Research Assessment Exercise 2001
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| Research at Warwick |
The 2001 Research Assessment Exercise results published just before Christmas once again confirmed that Warwick is one of the country’s leading research universities. The University achieved six top-rated 5* departments, Applied Mathematics, Statistics, Economics, Business Studies, English, Theatre Studies and nineteen 5 rated departments and one rated at 4. The results are a testament to the hard work of departments through the assessment period.
The main purpose of the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE), which takes place every four to five years, is to enable the higher education funding bodies to distribute public funds for research (£1 billion per annum) selectively on the basis of quality.
The Results
Nationally, there have been increases in ratings across all subjects compared to the 1996 exercise: for example 55% of staff now work in top-rated 5 and 5* departments compared with 31% in 1996 and 39% of submissions are now 5 or 5* compared to only 20% in 1996. Nevertheless, if you compare Warwick’s results for the 2001 RAE with those of the 1996 exercise, Warwick’s success is clear: 11 departments jumped by one rating, 4 departments (Chemistry, Politics, English and Philosophy) jumped by 2 ratings and Italian by 4 ratings. Overall Warwick submitted 90.8 % of staff with only 6 universities submitting a higher percentage of staff. Of the staff submitted 91% are now in top rated 5 and 5* departments. Warwick’s results in detail are set out in the table below.
Warwick in the ‘Premier League’
Directly after the results were published the inevitable series of national league tables for research were published in the national press. These league tables which are summarised below, confirmed that Warwick has maintained its position as one of the ‘Premier League’ research universities. Each of the league tables use slightly different methods for calculating their scores but by all measures Warwick ranks in 5th place.
Furthermore, looking back at the national rankings since the 1989 RAE, it is clear that the position of Warwick and the other top 5 universities has remained relatively constant.
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