AUT seeks replacement to research assessment exercise

"The AUT is calling for the research assessment exercise to be replaced and the 2008 round to be the last.

17 March 2005 The AUT welcomes the chancellor's focus on science and research in the budget but it will do little to protect jobs and courses under threat in higher education because of the way research is funded.

Higher education centres of national excellence, which are rated in the government's research assessment exercise at level four, receive very little funding and led to the recent wave of science course closures, most dramatically at Exeter University.

'The research assessment exercise is wreaking havoc across the sector as vice chancellors seek to second-guess how the next round in 2008 will pan out,' said AUT general secretary Sally Hunt.

'This is resulting in job losses and a lack of long-term strategic planning in planning what research is undertaken and which courses are run by universities."
(Politics.co.uk)