My Department and the Higher Education Authority are currently in the process of arranging for reviews of both the Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF) and the Programme for Research in Third Level Institutions (PRTLI).
The Strategic Innovation Fund was introduced in 2006 and there have been two cycles of funding to date. Projects approved under the Fund are aimed at institutional reform, enhancing teaching and learning, improving access and life long learning and enabling the development of fourth level activity. A review of the SIF is to commence later this year and is scheduled to be completed by the end of the year.
The Programme for Research in Third Level Institutions was introduced in 1998 and projects with a total value of €865 million have been approved to date under the four cycles of the programme. In 2004, an international Assessment Committee undertook a comprehensive review of the PRTLI. The impact assessment concluded that the programme had very positive impacts on institutional strategic planning, inter-institutional co-operation and on the quality of research being produced in Ireland. It endorsed the essential link between research and teaching and learning, and considered the programme to be ambitious and far-sighted and vital to underpinning the development of the research system in higher education.
It is proposed to carry out a further impact assessment of the PRTLI this year. The HEA are currently making arrangements for such an assessment and it is envisaged that it will commence in the second half of the year.