Ideals and ideas

2002 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 195-195
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Built Environment ◽  
Architectural Education ◽  
Research Assessment ◽  
Education Funding ◽  
Higher Education Funding ◽  
Research Assessment Exercise ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Uk Higher Education

Most architectural education takes place within a university context. There are very considerable advantages to such an arrangement but, for a discipline as broadly based and practically orientated as architecture, there can also be occasional problems if aspects are inappropriately managed. Anyone who doubts this should read Philip Steadman and Bill Hillier's review of the Built Environment category of the UK Higher Education Funding Council's (HEFCE) 2001 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) (pp. 203–207).

Architectural research and its enemies

2010 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sebastian Macmillan
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Architectural Education ◽  
Research Assessment ◽  
Research Assessment Exercise ◽  
Consultation Process ◽  
Research Excellence Framework ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Architectural Research ◽  
Competitive Allocation ◽  
Support Research

Like the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) that preceded it, the UK government's proposed Research Excellence Framework (REF) is a means of allocating funding in higher education to support research. As with any method for the competitive allocation of funds it creates winners and losers and inevitably generates a lot of emotion among those rewarded or penalised. More specifically, the ‘winners’ tend to approve of the method of allocation and the ‘losers’ denigrate it as biased against their activities and generally unfair. An extraordinary press campaign has been consistently waged against research assessment and its methods by those involved in architectural education, which I will track over a decade and a half. What follows will question whether this campaign demonstrates the sophistication and superior judgment of those who have gone into print, or conversely whether its mixture of misinformation and disinformation reveals not just disenchantment and prejudice, but a naivety and a depth of ignorance about the fundamentals of research that is deeply damaging to the credibility of architecture as a research-based discipline. With the recent consultation process towards a new cycle of research assessment, the REF, getting under way, I aim to draw attention to the risk of repeating past mistakes.

Who sets the agenda on student engagement?

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily McIntosh ◽  
Duncan Cross
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Student Engagement ◽  
Agenda Setting ◽  
Student Experience ◽  
Education Funding ◽  
Higher Education Funding ◽  
Opinion Piece ◽  
Setting Approach ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Uk Higher Education

 The rise in UK university fees has prompted significant investment in the student experience, with increased emphasis on an agenda that promotes student engagement and partnership. Government papers, both white and green, have set out a policymaking agenda and have led to a reorganisation of the UK higher education funding structures, with the dissolution of long-standing funding bodies into the Office for Students. This enshrines chapter B6 of the QAA UK quality code for higher education with regard to student engagement and would appear to be a positive move forward. However, the Office for Students has limited student representation and this raises the question: ‘Who sets this agenda and who are the stakeholders?’ This opinion piece seeks both to highlight the necessity for a joint agenda-setting approach and to engage the community in developing a joint agenda on student engagement and partnership.

scholarly journals The Research Assessment Exercise has lost support: Supporting Excellence in the Science Base

2002 ◽  
Vol 24 (6) ◽  
pp. 30
Author(s):  
Mike Withnall
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Research Quality ◽  
Research Assessment ◽  
Education Funding ◽  
Higher Education Funding ◽  
Research Assessment Exercise ◽  
Science Base ◽  
The Future ◽  
Improved Performance

An online membership consultation that took place over the summer on the future of research assessment and funding found that 82% of respondents consider that the credibility of the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) has been seriously undermined by the inability of Higher Education Funding Councils to reward appropriately improved performance following RAE 2001. Only 21% of respondents consider that the RAE is the fairest and most rigorous system available for assessing research quality.

scholarly journals The Real-Time REF Review: A Pilot Study to Examine the Feasibility of a Longitudinal Evaluation of Perceptions and Attitudes Towards REF 2021

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Netta Weinstein ◽  
James Wilsdon ◽  
Jennifer Chubb ◽  
Geoff Haddock
Keyword(s):  
Pilot Study ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Research Assessment ◽  
Research Assessment Exercise ◽  
Perceptions And Attitudes ◽  
Education Community ◽  
Stern Review ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The University ◽  
Uk Higher Education

The UK first introduced a national research assessment exercise in 1986, and methods of assessment continue to evolve. Following the 2016 Stern Review and further rounds of technical consultation, the UK higher education community is now preparing for the next Research Excellence Framework – REF 2021.Despite its importance in shaping UK research cultures, there is limited systematic and nuanced evidence about how academics across the sector view the REF, and which aspects are viewed favourably or unfavourably. The aims of this pilot study were twofold: first, it was designed to gather initial data to address this evidence gap; second, it was aimed at testing the feasibility of conducting a longitudinal study into academic and managerial attitudes towards the REF. We argue that further research to better understand the effects of the REF on research cultures, institutions, and individuals should be part of the evidence used to inform the development of future iterations of the exerciseThe Real Time REF Review Pilot Study was developed and delivered by a research team from Cardiff University and the University of Sheffield, in collaboration with Research England.

Research and Development Board: The Research Assessment Exercise — Implications for the Future of Occupational Therapy

2000 ◽  
Vol 63 (4) ◽  
pp. 171-176 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irene Ilott ◽  
Elizabeth White
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Occupational Therapy ◽  
Research And Development ◽  
Public Expenditure ◽  
Service Research ◽  
Research Assessment ◽  
Collaborative Approach ◽  
Higher Education Funding ◽  
Research Assessment Exercise ◽  
Support Evidence

The Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) is one of the most important policies that determine public expenditure of nearly one billion pounds in higher education. Although a minority of occupational therapy personnel are involved, all have an investment in the outcomes which support evidence-based services. This report outlines the Research and Development Board's responses to the Higher Education Funding Council's consultation exercises since 1997. The aim is to highlight the implications of this policy for supporting a research-active community, able to contribute to the development of the profession. Particular attention is given to the collaborative approach taken as a member of the Joint Therapies Research Group. A longer-term, pragmatic strategy is described as part of the preparation for the next RAE in 2001 and beyond. This fits with the current fundamental review of research funding and policy and the recognition of the damage inflicted upon emergent disciplines and health service research by previous RAEs.

Telling tales of impact: as seen through the eyes of user assessors

2020 ◽  
pp. 183-194
Author(s):  
Katherine E. Smith ◽  
Justyna Bandola-Gill ◽  
Nasar Meer ◽  
Ellen Stewart ◽  
Richard Watermeyer
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Economic Impact ◽  
Scientific Research ◽  
Research Assessment ◽  
Higher Education Funding ◽  
Research Excellence Framework ◽  
National System ◽  
Academic Researchers ◽  
Narrative Case Studies ◽  
The Uk

In this chapter we turn our attention to those charged with the task of judging the 'reach' and 'significance' of impact claimed by academic researchers in narrative case studies in REF2014. Knowledge pertaining to how the societal and economic impact of scientific research is evaluated is sparse. This is especially true in the context of the UK's national system of research assessment, the Research Excellence Framework (REF), in light of the confidentiality and rules of non-disclosure enforced by Research England and the UK Research & Innovation (previously the Higher Education Funding Council for England - HEFCE).

scholarly journals Editorial

ReCALL ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 151-152
Author(s):  
JUNE THOMPSON
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Higher Education Funding ◽  
Academic Journal ◽  
Step Down ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The University ◽  
Uk Higher Education ◽  
Teaching Initiative

This issue of ReCALL represents something of a watershed in the journalÕs history, for a number of reasons. First of all I have to report that Professor Graham Chesters has decided that he wishes to step down as co-editor, and I would like to thank him here for all his work for the journal over the years. Back in 1990 when Graham and I were involved with the Computers in Teaching Initiative Centre for Modern Languages (CTICML) at the University of Hull, funded by the UK Higher Education Funding Council, one of the required ‘deliverables’ was a regular Newsletter, designed to inform university language lecturers about developments in the use of new technologies in language learning. It soon became apparent that some of the material that was being submitted for publication was far too substantial for a Newsletter, yet merited dissemination among our readers. It was Graham who saw the potential need for a new academic journal in this field, and thus ReCALL was born. I still blush to see my attempts at desk-top publishing in those early issues!

scholarly journals The Research Assessment Exercise

1998 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lee-Anne Broadhead ◽  
Sean Howard
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Integrated System ◽  
Research Assessment ◽  
Higher Education Funding ◽  
Research Assessment Exercise ◽  
Disciplinary Power ◽  
Critical Response ◽  
Research And Teaching ◽  
Academic System ◽  
The Impact

In this article it is argued that the recent Research Assessment Exercise (RAE)--undertaken by the United Kingdom's Higher Education Funding Councils (HEFC)--is part of a much larger process of assessment in education generally. By taking the RAE as its focus, this article uses a Foucaultian analysis to amplify the nature and practice of disciplinary power in the setting of Higher Education. Foucault's notion of an "integrated system" of control and production, with its routine operation of surveillance and assessment--and its dependence on coercion and consent--is directly applied to the RAE. The impact on research and teaching is discussed. The critical response of academics to the exercise has failed to challenge the process in any fundamental way. it is argued here that this failure is a reflection of the degree to which disciplinary logic is embedded in the academic system.

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