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World class universities congratulated by Empey

18 December 2008

Employment and Learning Minister, Sir Reg Empey, today congratulated Queen’s University and the University of Ulster (RAE) on their performance in the 2008 UK-wide Research Assessment Exercise.

The exercise assesses the quality of research in all UK Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) through a process of benchmarked peer review.

Welcoming today’s report, entitled ‘Research Assessment Exercise 2008: the Outcome’, Sir Reg said: “Both of our universities have performed extremely well in this research assessment exercise with the results confirming that research undertaken in Queen’s University and in the University of Ulster is of world class quality.   87% of all research activity submitted by our institutions was considered to be of international quality and 14% was judged to be “world-leading”.

Northern Ireland saw strong performances over a range of subjects from Law to Art and Design, with world class performance highlighted in a number of areas including Civil Engineering, Nursing and Midwifery, Electrical and Electronic Engineering and Biomedical Sciences.

The Minister continued:  “This strong performance reflects an increasingly strategic approach by the universities in focusing their resources selectively and in building on their strengths.  It is also evidence of the success of the considerable investment made by my Department and Atlantic Philanthropies via the Support Programme for University Research (SPUR).

“Research capability is vital for economic growth, competitiveness and the well-being of the community. Through their research activities and the transfer of knowledge, the universities are making a major contribution to the cultural, social and economic life of Northern Ireland and this is particularly important given the current economic climate.

“Only this week I announced funding for two significant cross border research projects and this, in addition to last month’s announcement of a £14.5million research investment, will develop and strengthen links with Republic of Ireland research groups and provide social and economic benefits to Northern Ireland and the island of Ireland as a whole.”

The funding that followed the last RAE in 2001 has allowed our local universities to maintain and enhance their research infrastructure. Over this period Quality-related Research (QR) funding of £160m has enabled Queen’s University to secure a further £261m of inward investment. The strength of Queen’s research is reflected in the recent announcement of the largest ever research grant into Northern Ireland (£25m) to create the UK Integrated Knowledge Centre for Secure Information Technology. This will create significant opportunities in the local economy, as well as enhancing the skills base within Northern Ireland. The University of Ulster’s strong research portfolio has brought value in terms of jobs, sustaining over 700 high quality research posts; informing economic development and innovation activity and making a substantial contribution in the field of healthcare, touching the lives of people not just in Northern Ireland, but around the globe.

NOTES TO EDITORS:

  1. “Research Assessment Exercise 2008: the Outcome” (RAE 2008) is available from the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), e-mail publications@hefce.ac.uk. The results are also available on the RAE website  www.rae.ac.uk external link
  2. The primary purpose of the RAE 2008 is to produce quality profiles for each submission of research activity made by institutions. The four higher education funding bodies (see below) intend to use the quality profiles to determine their grant for research to the institutions which they fund with effect from 2009-10. Any Higher Education Institution (HEI) in the UK that is eligible to receive research funding from one of these bodies, is eligible to participate in the exercise.
  3. The outcome publication will comprise tabulated overall quality profiles per unit of assessment (UOA) and per institution. Each quality profile will present the proportions, rounded to 5%, of research activity in each submission judged to have met each of the quality levels from Four Star to unclassified. Alongside the quality profile for each submission, the full-time equivalent (FTE) number of Category A staff included in the submission will be published.
  4. The full definitions of the quality levels are:

Four star        Quality that is world-leading in terms of originality, significance and rigour.
Three star      Quality that is internationally excellent in terms of originality, significance and rigour, but which nonetheless falls short of the highest standards of excellence.
Two star         Quality that is recognised internationally in terms of originality, significance and rigour.
One star         Quality that is recognised nationally in terms of originality, significance and rigour.

     5.  The RAE was conducted jointly by the HEFCE, the Scottish Funding Council (SFC), the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW), and the Department for Employment and Learning, Northern Ireland.  The RAE team, based at the HEFCE offices, managed the exercise on behalf of the four funding bodies.

     6.   The RAE 2008 uses the same main principles of peer assessment as previous RAEs. However a few significant changes have been introduced:

  • the results will be published as a graded profile rather than a fixed seven-point scale. 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 the grade boundaries can have significant funding impacts;
  • a formal two-tiered panel structure has been introduced, to ensure greater consistency and international calibration; and
  • there is now explicit criteria in each subject to enable the proper assessment of applied, practice-based and interdisciplinary research.

     7.  Considerable care was taken in the 2008 exercise to ensure that the process was robust and the results were reliable.

     8.   For the purpose of the 2008 RAE each academic discipline is assigned to one of 67 UOAs. Work submitted to the exercise is assessed by experts, drawn from HEIs and the wider research community. There is a two-tier panel system: 67 sub-panels of experts, one for each UOA, work under the guidance of 15 main panels. Under each main panel are broadly cognate disciplines whose subjects have similar approaches to research. This system provides a strategic overview of the work of the the sub-panels and aims to provide a more consistent approach both to setting criteria and to the assessment of work in related fields.

      9    Main panels are made up of a chair, the chairs of each of the sub-panels within the main panel area, and a number of international and additional members. The international membership of the main panels ensures that international standards are maintained consistently across the exercise. Each sub-panel has a chair and on average about 15 other members, who have expertise that covers the full range of research in that subject area.

     10.  Media queries to the Department for Employment and Learning Press Office on 028 9025 7872. Out of office hours please contact the Duty Press Officer via pager number 07699 715 440 and your call will be returned.