The Cost of Merit in University Research1

This paper is based on a research report published at the University of Queensland in November 1980, which emanated from research commissioned by the University's Research Committee and carried out by the authors. The study was concerned with the problem of distributing resources available for research and concluded that there was not an efficient use of such resources in the University of Queensland. Part of the study considered attempts to increase efficiency by funding those research projects which seemed to possess most merit. Such policy is becoming more common in Australian universities and this is understandable during a period of financial stringency. However, the policy seems to ignore the substantial costs associated with applying for merit grants, and to assume that any scheme funding the most deserving research automatically improves the efficiency of research funding. That is not necessarily so. Most research funding in Australian universities is provided in the form of staff salaries. When staff time is occupied by the merit application and assessment process, it is not available for research. Consequently there is a cost to research, a cost that is not widely appreciated and one which may well exceed the benefits of ill-considered merit schemes.