SUMMARY
In 2004 and 2005, we made seven recommendations to the University of Calgary to improve its research management systems. In 2010, we reported on the university’s progress in implementing the recommendations.We repeated four of them. The university has implemented the four recommendations repeated in 2010.
What we examined
We used the following criteria to assess the university’s progress in implementing the recommendations.
The university should:
- plan for, build and maintain research capacity, using business plans that identify the human resources needed to carry out research
- have clearly defined roles, responsibilities and accountabilities for approving, managing and monitoring research
- ensure research policies are current, clear, comprehensive and supported with processes to monitor, assess and enforce compliance
- use processes for researchers and teams to manage projects cost-effectively, control project expenses against budgets and incur expenditures only for the purposes intended
What we found
The University of Calgary improved its overall research management control environment by:
- developing workforce plans related to research and using models to determine and budget for indirect costs of research
- defining consistent roles and responsibilities for research management, support staff and administration
- ensuring research policies are current, appropriate and regularly monitored for compliance
- applying project management tools, monitoring project expenditures and consistently reporting processes on all research projects
Why this is important to Albertans
Research is an important function of the University of Calgary. Albertans expect publicly funded institutions to achieve value for the money they receive. The many organizations that contribute to university research also want assurance that the university has sound and sustainable systems to manage the funds they entrust to it.