The Advisory Council 2002 met on May 24, 2002 at NIAES to obtain outside
opinions and recommendations on the management of NIAES. The members
of the council are external experts, including a professor, a consumer representative
and the directors of other national institutions (see Appendix).
Members were informed on the general activities of NIAES in 2001 and were
presented eight of the main research results in 2001.
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1) |
I had difficulty
in evaluating the individual research achievements, because I couldn't judge
how much effort had been needed in the achievement of individual goals.
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2)
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I could only
evaluate the individual achievements either as A (good) or S (superior), because
this evaluation list only had one year goals and only positive results. I
thought that this list should include the final goals to be achieved after
several years and also negative results in order to provide us with more judgment
material to assign S evaluations.
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3) | I thought
that the evaluation should be able to exceed 100% for research in which the
results were good and far beyond expectations. |
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4) | I feared that
if all subjects were evaluated by only single year results, the important and
complex subjects could not be studied. Please create the proper ways
to evaluate the projects which need steady work to accumulate important background
data. |
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5) | It was reported
that the ratio was 7 vs. 1 between researchers who actively carried out research
and the researchers in managerial position. Wasn't it possible to increase
the ratio of young researchers? |
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6) | I understand
the limits for the budget in studying abroad, but how many of the applicant
who wished to do so were able to do so? |
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7) | In other research
institutes, in many cases the expensive machines purchased for common use were
used by few persons. It is necessary to promote the sharing of the expensive
machines for the efficient use of the budget. Was such co-use with outside
researchers possible under the new NIAES as an incorporated administrative
agency? |
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8) | Please publicize
to the agricultural producers and the general public what kinds of research
results have been achieved by the responsible national institutes with regards
to the problems facing the nation now. |
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9) | I want to
position the agricultural producers and the nation as the important clients
of NIAES. |
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10) | Please monitor the frequency
of access to and the influence of the utilization of the NIAES internet home
page. |
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11) | I don't think "analysis
and appraisal" or "classes and training" should be included among the measures
for the evaluation of NIAES. NIAES should be solely evaluated for those
researches that are only possible at NIAES. The current evaluation system
has risks being misunderstood that any research could be undertaken for a certain
fee. NIAES deserves to be evaluated for more essential merits. |
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12) | I understood that there
were goals set in 5-year mid term plan, and the evaluation system in carried
out each fiscal year to measure progress. But I thought that it is considerably
difficult to achieve the ultimate goals in exactly 5 years. It may not
be so important whether to achieve the original goals, but rather the institute
should take the initiative to vigorously encourage new research that incorporates
emerging results, even if they shift from the original goals. |
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13) | I worried that the goals
for the next mid-term might be similar to that of the present, especially for
the research area that concerns the mission of the institute. Such research
areas should be distinguished from concrete and soluble issues, and it is necessary
to devise research projects and goals that would reflect such considerations
in four years later. |
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14) | Please remember that
the basic researches which are carried out by NIAES about the effects of agriculture
on the environment and the effects of the environment on agriculture are very
important to the development of technologies that allow for the conservation
of the environment as well as for the maintenance of food safety. |
