SC&HS celebrates RAE success

City’s School of Community and Health Sciences is celebrating an outstanding performance in the Research Assessment Exercise

City’s School of Community and Health Sciences is celebrating an outstanding performance in the recent Research Assessment Exercise (RAE), conducted jointly by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), the Scottish Funding Council (SFC), the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW) and the Department for Employment and Learning, Northern Ireland (DEL).


The RAE assesses the standard of research activities within UK higher education institutions, to determine what funding they will receive. The results are produced as a quality profile, which shows the proportions of research activity in each submission, judged to have met four levels of criteria. These are from 4* (the highest ranking) to unclassified. Results are based on expert review, including the views of international experts in all the main subject areas.

 

The RAE2008 results were announced in December 2008 and will be used to allocate over £1.5 billion annually from 2009-10.

 

Highlights for the School come from Nursing and Midwifery; The Centre for Food Policy; Optometry and Visual Science; and Language and Communication Sciences.

 

Nursing and Midwifery:

• researchers were rated highest in London
• submitted the second highest total number of researchers in the UK
• had the largest volume of 4* research
• had the highest proportion of 3* and 4* research

 

The Centre for Food Policy:

• had 65% of research activities rated 4* and 3*, with all submissions rated of international or world significance
• ranked seventh out of 68 ‘Social Work and Social Policy & Administration’ departments, in the Power Rankings by Research Fortnight, which takes account of both quality and number of researchers submitted.

 

Optometry and Visual Science:

• entered all its researchers - twice as many as in the previous RAE
• had 75% of the research activity rated of a quality that is recognised internationally in terms of originality, significance and rigour, with ten% in the highest (4*) category

 

Language and Communication Science (LCS):

• was the only department of Speech and Language Therapy in the UK to be submitted to the RAE in their own right, rather than as part of a larger grouping
• submitted research involving 80% of staff
• had 60% of research activity rated as of a quality that is recognised internationally in terms of originality, significance and rigour, with 10% in the highest (4*) category

 

Optometry and LCS were ranked a combined 13th out of 63 institutions by Research Fortnight’s Power Rankings of the Allied Health Unit of Assessment.

 

Mary Watts, Dean of City’s School of Community & Health Sciences says: “These results clearly demonstrate the very high calibre and commitment of our researchers as well as the effectiveness of the School’s long term strategy of investment in practice related research. The School intends to continue with this strategy and to achieve even greater success in the forthcoming Research Excellence Framework.”

 

Read more about City’s performance in RAE2008 at: http://www.city.ac.uk/news/archive/2008/12_December/18122008_1.html

 

Citynews will be featuring the RAE results for each school over the next few weeks.



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Date of Article:  26/01/2009