameras for technical imaging applications and several conference publications in the field by colleague Snjezana Soltic and Andrew. Andrew has also supervised five successful Bachelor of Engineering student research projects for local industries on the application of machine vision for production-line quality control and product performance checking. More recently, Andrew designed the Manukau goniospectrophotometer system that was built in-house, and published a conference paper on this work. He is currently collaborating with Christopher Cuttle (University of Auckland) on the design of museum conservation lighting for the Getty Conservation Institute, Los Angeles, USA.

- Dr Siham El-Kafafi is a senior lecturer in Management at the Manukau Business School. Her teaching background includes teaching research skills, public administration and the integration of management and health. Her PhD on TQM and its effect on drinking water quality was awarded in 2004 with distinction. Siham is a doctorate supervisor for Southern Cross University, Australia. Her research interests include: TQM and ISO 9000 Standards; Governance; Quality Awards; Sustainability and Business Ethics; Triple Bottom Line Reporting; Water Quality Issues; Genetic Engineering; and Ecotourism and Sustainable Tourism and Teaching Pedagogy. She has published research papers at national and international conferences, international journals, chapters in books and several research papers for public organisations.

- With 20 years’ experience in visual arts, senior lecturer Deborah Crowe is passionate about exploring relationships between the body and perceptions of space. Her research crosses boundaries, through its investigation of categorisations within disciplines of art, craft and design. In her practice Crowe continues to research a diverse range of media, often challenging her audiences to keep pace. The work is characterised by an examination of the construction of conceptual spaces for theoretical, visual and physical intersections between weave, architecture and the human form. A graduate of the renowned Charles Rennie Mackintosh Glasgow School of Art, Crowe has lectured at Manukau School of Visual Arts since 1994. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, is held in public collections including Te Papa Tongarewa – Museum of New Zealand, the James Wallace Collection, the Dowse Art Museum and the Glasgow School of Art and has featured in many publications. Crowe consistently demonstrates the ability to operate in a number of visual art contexts; her large scale digital print works were the sole New Zealand representation in Depth of Field, a UK curated exhibition that examined territory between photography and textiles.

Background to the PBRF

The primary goal of the Performance-Based Research Fund (PBRF) is to ensure that excellent research in the tertiary education sector is encouraged and rewarded.

The PBRF model has three elements. These are to:
- reward and encourage the quality of researchers - 60 per cent of the fund
- reflect research degree completions - 25 per cent of the fund
- reflect external research income - 15 per cent of fund

The major element, the Quality Evaluation, is held periodically. The first was completed in 2003 and the second, a partial round, was held in 2006. The next full round is scheduled for 2012.

The PBRF contributes to the success of the Tertiary Education Strategy, supporting its goals of encouraging an integrated, specialised tertiary education sector, developing Maori and Pacific research capability and improving linkages with relevant communities. (source: TEC)

About MIT

Manukau Institute of Technology is one New Zealand’s largest polytechnics. It offers more than 100 formal programmes at degree, diploma and certificate level and has a student population of around 32,000. Established in 1970 as the country’s first purpose built polytechnic, MIT delivers vocational education and training. With a workforce of 900, MIT is one of the biggest employers in the Counties Manukau region. Manukau City is New Zealand’s fastest growing metropolis.

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