A study on the architecture of performance evaluation system of national R&D programs in Korea

There has been increased requirement on the accountability and efficiency of national R&D programs in according to the increased R&D investment within the limited national resources. To cope with these issues, each government is introducing performance evaluation. The Korean government is also trying to upgrade its evaluation system under the guidance of NSTC (National Science and Technology Council). There are several points to be considered in Korean R&D evaluation system. Firstly individual program evaluation is working very well, but these evaluation methods are not systematically organized in the national evaluation system (NES). Secondly most of the current evaluation is focused on the monitoring of the R&D programs, therefore there is little in-depth performance evaluation to improve the programs. To deliver these problems, the Korean government established laws regarding performance evaluation and management of national R&D programs and trying to set up systematic performance evaluation methodology at a national level. The purpose of this study is to analyze current evaluation system for national R&D programs in the perspective of meta-evaluation, and suggest basic directions in establishing a nation-wide R&D evaluation system. The study suggests also a basic framework of effective performance evaluation system and several alternatives.