APPENDIX 38
Memorandum submitted by the Office of
Science and Technology, Department of Trade and Industry
INTRODUCTION
1. RAE outcomes are used by the Funding
Councils in England, Scotland and Wales and by the Department
for Employment and Learning in Northern Ireland ("the Funding
Councils") in the formulae which allocate quality-related
research funding to higher education establishments (HEIs). Strictly
speaking, matters relating to the RAE are for those bodies and
their parent Departments in the countries concerned. However,
as the partner, with these bodies, in the Dual Support funding
system, through its support for basic and strategic research through
the Research Councils, the Office of Science and Technology (OST)
has an interest in the RAE. This lies principally in the extent
that it—or the allocation formulae which it contributes
to—affects the health of the UK science and engineering
base (SEB) and the interaction between the SEB and research users,
such as industry. The OST is the only Dual Support funder which
takes a UK-wide view of science and engineering research. But
its remit does not include research in the arts and humanities
which are covered by the RAE.
2. OST's views on the RAE fall into two
broad areas:
— The way in which RAE outcomes are
used by the Funding Councils to allocate quality-related research
funding;
— The RAE itself—its purpose,
scope and execution.
ALLOCATION OF
QUALITY-RELATED
FUNDING
3. The quality-related research funding
distributed by the Funding Councils effectively supports two types
of research in higher education institutions, namely:
— It provides the underpinning for
the work driven by the Research Councils (and to some extent the
research charities). This work is selected by the Research Councils
in a competitive process on the grounds of significance and scientific
excellence as determined by extensive consultation and peer review
within the national and international scientific communities.
— It provides the costs (or the bulk
of the costs) of research driven by HEIs. Such work may be able
to respond flexibly and rapidly to emerging opportunities in science
and research, though generally without the breadth of input that
the Research Councils can call upon.
4. The health of the Science and Engineering
Base depends on supporting only excellent research and striking
a careful balance on the one hand between concentration and dispersal
of excellent research activity and on the other hand between Research
Council-led and institution-led research. The evidence suggests
that the UK has—and has had for some time—one of the
more successful (and on one measure at least the most successful)
Science and Engineering Base in the world. The Office of Science
and Technology therefore considers it imperative that the any
changes to the incentives or other mechanisms that determine the
balances in the present system should be considered with considerable
caution. OST is particularly keen to ensure that institutions
in receipt of Research Council grants receive the funding they
require properly to underpin this research.
THE RAE
5. The RAE has played an important part,
alongside the peer review systems of the Research Councils and
other funders, in strengthening the quality of UK higher education
research across a wide variety of disciplines and across the bulk
of the higher education sector. The excellent standing which UK
university research currently enjoys internationally is seen by
many to be attributable—in some measure—to the success
of the RAE at motivating universities to concentrate on the highest
quality of research. The improvement in quality as measured by
the RAE was particularly marked in the RAE 2001 results announced
in December 2001.
6. In any review of the operation of RAE
2001, OST would like to see the following points looked at in
detail, and lessons drawn for future such exercises:
— Is the RAE giving sufficient weight
to all aspects of research that the public funding which the RAE
drives is intended to promote and support? In particular:
— Is sufficient recognition given to
excellence in cross-disciplinary research, which is not represented
explicitly in terms of Units of Assessment (UoAs)?
— Does the RAE take adequate account
of industry-sponsored—or co-sponsored—research (as
distinct from development)? The Department of Trade and Industry
has already stated its intention to review this question following
RAE 2001[9]
and will do so in the light of the Funding Councils' monitoring
and evaluation report on the exercise. Related to this question,
is there scope for reducing the burden of participation placed
on industry and commerce-based panel members in order to encourage
more such people to take part in the future?
— Are the current rules—for example,
the UoAs and allowing departments to exclude research active staff
from their RAE submissions—the best way to assess quality
so as to promote the efficient and effective support of truly
excellent and ground-breaking research across the system?
January 2002
9 Excellence and Opportunity, Cm 4814, July 2000;
chapter 2, paragraph 23. Back
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