ERA Overview

The Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) initiative is developed and managed by the Australian Research Council (ARC) as a major funder of public sector research. It assesses research quality within Australia's Higher education institutions using a combination of indicators and expert review by committees comprising experienced, internationally recognised experts.  ERA was announced in 2008 as a new research quality and evaluation framework initiative.

In 2010 and 2012, CQUniversity participated in the full ERA process and submitted research data in the appropriate clusters (see the data reference table below).  Results for the recent 2012 and previous 2010 data collection can be viewed on the ARC website - ERA 2012 National Report and ERA 2010 National Report.

The results for the 2012 comprehensive review of research at Australian universities has been released.  In line with the Vice-Chancellor's research resurgence launched in 2011, CQUniversity is now ranked "Well Above World Standard" in: Applied Mathematics; Agriculture, Land and Farm Management; and Other Medical and Health Sciences.  We also ranked "At World Standard" for Nursing, and Medical and Health Sciences.

The Research Excellence website contains relevant and up-to-date information about the ERA Initiative including the Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classifications (ANZSRC) Field of Research (FoR) codes and FAQ's.

The ERA research disicplines are categorised into the following clusters:

1. Cluster One:  Mathematics, Information and Computing Sciences (MIC) 
2. Cluster Two:  Physical, Chemical and Earth Sciences (PCE)
3. Cluster Three:  Engineering and Environmental Sciences (EE)
4. Cluster Four:  Biological and Biotechnological Sciences (BB)
5. Cluster Five:  Medical and Health Sciences (MHS)
6. Cluster Six:  Humanities and Creative Arts (HCA)
7. Cluster Seven:  Education and Human Society (EHS)
8. Cluster Eight:  Economics and Commerce (EC)  

ERA 2012 Reference Periods: 

Researcher eligibility was based on a single staff census date, 31 March 2011. Additional information regarding ERA 2012 can be found here.

Policies and Formal Documents

• ERA 2012
• ERA 2010
• ERA 2009 Trial
• ERA Newsletters