University of San Carlos' Office of Research Director Dr. Danilo B. Largo talked about upgrading the quality of research outputs of HEIs and promoting a culture of scholarship among filipino educators during C&E's Academic Publishing Forum on January 26, 2011 at C&E Information and Resource Center, Quezon City.

1. Upgrading the quality of research outputs of HEIs and promoting a culture of scholarship among Filipino educators Danilo B. Largo Director, Office of Research University of San Carlos Cebu City 01

2. Outline: Defining research and research culture Quality of research in HEIs and symptoms of weaknesses Factors hindering the development of a strong research universities 101 ways to promote a culture of scholarship among Filipino educators Research Performance evaluation Benchmark of research quality 02

3. Three (3) core processes in the University teaching, research, and extension + production 03

4. Research, defined Researchis a systematic process of collecting and analyzing information following a set of procedures in obtaining new knowledge. 04

5. Research approach: vary depending on the field of specialization Basically follow a step by step process of: problem identification thru observation making a hypothesis constructing a theoretical framework designing or adopting a method gathering of data processing the data, analyzing and interpreting, and drawing conclusions and making recommendations This is the Scientific Method 05

6. Research in a bigger picture: Research is a cycle 06

7. but… is doing research a culture in itself? Research by an individual for getting a degree (BS, MA/MS) is an initiation Research done by an individual as a habit is an individualculture Research done by a group of individuals in addressing a common problem is a groupculture 07

8. Research culture exists in the university if the following elements are present: There is a critical mass of academics in a unit with a passion to do research. Lack of funding is not a deterrence to do research. Doing research is purpose-driven: to generate knowledge and filling one’s pocket, while desirable, is only secondary. Publications of output generated are primary measure of research accomplishment. There is a sense of bayanihan among the members of the research team; a community of researchers able to share talents and time with attention to quality of work. 08

9. Research culture exists in the university if the following elements are present: Doing research is a tradition, like a habit. Each member of a research team contributes to knowledge generation as a whole. Inter- and intradepartmental collaboration exists. A mentoring system exist – the senior faculty guiding the (neophyte) junior faculty who in turn guides the students. 09

10. Research culture cannot be imposed but is evolved through time. Enabling mechanisms supporting research (policies) in the university hastens this evolution. 10

11. How then can a department in a university develop a research culture ? It starts with the person– i.e. the faculty, students By changing the traditional hiring policy of HAVING GOOD TEACHERS and NOT HAVING GOOD RESEARCHERS ! the Challenge isto have critical mass of good researchers 11

12. How a research culture develops in a department ? Indoctrination in research starts with: - Faculty member’s exposure to department research, with peers acting as mentor, and - Faculty attending in professional organization’s annual meetings, symposia, conferences, etc. Building confidence: - by having a research project and present findings in professional meetings. 12

13. How to get started? Start at writing research proposals to get funding Get to know some funding sources - govtfunding agencies (GFAs), e.g. CHED, DOST, - foreign sources – e.g. USAID, AusAid, GTZ, Ford Foundation, Sumitomo Foundation, etc.- in-house funding Know the application format of each agency Try for collaborative projects - one with seasoned researchers in the group Start small research, like a laboratory or a class exercise 13

14. What else? Get mentored. Mentors are senior faculty who has track record in research Start writing a manuscript of your research output Present your output in internal forums: first, in regular round-table discussions of your department then, in in-house R&D review organized by the university Haveyour manuscript corrected (content, grammar) by your peers for improvement Present in a higher level forums organized by professional organizations outside the university. Publish your work and be known - i.e. in a professional journal, preferably peer-refereed/reviewed 14

15. What is the state of research in our HEIs? Beyond thesis and dissertation the academe hasnot (yet) done enough in research to address current issues and problems that propel economic progress. 15

16. Symptoms of weaknesses 1. We are one of the lowest in Asia in the ff. indicators : low number of PhDs, scientists and engineers low number of publications in peer-reviewed journals, low number of journals in science and technology published in the Philippines which are ISI indexed low number of patents by own residents as applied to our IP Office low number of foreign direct investments in the country 16

17. R & D Indicators Among ASEAN Countries 17

18. Symptoms of weaknesses 2. Patent landscape of PHL based on a 3-Yr Local Patent Applications (Source: IPO Phil) 18

19. Symptoms of weaknesses 3. Poor standing in the Global Competitiveness Index 2010-11. Switzerland tops the list, out of 139 economies in the 2010-2011 GCI followed by Sweden (no. 2), Singapore (no. 3) and U.S.A. (no. 4) Philippines ranks no. 85 it ranked No. 87 in 2009-2010 and No. 71 in 2008-2009 aside from Singapore, Malaysia (No. 26), China (No. 27), India (No. 51), above us in ASEAN are Thailand (38), Indonesia (44), Vietnam (59), and even Vietnam (no. 59) and Sri Lanka (No. 62). Rankings are calculated from both publicly available data and the Executive Opinion Survey, a comprehensive annual survey conducted by the World Economic Forum 19

20. Symptoms of weaknesses 4. Philippines lag behind in SEA in no. of research output. (all disciplines) 20

21. Factors hindering development of a strong research universities 23

23. mainly goes to personnel services and very little for capital expendituresFactors hindering development of a strong research universities 24

24. Where are we? 25

25. R&D Expenditure / GDP (%) in Asian Countries Source: JICA Seminar on National R&D Projects, Feb. 13-Mar. 18, 2001, Tokyo. 26

26. Factors hindering development of a strong research universities 2. Weak state policies and framework in research results in the poor generation of intellectual property outputs results to our poor standing in the Global Competitiveness Index of WEF 27

27. Factors hindering development of a strong research universities 3. Weak generation and protection of Intellectual Property IP as driver of economic development IP as creation of the human mind in the various fields IP as intangible asset when created, becomes tangible asset in the form of product – WIPO IP types: Copyrights, trademarks, patents, utility models, trade secrets, industrial designs, lay-out designs (in integrated circuits) An IP-conscious academe helps drive the economy. 28

28. The World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Reportindicates a correlation between the protection of intellectual property rights and national competitiveness. In 2004, the 20 countries that were perceived as having the most stringent intellectual property protection were classed among the top 27 in the WEF’s growth competitiveness index. Conversely, the 20 countries perceived as having the weakest intellectual property regimes were ranked among the bottom 36 for growth and competitiveness. International Chamber of Commerce 22 Copyright, Office of Research

29. 4. Unattractive salary package and lack of incentives (e.g. in publications) for our researchers results in brain-drain contributing to less and less people engaged in research, including a low ratio of scientists and engineers per million population Factors hindering development of a strong research universities 29

31. Factors hindering development of a strong research universities 6. Little weight given to research performance vs. teaching in policies on ranking and promotion leads to poor research quality and the ability to innovate which are needed to develop new technologies 31

32. Factors hindering development of a strong research universities 7. Proliferation of gray literatures because of difficulty maintaining a peer-refereed journal due to: lack of capable person to lead (as editor) lack of reviewers little or no budget allocated for its maintenance 32

33. Factors hindering development of a strong research universities 8. Weak leaders and lack of dedicated and well-trained research mentors (who are not publishing) Only result to weak researchers 33

34. Factors hindering development of a strong research universities 9. Institution’s tendency to assign faculty members who have PhD in administrative or management posts, instead of assigning them in the laboratory this breeds only “disk researchers” instead of cutting-edge researchers 34

36. 101 ways to promote a culture of scholarship among Filipino educators 63

38. Develop research agenda that address national, regional and local issues/needs

39. Institutionalized research in the academe thru policies that include: - reasonable budget - a Manual ofResearch with provisions for giving incentives, e.g. cash reward for publication, for awards and recognition received in research, etc. 64

42. No more Non-thesis programs (esp. in sciences)- this only promotes graduates without research skills that is counterproductive to developing research-oriented graduates.66

44. Promote entrepreneurship as a mindset among researchers (e.g.- Silicon Valley started from university-based entrepreneurship)

45. Strive to publish - original research outputs in peer-refereed journals - textbooks, manuals, and other forms of copyrightable materials67

48. Give weight to research performance as with teaching to encourage more faculty engaging in research.

49. Assign returning scholars to the research labs - to practice what they have learned rather than giving them admin positions.69

51. Incentivize research such as giving of cash rewards for every publications in peer-refereed journals, patents acquired, recognition and awards received, etc.

52. Increase collaboration with research institutions - link with foreign institutions to imbibe new ideas - write joint research proposals with partners – for capability building

53. Hold regular small-group roundtable discussion on research among peers70

55. Maintain a pool of good researchers, with good learning attitude as well as being team players – this is where a strong research culture develops

56. Improve the mentoring system - involve students in research projects (e.g. as research assistants, field/laboratory assistants, etc.) – for them to gain experience and build confidence71

58. Entice more Filipinos to return and help build the culture of research (more than the Balikscientist program)

59. Welcoming environment for returning scholars; provide opportunities to engage in research in their field of expertise.72

61. Better coordination among government agencies to avoid redundancy in research programs resulting only to unnecessary waste of funds.73

63. A strategy to strengthen research Research performanceevaluation- benchmarking - 75

64. Research performance evaluation (benchmarking) To answer such questions as: What is the relative standing of Institution A in important subject areas? Has this changed over time? How does the rate of research growth compare? How does the picture look in important niche areas? 76

65. Search Tools- tracks citation counts for published articles Google Scholar Thompson ISI WoS SCOPUS– now called the SciVerse Scopus 77

66. Publications output and citation by InstitutionBased on Scopus AFFIL search 79

67. 80

68. Benchmark of Research Quality 36

69. Benchmark of Research Quality : Publications in peer reviewed journals Papers produced per faculty Citations per faculty 37

70. 1. Peer review Traditionally plays a central role in quality assurance of scientific research 38

71. 2. Papers produced per faculty tells of the critical mass of researchers a university has 39

72. 3. Citation per faculty Supplementary information for peer review Help to monitor the quality and integrity of the peer-review process Help identify the most suitable peer reviewers Relatedness of research Standing in field 40

73. Popular Ranking Systems include research performance quality in ranking THE-QS World University Rankings QS.com Asian University Rankings Shanghai Jiao Tong University Academic Ranking of World Universities Asian University Research Rating System 41

74. THE-QS World University Rankings Overall ranking Asian ranking Subject area rankings: Arts & humanities Life sciences and biomedicine Natural sciences Social sciences IT and Engineering 42

75. THE-QS World University Rankings 43

76. QS.com Asian University Rankings 44

77. Shanghai Jiao Tong University Academic Ranking of World Universities Original goal was to discern what kind of research gap existed between Chinese and “world-class” universities Institutions are compared and ranked on a strictly quantitative basis, with no room for subject impressions Academic and research performances are measured the following indicators and weighting: 45

78. Shanghai Jiao Tong University Academic Ranking of World Universities 46

79. Asian University Research Rating System Focused only on research Objective criteria Permits self-monitoring Designed for Asian research environment A collective effort of the academic community Intended to support universities to strengthen their research Bench-marking to help with resource allocation decisions Performance monitoring Shows complementarities to facilitate collaboration 47

80. Results of the 2010 THE-QS World University Rankings 48

81. THE-QS World University Ranking (2010)- Overall ranking 49

82. Results of the QS Asian University Rankings 50

83. Table . Top 200 Asian Universities – Overall ranking 51

84. Top 100 Asian Universities - Subject area Natural Science Life Sciences & Biomedicine 52

85. Top 100 Asian Universities - Subject area IT & Engineering Arts & Humanities Social Sciences 53

86. Top 100 Asian Universities - Citations per paper 54

87. Top Asian Universities - Academic Peer Review 55

88. Top Asian Universities - Papers per faculty 56

89. Top Asian Universities - Citations per paper 57

90. What do these ranking figures mean to us? It means that: majority of our universities are not in the map of the best universities in the world, not even in Asia! majority of our universities are dysfunctional, as far as research quality is concerned. 58

91. What do these few Phl universities have in common? All of them have developed a Culture OFresearch. 59

92. Institutions which overcome the barriers in developing research culture and constantly evaluating their research performance thru benchmarking are the ones likely to succeed into (Asia’s) Top Universities rank. 82

93. Thank you for listening. 83