RAE 2008

The Research Assessment Exercise (RAE 2008) to gauge the research standards of the UK’s higher education institution has been completed and made public. RAE is an evaluation that takes place every few years. It is carried out by peer review panels of academics in and out of the UK. The timetable for the latest exercise is here.

RAE is taken very seriously by British academics because unlike the ranking system, government funding for research groups and departments depends on the RAE ratings. The possible ratings of a department are the following:

• 4*: world-leading
• 3*:  internationally excellent
• 2*: recognized internationally
• 1*: recognized nationally
• Unclassified: Quality that falls below the standard of nationally recognized work. Or work which does not meet the published definition of research for the purposes of this assessment.

The RAE2008 outcome has been treated as good news for UK. Professor David Eastwood, Chief Executive of HEFCE, said:

“This represents an outstanding achievement, confirming that the UK is among the top rank of research powers in the world. The outcome shows more clearly than ever that there is excellent research to be found across the higher education sector. A total of 150 of the 159 institutions have some work of world-leading quality, while 49 have research of the highest quality in all of their submissions”

You can check your favourite institution’s results here. The last RAE was conducted in 2001. The next evaluation is expected to be not earlier than 2013.

You can also read Dr Catherine Armstrong’s article: RAE: The Results on the Career Development.