Funding Council proposals for assessing university research ‘step forward,’ say million+
Today (Wednesday) the Higher Education Funding Council for England (Hefce) publishes new proposals on how the quality of university research is to be assessed in the future. Currently university research is assessed by the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) but the Funding Council has been working on proposals for a new system: the Research Excellence Framework (REF). Hefce will now consult on their proposals for the REF for the next 6 months.
Professor Les Ebdon CBE Vice Chancellor of the University of Bedfordshire and Chair of university think-tank million+ said, ”There has always been a case for research funding in the UK to be better focused on the needs of the economy and society. These proposals are a step forward in achieving that goal and in part reflect the approach taken to research and innovation in other countries. It is sensible to move away from a pure metrics-based assessment system. This was always likely to disadvantage social sciences and more user focused research. However, these proposals will be undermined if they are underwritten by a Government policy or an HE Framework which supports research concentration.”
ENDS
Notes to editors:
- million+ is a leading university think-tank, working to solve the complex problems in higher education. www.millionplus.ac.uk
- The consultation document from Hefce can be found on their website: www.hefce.ac.uk
- For more information please contact Gemma Tumelty on 0207 7171655 or 07900 277819