Research Note Assessing the Assessment: Some Reflections on the 1996 Higher Education Funding Council's Research Assessment Exercise

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).

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

The Biochemist ◽

10.1042/bio02406030 ◽

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.

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

British Journal of Occupational Therapy ◽

10.1177/030802260006300405 ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 63 (4) ◽

pp. 171-176 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

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.

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The Research Assessment Exercise

Education Policy Analysis Archives ◽

10.14507/epaa.v6n8.1998 ◽

1998 ◽

Vol 6 ◽

pp. 8 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

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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