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Research Activity Survey 2000

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Full report and annexes A-C, E & G

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Annex D - Samples of forms for completion (R1a, R1b, R2a, R2b, R3, R4, R5)

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Annex F - Samples of forms for completion (R5)

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Executive summary

Purpose

1. This document asks higher education institutions (HEIs) to update information on their research activity.

Key points

2. The data will inform our distribution of research funds for the academic year 2001-02.

3. This document no longer incorporates the Accountability for Research Funds survey.

4. All HEIs that made submissions to the 1996 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) should complete section 1. All HEIs should complete section 2, or submit nil returns in writing. Computer disks will be provided for both sections.

Action required

5. Responses should be sent to the HEFCE, to arrive no later than 12 December 2000. Disks will be dispatched to institutions in November 2000.

Background

6. The 2000 Research Activity Survey asks institutions to update data from the 1999 survey on research students, research assistants, research fellows and income from charities. These data will inform quality-related (QR) research funding, as described in HEFCE Circular 4/97. Data on research active staff will be taken from the submissions to the 1996 RAE.

7. The survey also asks institutions to update data from the 1999 survey on fundable research students who are eligible to pay home and EC fees. We need these data in order to distribute funds for the tuition and supervision of research students, which were transferred from the teaching model to the research model for 1998-99 onwards. This information is required following a recommendation from the Harris report on the review of postgraduate education. Our formal response to this report is outlined in HEFCE Circular 12/97.

8. This document no longer incorporates the Accountability for Research Funds survey. We are in the process of implementing the transparency review of funding, which will substantially overtake the survey. For this reason, and to help minimise the burden of data collection on institutions, we are no longer collecting this information.

9. To allocate generic research (GR) funds we ask institutions to update information on income from research contracts which satisfy criteria on intellectual property rights and the rights to publish research output.

10. This survey has two sections:

1. Section 1: Quality-related (QR) research funding.
2. Section 2: Generic research (GR) funding.

Section 1: Quality-related research funding

11. This section should be completed by HEIs that made submissions to the 1996 RAE. It asks for the following data by unit of assessment:

1. For students eligible to pay home and EC and overseas fees (including students domiciled in the Channel Islands and Isle of Man), we ask for the following data, shown separately according to the year of their programme and unit of assessment:
   1. The headcount of students on research-based higher degrees for whom the year of programme of study falling on 1 December 2000 is full-time.
   2. The headcount and full-time equivalent (FTE) number of students on research-based higher degrees for whom the year of programme of study falling on 1 December 2000 is part-time.
2. For students eligible to pay home and EC fees (see Annex A, paragraph 18), we ask for the following data, shown separately according to the year of their programme and unit of assessment:
   1. The headcount of students on research-based higher degrees for whom the year of programme of study falling on 1 December 2000 is full-time.
   2. The headcount and FTE of students on research-based higher degrees for whom the year of programme of study falling on 1 December 2000 is part-time.
3. The FTE number of research assistants and research fellows at the census date of 31 July 2000.
4. Income from research grants and contracts from UK-based charities during the financial year 1999-2000.

12. Institutions which made multiple submissions to a unit of assessment in the 1996 RAE should amalgamate the data into a single submission for this survey. If a department was not submitted to the 1996 RAE, the data should be returned to the unit of assessment which is closest in academic content. We will be using all the information, irrespective of rating, to cross-check institutions’ data against other data sources such as the Higher Education Students Early Statistics (HESES) survey.

13. Please complete this section using the disk-based templates, which will be issued by mid-November to the nominated contact person at each institution. The following annexes should be used as a guide for completing section 1:

• Annex A: Notes on research students
• Annex B: Notes on research assistants and fellows
• Annex C: Notes on income from charities
• Annex D: Print-outs of forms R1a, R1b, R2a, R2b, R3 and R4
• Annex G: Instructions for completing the disk.

Section 2: Generic research funding

14. All HEIs should complete section 2. Please inform us of nil returns in writing. This section asks for information on income in 1999-2000 that qualifies for GR funding. We will use these data along with data from the 1999 Research Activity Survey (HEFCE 99/59) to calculate GR allocations for 2001-02. Please complete this section using the disk-based template. The following annexes should be used as a guide for completing section 2:

• Annex E: Notes of guidance for the GR return
• Annex F: Print-out of form R5
• Annex G: Instructions for completing the disk.

Outline timetable and process for the 2001-02 funding round

15. Institutions are required to return their Research Activity Survey by 12 December 2000, both on disk and in hard copy. Once we receive the data, we carry out a number of validation and credibility checks. During December, we will write to institutions, enclosing a printout of their Research Activity data and comparison tables generated from them. Institutions will be asked to:

• verify that the data are accurate, or make corrections
• answer any questions we may have on the data.

16. By mid-January 2001, all institutions must have signed off their Research Activity data as being a correct submission. (Please note, this is not an opportunity for institutions to update their data.) The timetable for this is tight: if corrections to data are made, we then reissue the data for re-verification by institutions. We will expect responses to questions about data within six working days.

17. We will announce provisional allocations of recurrent grant for 2001-02 in March 2001.

Authorisation of the Research Activity Survey return

18. At many institutions, the person responsible for the production of the Research Activity Survey return also ‘signs it off’ on the institution’s behalf. For the 2000 return we will be requiring the vice-chancellor/principal or their most appropriate deputy to sign off the return on the institution's behalf. This person should be different from, and preferably senior to, the preparer of the return. The independent reviewer should broadly assess the return for reasonableness before signing off the return. This requires the reviewer to have an understanding of our data collection requirements, to ensure that the institution has systems capable of producing an accurate and complete return, and to ensure that the preparer of the return has compiled it competently.

Responses

19. All responses should be sent to the address below, to arrive no later than 12 December 2000. Returns on disk as well as a hard copy are required for both sections 1 and 2.

Returns may be made by e-mail to ras@hefce.ac.uk, but a hard copy should still be sent to the above address.

20. Further education colleges should not respond to this survey.