2008 UK Research Assessment Exercise Results

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Dear colleagues,

Perhaps our Australian academics in particular might be interested in the 2008 RAE results for the UK which were announced on 18-12-08.

For full details see: http://www.rae.ac.uk/

As a quick summary:
- Research evidence is submitted to independent panels for review against published criteria.
- The judgement indicates the proportion of the research that met each of four quality levels or is unclassified.
- The three overarching components of the submission are research outputs, research environment and indicators of esteem.
-The results are published as a graded profile for each Unit of Assessment for each submission.

The quality levels are:

4*: Quality that is world-leading in terms of originality, significance and rigour
3*: Quality that is internationally excellent in terms of originality, significance and rigour but which nonetheless falls short of the highest standards of excellence
2*: Quality that is recognised internationally in terms of originality, significance and rigour
1*: Quality that is recognised nationally in terms of originality, significance and rigour
Unclassified: Quality that falls below the standard of nationally recognised work. Or work which does not meet the published definition of research for the purposes of this assessment

Here are two examples of real results (University of Oxford submission under 'Cardiovascular Medicine' (the top performer) and my own Institute's submission under 'Allied Health Professions and Studies'):

Institution name: University of Oxford
FTE Category A staff submitted: 18.6
Average Ranking
4* = 45%
3* = 40%
2* = 15%
1* = 0%
unclassified = 0%

Average ranking = 3.300

Institution name: Glasgow Caledonian University (joint submission under HealthQWest with Glasgow University and University of Strathclyde)
FTE Category A staff submitted: 14.2
Average Ranking
4* = 15%
3* = 45%
2* = 30%
1* = 10%
unclassified = 0%

Average ranking = 2.650

In most cases podiatry related research will have been submitted in Unit of Assessment 12, 'Allied Health Professions and Studies'. Here 75% of the weighting is attributed to research output with each returnable researcher submitting their 4 best papers. What defines quality was largely attributed to the Impact Factor of the journal but also impact in terms of policy and practice.

The Foot and Ankle Research Group, a podiatry-led research team made a significant contribution to our own Institute's submission and under this initiative 60% of our activity is 'world-leading' or 'internationally excellent' so I am rightly proud of my teams’ effort.

The results of the RAE are used to determine research funding for the Universities but details of the model are yet to be finalised. Good luck to our Australian colleagues as I believe you have moved to the system. As is typical in UK higher education this will be last RAE as we move towards REF (Research Excellence Framework) which may involve more frequent assessment, probably only considering publications. New challenges ahead!

Best wishes,
Professor Jim Woodburn
Glasgow Caledonian University,
Glasgow,
Scotland