UCRI | MRU Review Requirements

See instructions for: five-year reviews | 15-year reviews

MRUs must undergo a formal review every five years and a “sunset” review every 15 years.

Each review type has specific reporting requirements. Please make sure to follow the instructions associated with the review type your MRU is undergoing, and use the narrative and supplementary data table templates provided by the office of Research and Innovation (R&I). Note that the data table templates are designed so that the MRU will add new data to its existing tables each year. Thus, over the course of the five years leading up to its next five- or 15-year review, the MRU will have compiled most of the data for that review through its annual reporting.

Five- and 15-year reports are due the third Thursday of September, unless alternative arrangements have been requested and agreed to by all involved parties. In years when your MRU is undergoing a five- or 15-year review, no separate annual report is required.

All MRU reporting materials should be submitted to UCRI@ucop.edu. Questions about the review process or requirements can also be sent to this email address.

MRU reviews are conducted under the auspices of the systemwide Academic Senate. The Senate may interview the MRU’s leadership and/or seek external reviews to inform its review of the MRU.

As a result of its review, the Academic Senate will produce a report that summarizes the review findings and recommendations. The report is submitted to the Vice President for Research and Innovation, who makes a final determination of the review outcome. Review outcomes may be either 1) MRU continuation without reservation; 2) MRU continuation with required changes; or 3) MRU status discontinuation (disestablishment). The determination is typically communicated to the MRU within a month of the end of the academic year during which the review was conducted.

See the following documents for more information and a schedule of upcoming reviews:

Five-Year Review

Five-year reviews provide a longer-term perspective of the MRU than the annual report, ensure that recommendations from prior reviews have been successfully implemented, and evaluate proposed directions for the subsequent five-year period aimed at meeting the needs in the field and/or addressing multicampus/systemwide goals and impact.

The MRU five-year report must use the templates provided by the office of Research and Innovation (R&I). These include a narrative and supplementary data tables that describe the MRU’s activities and contributions over the previous five years only.

The instructions and each component of the required five-year report templates are provided below in a fillable format. Note that the data table templates are identical to those used for annual reports.

For additional information on five-year reviews, please see the 2014 Compendium (pdf) (Section V.B.3 and Appendix H).

15-Year “Sunset” Review

An MRU that has been in existence for 15 years or more is subject to a 15-year (or “sunset”) review.

The 15-year MRU review includes a required “proposal for continuation,” justifying the scholarly or scientific merit of the MRU, and its alignment with systemwide and campus research priorities. This proposal for continuation, along with the contributions of the MRU over the prior 15 years, will serve as the basis for the 15-year/sunset review.

Templates for the 15-year report/proposal are forthcoming.

For additional information on 15-year reviews, please see the 2014 Compendium (pdf) (V.B.5).