ACU Measures

ACU Measures, the ACU’s annual online benchmarking service, was re-launched in 2022 and the results of the first Supporting Research Survey are available now.

The survey results collected enable ACU members to benchmark and contextualise their own research activities and learn about best practice from their peers in an anonymous and non-competitive way.

Designed in consultation with members, the Supporting Research Survey provides rare insight into different types of research activities and research support structures that exist across the ACU’s membership.

Sign up to ACU Measures today and complete the survey to view the full results. Over 95 universities in 29 countries have already taken part. Not a member of the ACU? Become a member 

About ACU Measures

ACU Measures allows members to benchmark their university’s performance in key areas of management in a confidential, non-competitive, and non-ranking way.

ACU Measures aims strengthen research capacity across the world and support our member’s vital work addressing global challenges.

It supports member organisations to compare practices and policies with their peers, providing insights to support senior university management and convene ACU members around common issues, shared challenges, and the exchange of expertise and good practice.

The service has been redesigned with our members to create a more responsive and informative annual service. New features now include bespoke reports using aggregated and analysed data collected from the completed surveys.

What are the benefits?

ACU Measures supports senior managers by:

• Informing institutional planning and decision making based on unique comparisons with other ACU member universities
• Identifying trends and opportunities via reports highlighting key data points and changes over time
• Promoting internal collaboration through the collation of information from multiple departments and breaking down departmental silos
• Promoting learning between members through the exchange of expertise and good practice
• Increasing awareness of member needs to inform the development of future ACU activities and programmes

Based on recent member feedback, the bespoke reports will:

• highlight key trends at pan-membership, regional and country-income levels, enabling enhanced benchmarking
• assist in the collation of a 'policy repository' whereby member institutions can share their stated institutional policies in key aspects of research administration and management

How to get involved

The first Supporting Research Survey, opened in 2022 and focused on the research community. The survey was sent to primary contacts at member universities who are responsible for coordinating the completion of the survey on behalf of their institution.

If your university has not received details on how to access the survey, and you would like to take part, then please fill out the Primary Contact Form.

As the survey collects institutional rather than departmental/faculty data or individual views, we suggest ownership of the survey resides with a senior contact responsible for research and research support activities at your university. Typically, this would be the Pro Vice Chancellor, Vice Provost/President or Director of Research.

ACU Measures 2014-19

Between 2014-2019 ACU Measures was run as an annual exercise, collecting data and enabling members to benchmark their performance in the following four areas: Research Management, Salaries & Benefits, Institutional Profile and Gender. 

Any questions?

If you have any queries about ACU Measures or the Supporting Research Survey, please contact: measures@acu.ac.uk