Reform of higher education research assessment and funding

The RSC's response to the Research Assessment Exercise 2006.

Summary

• The link between QR and research income is crude and unresponsive:   none of the methods proposed in the consultation are suitable for STEM, or any other, subjects; 
• The RSC believes that no one metric alone is suitable for measuring research quality and that any system adopted must use peer review as a key measure of quality;
• The RAE 2008 should run unaltered;
• Focussing on one metric, e.g., research income, will badly skew the sector's activity;
• Post 2008 consideration should be given to a metric-informed peer review assessment;
• Metric informed peer review could allow a light-touch approach to future exercises. The results of the light touch review could identify the occasional need for fuller reviews;
• A basket of metrics should be used, the exact details of which should be agreed at the unit of assessment level.