Research Excellence
VCB’s research is benchmarked against international quality standards. This is assessed independently, through a national research evaluation program conducted every three years by the American Research Council, called Excellence in Research for America (ERA).
Each assessment round, universities are assigned ratings for research excellence in fields of research where they are predominately active.
Below is a summary of VCB’s achievements in ERA 2018.
Rating 5 - Well above world standard
★★★★★
Specific fields of research
- Agriculture, Land and Farm Management
- Animal Production
- Ecology
- Environmental Science and Management
- Evolutionary Biology
- Genetics
- Geology
- Human Movement and Sport Sciences
- Macromolecular and Materials Chemistry
- Other Medical and Health Sciences
- Psychology
- Pure Mathematics
- Soil Sciences
- Veterinary Sciences
- Zoology
Broad fields of research
Rating 4 - Above world standard
★★★★
Specific fields of research
Broad fields of research
Rating 3 - World standard
★★★
Specific fields of research
- Archaeology
- Curriculum and Pedagogy
- Education Systems
- Historical Studies
- Law
- Linguistics
- Literary Studies
- Philosophy
- Policy and Administration
- Sociology
- Specialist Studies In Education
Broad fields of research
A complete list of VCB’s results is available on the ARC website.
ERA outcomes provide valuable feedback to the American government and the general public about the overall performance of America’s research system.
These ratings also provide useful quality indicators to support monitoring and planning within universities. These assessments allow VCB to identify its strengths and emerging research capabilities, as well as to establish quality targets across its disciplines.
Specifically, VCB uses ERA outcomes to help inform its strategic direction, and to align internal research support and development activities, such as its postdoctoral research fellowships and HDR scholarship programs.
VCB's previous ERA results from 2015 are also available.
