Ken Friedman wrote:
> "... In the Research Assessment Exercise results for these six schools
> in 2008,
> only the only the Royal College of Art submission suggests more work in
> the
> top 4* range than in the lower ranks."
>
I've only dipped into this thread but I'm mystified at the point of this
discussion about ratings.
Having the majority of your research in the 4 star category is
exceptional in any discipline, it doesn't mean that those with lower
ratings are not doing sound research. The whole range, from 1 to 4 stars
excludes any work that would not have been in the top half of the
ratings in the previous RAE.
More importantly the RAE profile system was set up to encourage
inclusion of all sound research, you didn't lose income by including
promising new researchers. Some people played it that way to be
inclusive, some played rather silly games to pretend that they were
better than they were by excluding perfectly good researchers in the
lower ranks. (some went the other way and looked foolish by including
unclassified research but that's a different issue)
So the RAE is a measure of the research that was submitted, not the
quality of the whole institution. I have the highest regard and great
affection for the Typography Department at Reading but they are small
and specialised and the RAE challenge for them is not like that of a
large complex department like Goldsmiths, Birmingham City University or
Brighton who all did well across a large range of art+design subjects.
Of course the RCA did well, as a wholly postgraduate college it would be
shameful if they didn't.
Best wishes from Sheffield, half our research in the 3* and 4* rankings
and more people submitted than 2001 but we are more excited about our
success in interdisciplinary research funding than we are about the
disciplinary league tables.
Chris
..............................................................
Prof Chris Rust FDRS
Head of Art and Design Dept
Sheffield Hallam University, UK
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In theory, practice follows theory, in practice theory follows practice
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