On 12 Dec 2009, at 8:38 pm, Ken Friedman wrote:
> Six universities have a greater percentage at 4* than any other
> category. Loughborough
> Design and Technology tops the list with 55:30:15:0, and University of
> Reading
> Typography and Graphic Design follow with 45:35:10:10. (For clarity,
> both submissions
> have two parts, and art lags behind design at both universities.) Both
> surpass RCA.
> Two more universities have a larger number in 4* than any other
> category: Brighton
> and Dundee. This is also true of Goldsmith's art in a split
> submission,
> but not true of
> Goldsmith's design.
But Ken, if you had read my earlier post, you will understand why
these comparisons are meaningless. If one takes the whole list of
universities: some are split submissions, most are not; some submitted
nearly all staff, and many didn't; some are highly focused, though
most have wider provision. Several kinds of apples and pears all in
the same basket. And all submitted what they wanted to show, some by
excluding all but the best researchers, and many being more inclusive.
Mark is quite correct that Loughborough Design and Technology (a
department) tops the list, and with nearly all staff entered, this is
a truly exceptional performance, possibly the best in the country
whichever way it is measured. However, if the other bit of
Loughborough University had been assessed with D&T - which is the game
that most universities played - they would have dropped maybe ten
places... but it depends which league table you believe, and I'm not
sure I believe any of them except the one that ranks my institution
highest in 2013 ;o)
The RAE was designed to distribute research funding following an
elaborate beauty contest, which it does tolerably well. It was not
intended for fatuous comparisons between institutions.
AND none of this relates to doctoral education anyway, which was the
point of the original post.
David
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David Durling FDRS PhD http://durling.tel
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