{"id":139421,"date":"2022-05-19T17:24:23","date_gmt":"2022-05-19T16:24:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/?p=139421"},"modified":"2022-05-20T10:55:03","modified_gmt":"2022-05-20T09:55:03","slug":"does-the-research-excellence-framework-ref-have-a-sustainable-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/blog\/does-the-research-excellence-framework-ref-have-a-sustainable-future\/","title":{"rendered":"Does the Research Excellence Framework (REF) Have a Sustainable Future?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The results of the Research Excellence Framework (REF) for 2021 have just been revealed \u2013 the first since 2014. REF is a UK-wide assessment carried out by four education funding bodies, assessing over 76,000 academics at 157 universities. <\/span><\/b>The final ranking determines the amount of quality-related research (QR) funding that universities receive from the Government each year for the next seven years.<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

While many have opted to celebrate the <\/span>stronger diversity<\/span><\/a> of nationwide results this year, the overall system has also been heavily criticised by unions and independent researchers. In the week that followed the results on 12 May, we analysed the trending areas of discussion among 133 journalists across 515 UK-based publications, alongside 34 journalists across 102 international media outlets.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Strong Distribution of \u2018World-leading\u2019 Research\u00a0<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

84% of UK research assessed by REF has been dubbed as ‘world-leading’ or ‘internationally excellent’. <\/span>Oxford University had the highest volume of world-leading research and made the largest submission of research compared with any other university, submitting more than 3,600 researchers in 29 subject areas. (<\/span>Mail Online, 12.05.22<\/span><\/a>).\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The term \u2018northern powerhouse\u2019 was trending in the first two days, with 162 articles referencing the strong representation of highly ranked universities in northern regions of the UK. The leading example was <\/span>University of Northumbria, which was mentioned 189 times for soaring from 52nd to 28th in market share of future funding. Of this selection, 90% of all articles featured a quote from Andrew Wathey, Northumbria\u2019s vice-chancellor, who commented that the achievement will move them \u2018into territory formerly the preserve of the Russell Group\u2019 <\/span>(The Independent, 12.05.22<\/span><\/a>).\u00a0 As a result, the \u2018golden triangle\u2019 universities have lost 2.4 percentage points since the 2014 REF results, a statistic shared 85 times by both regional and national publications.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Similarly, Scottish universities received strong prominence due to every institution in the region delivering \u2018world-leading\u2019 research (<\/span>The National, 12.05.22<\/span><\/a>). Among the 62 Scotland-focused articles across several UK news sources, 23% featured the terms \u2018Scottish universities\u2019 and \u2018world-leading research\u2019 in their headlines.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Diversity and the \u2018Levelling-Up\u2019 Agenda<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As REF results are only released every seven years, a leading point of discussion in this cycle has been the \u2018even spread\u2019 of success in all four nations across the country <\/span>(<\/span>Mail Online, 12.05.22<\/span><\/a>). This term has been used 155 times across UK and international media outlets, highlighting newfound diversity and funding allocated to universities outside the Russell Group.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Government has used this opportunity to outline how such results support the \u2018levelling-up\u2019 agenda, a seven-year plan to reduce (primarily economical) imbalances and <\/span>increase public investment in areas outside the Southeast of England by 40%. The agenda has been mentioned 164 times by national news and business publications, as well as in a small percentage of coverage in North America, Australia and New Zealand. 96% of this coverage featured a quote from Steven Hill at Research England, and subsequent Chair of the REF steering group: \u2018There\u2019s lots of myths about where our research excellence is, but the truth is that it is more broadly distributed, as the results from this exercise show\u2019, adding that the UK research system is \u2018well placed to meet the Government’s ambitions for levelling up\u2019.\u00a0 (<\/span>New Scientist, 12.05.22<\/span><\/a>). An article by The Independent, titled \u2018University research triumphs will help with levelling up agenda\u2019, was syndicated 143 times by local and regional press such as <\/span>The Reading Chronicle, Cotswold Journal <\/span><\/i>and <\/span>South Wales Argus.<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Share of Voice: Prominence of REF Opinions\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n