About RAE
Why is RAE important?
What does a quality profile look like?
What is the history of RAE?
Is it possible to draw comparisons between 2001 and 2008 performance?
What is classified as a 'good' performance?
Does the RAE assess all the research at a university?
Who assesses the research?
What do the panels consider when making their assessment?
Who assesses the research?
What do the panels consider when making their assessment?
What are the Units of Assessment?
For which Units of Assessment did Queen's provide submissions?
What is RAE?
The primary purpose of the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) is to assess the research activity in universities and colleges throughout the UK.
A panel of experts assess the quality of research taking place across a number of subject areas or Units of Assessment (UoA), and create a quality profile for each university or college. The quality profile outlines the proportion of research in each area that is ‘world leading’ (4*), ‘internationally excellent’ (3*) or internationally (2*) or nationally (1*) recognised.
The RAE is conducted jointly by the four higher education funding bodies in the UK – the Higher Education Funding Council for England, the Scottish Funding Council, the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales, and the Department for Employment and Learning in Northern Ireland.
These funding bodies use the RAE results to determine the amount of money, or grants, they will allocate to each university or college to fund their research from 2009-10.
Why is RAE important?
The RAE is crucial to universities like Queen’s as it determines how much money they will receive for research in the future. Those with high-quality research receive a larger share of the funding. The 2001 RAE, which covered the academic years 2002-03 to 2008-09, saw £10.1 billion allocated according to the results.
Research grants fund much of the work that takes place at universities and create many jobs. Approximately £23 million of funding per year has been allocated to Queen’s by the Department for Employment and Learning as a result of the 2001 RAE. This guarantees almost 600 jobs per year at the University. External research income to the University since the last RAE has totalled £261 million.
What does a quality profile look like?
The RAE results provide an overall quality profile for each university, along with a separate quality profile for each Unit of Assessment.
The quality profile outlines the proportion of research activity that is world leading, internationally excellent, internationally or nationally recognised, or unclassified. The quality profile also shows the number of full-time equivalent staff whose work was submitted in each Unit of Assessment.
Queen’s submitted 38 UoAs for RAE 2008.
In January 2009, a more detailed breakdown of each quality profile will be made available.
Sample RAE Quality Profile:
| By percentage of research activity in the submission judged to reach quality standard | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unit of assessment A |
Full-time equivalent research staff submitted for assessment |
4* | 3* | 2* | 1* | Unclassified |
| University X | 50 | 15 | 25 | 40 | 15 | 5 |
| University Y | 20 | 0 | 5 | 40 | 45 | 10 |
What is the history of the RAE?
The first RAE was undertaken in 1986. For the first time, it introduced an explicit and formalised assessment process of the quality of research at UK universities and colleges. Further RAE’s in 1989, 1992, 1996 and 2001 became more transparent and comprehensive.
In 2001 the UK funding bodies commissioned a review to consider how to assess research in the future. As a result, the 2008 RAE process was different to that used in 2001:
- RAE 2008 results will be published as a graded profile rather than a fixed points system. This allows the funding bodies to identify pockets of excellence wherever these might be found and reduces the 'cliff edge' effect where fine judgements at grade boundaries can have significant funding impacts
- RAE 2008 used a formal two-tiered panel structure in to ensure greater consistency in assessments. 67 sub-panels of experts, one for each Unit of Assessment, work under the guidance of 15 main panels.
- RAE 2008 used explicit criteria in each Unit of Assessment to enable the proper assessment of applied, practice-based and interdisciplinary research. This is the last RAE. From 2009 the Research Excellence Framework (REF) will be introduced in place of the RAE.
Is it possible to draw comparisons between 2001 and 2008 performance?
No. The RAE 2008 profile is significantly different to that used in 2001. Therefore no direct comparisons can be made. Instead of being awarded a one-off overall score in each Unit of Assessment (UoA), as in 2001, each university will be given a graded rating for each Unit of Assessment, outlining what percentage of the research activity in that Unit falls into each quality level.
What is classified as a 'good' performance?
As the results are presented as a graded profile, it is difficult to define a ‘good’ profile.
Alongside the results RAE will also provide an overview of the range of results in each Unit of Assessment (UoA) i.e. the highest and lowest percentage of research activity across all universities that fell into each quality profile. This will allow each university to see where they sit within the range of scores awarded.
Does the RAE assess all the research at a university?
The RAE consists of 67 Units of Assessment (UoA). A Unit of Assessment is a subject area in which a university or college can submit research for assessment. A university or college can enter as many or as few UoAs as they please. Queen’s entered submissions for 38 UoAs, involving research by around 800 (84 per cent) of the University’s academic staff.
Who assesses the research?
67 sub-panels of experts, one for each Unit of Assessment, assess the submissions from each university or college for that particular UOA. These panels work under the guidance of 15 main panels.
Panel members are appointed by the UK funding bodies. There are over 1,000 panel members. They are chosen for their standing in the academic and wider research community, their extensive research experience, and their understanding of the needs of research users and commissioners of research from both the public and commercial sectors.
What do the panels consider when making their assessment?
Each assessment panel considers evidence submitted according to a set of criteria, which are common across all Units of Assessment. The criteria include the following:
- Research active staff
- Research outputs (usually four research outputs or projects from each staff member)
- Research students and studentships
- External research income
- Research structure and strategies
- Indicators of esteem
What are the Units of Assessment?
The 67 Units of Assessment, and the 15 main panels they fall under, are as follows.
| Main Panel | UOA |
|---|---|
| A | 1. Cardiovascular Medicine |
| B | 6. Epidemiology and Public Health |
| C | 10. Dentistry 11. Nursing and Midwifery 12. Allied Health Professions and Studies 13. Pharmacy |
| D | 14. Biological Sciences 15. Pre-clinical and Human Biological Sciences 16. Agriculture, Veterinary and Food Science |
| E | 17. Earth Systems and Environmental Sciences 18. Chemistry 19. Physics |
| F | 20. Pure Mathematics 21. Applied Mathematics 22. Statistics and Operational Research 23. Computer Science and Informatics |
| G | 24. Electrical and Electronic Engineering 25. General Engineering and Mineral & Mining Engineering 26. Chemical Engineering 27. Civil Engineering 28. Mechanical, Aeronautical and Manufacturing Engineering 29. Metallurgy and Materials |
| H | 30. Architecture and the Built Environment 31. Town and Country Planning 32. Geography and Environmental Studies 33. Archaeology |
| I | 34. Economics and Econometrics 35. Accounting and Finance 36. Business and Management Studies 37. Library and Information Management |
| J | 38. Law 39. Politics and International Studies 40. Social Work and Social Policy & Administration 41. Sociology 42. Anthropology 43. Development Studies |
| K | 44. Psychology 45. Education 46. Sports-Related Studies |
| L | 47. American Studies and Anglophone Area Studies 48. Middle Eastern and African Studies 49. Asian Studies 50. European Studies |
| M | 51. Russian, Slavonic and East European Languages 52. French 53. German, Dutch and Scandinavian Languages 54. Italian 55. Iberian and Latin American Languages 56. Celtic Studies 57. English Language and Literature 58. Linguistics |
| N | 59. Classics, Ancient History, Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies |
| O | 63. Art and Design 64. History of Art, Architecture and Design 65. Drama, Dance and Performing Arts 66. Communication, Cultural and Media Studies 67. Music |
For which Units of Assessment did Queen’s provide submissions?
- UoA2: Cancer Studies
- UoA4: Other Hospital Based Clinical Subjects
- UoA5: Other Laboratory Based Clinical Subjects
- UoA6: Epidemiology and Public Health
- UoA10: Dentistry
- UoA11: Nursing and Midwifery
- UoA12: Allied Health Professions and Studies
- UoA13: Pharmacy
- UoA14: Biological Sciences
- UoA16: Agriculture, Veterinary and Food Science
- UoA18: Chemistry
- UoA19: Physics
- UoA20: Pure Mathematics
- UoA23: Computer Science and Informatics
- UoA24: Electrical and Electronic Engineering
- UoA27: Civil Engineering
- UoA28: Mechanical, Aeronautical and Manufacturing Engineering
- UoA31: Town and Country Planning
- UoA32: Geography and Environmental Studies
- UoA33: Archaeology
- UoA36: Business and Management Studies
- UoA38: Law
- UoA39: Politics and International Studies
- UoA40: Social Work and Social Policy & Administration
- UoA41: Sociology
- UoA42: Anthropology
- UoA44: Psychology
- UoA45: Education
- UoA52: French
- UoA53: German, Dutch and Scandinavian Languages
- UoA55: Iberian and Latin American Languages
- UoA56: Celtic Studies
- UoA57: English Language and Literature
- UoA59: Classics, Ancient History, Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies
- UoA60: Philosophy
- UoA62: History
- UoA65: Drama, Dance and Performing Arts
- UoA67: Music