HEFCE press release
21 July 1998
Funding bodies announce improvements to Research Assessment Exercise for 2001
In a document published today, the UK higher education funding bodies announce decisions that will make the next Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) in 2001 more effective, more transparent, and more useful to universities and colleges.
The decisions follow wide consultation with the higher education sector, professional bodies, and users of research. This revealed overwhelming support for the RAE as the best way to assess research quality. It also highlighted some areas for improvement, and issues for further consultation.
Key decisions
he exercise will be broadly similar to the 1996 RAE. It will cover the whole of the UK, be based on peer review, and will produce quality ratings which will be used to inform allocations of research funding from 2002-03 onwards.
Panel membership: To reduce the risk of bias and improve transparency, there will be changes to the way chairs and members of assessment panels are appointed. For example, the entire outgoing panel, rather than just the chair, will nominate the new chair. Panel members can only serve in two successive exercises. And the names of all panel members, and the bodies who nominated them, will be published.
Assessment process: All panels will work within a common framework, but will be able to ask for specific additional information in order to assess their subject more effectively. The funding bodies will also establish umbrella panels, from chairs of panels in related disciplines, to improve the consistency of approach to assessment and scoring.
Feedback: Panels will produce feedback on the submissions in two forms. A report on the subject area will be made public; and each institution will be given confidential feedback on its performance against the panel's criteria.
International perspective: All panels will consult a group of corresponding researchers from outside the UK before awarding the top ratings of 5 and 5*, which indicate international excellence.
The 'transfer market': Previous studies show that the RAE produces a small increase in the transfer of staff between institutions. The funding bodies will investigate this transfer market further, and its effect on research. Meanwhile, the 2001 RAE will ensure that institutions which lose staff in the run-up to the exercise will still benefit from their investment in those staff.
Key questions for further consultation
In some areas there was no clear consensus. The document therefore raises a number of questions for further consultation. These cover:
Collaborative research: What is the best way to assess collaborative research projects carried out with other institutions and organisations? (The funding bodies are also studying the assessment of interdisciplinary research: findings will be available in the autumn.)
Proportion of staff submitted: Should departments submit a minimum proportion of their staff in order to achieve the highest ratings? If so, how could this be done - given that universities and colleges structure their research in very different ways - and what should be the minimum percentage?
Publishing submissions on the Internet: Should the funding bodies publish all or parts of RAE submissions on the Internet?
Changes to units of assessment: Some subject areas (units of assessment), such as education, business and management, and medical subjects, are very broad and diverse. How could they be divided up to make the workload for panels more manageable, while still being coherent?
ENDS
For further information please contact Helen Buttery on 0117 931 7125.
Notes for Editors
1. 'RAE 2001: key decisions and issues for further consultation' (ref RAE 1/98) is published jointly by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council (SHEFC), the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW), and the Department of Education for Northern Ireland (DENI). Copies are available free from the HEFCE, or on the web at http://www.hero.ac.uk/rae/
2. The 2001 RAE will be the fifth such exercise. For the last exercise, in 1996, there were 60 assessment panels covering 69 subject areas (units of assessment). Ratings are awarded on a seven-point scale (1, 2, 3a, 3b, 4, 5 and 5* - five star). The funding bodies use these ratings of quality, and the volume of research carried out, to allocate funds for research in universities and colleges.
3. Another document, 'RAE 2001: bodies to nominate panel members' (ref RAE 2/98) invites comments and additions to the list of bodies that will be invited to make nominations to assessment panels. Such bodies include learned societies, professional associations, and users of research such as industry and charities.
HEFCE 7/98
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