Universities told to change how they measure outcomes of research

African universities should evaluate the outcomes of funded research according to their own needs, rather than those of donors, a research policy officer has argued.

Harris Andoh, a research policy evaluation expert at the Tshwane University of Technology in South Africa, made the remark in a paper in International Higher Education on 3 June.

“Currently most universities (in Africa) simply measure the success of a programme in terms of proper financial auditing and the achievement of expected outputs and outcomes according to indicators set by donors,” Andoh wrote.