In the Netherlands, the boards of the universities, KNAW and NWO are responsible for the quality of the research at their institution. The periodic evaluation of research plays a key role in the quality assurance cycle. For the organisation of this evaluation, the University of Twente adheres to the Strategy Evaluation Protocol 2021-2027. As specified in this protocol, the main goal of this evaluation is to evaluate a research unit in light of its own aims and strategy. Every evaluation looks ahead (plans and strategies) and back (developments and results), with a focus on strategy, learning and improvement.
The three main criteria for evaluation are: research quality, societal relevance, and viability. Within the UT, strategies to realise societal impact are of special importance, and should reflect the Shaping2030 strategy, as well as the UT research strategy and the faculty research strategy. Research quality is a prerequisite for generating scientific and societal relevance. Four specific additional aspects are evaluated: open science, PhD policy and training, academic culture, and Human Resource policy. These four aspects should not be evaluated separately, but incorporated into the evaluation of the three main evaluation criteria.
The University of Twente is committed to conducting and upholding high quality research. Therefore, the UT has research quality management processes in place and undertakes periodic assessments to continuously improve its research and impact. For its evaluations, the UT has a Research Evaluation Protocol in accordance with and supplementing the national Strategy Evaluation Protocol (SEP) 2021-2027. The UT has a process for its research evaluations and a schedule for the evaluations in the period 2020-2030.