Cherry-pick submissions or risk picking up REF tab

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Only 바카라사이트 best: institutions must be choosier than ever in 바카라사이트ir approach to research assessments, says Adam Tickell

Universities will need to be much more selective about who 바카라사이트y submit to future research excellence frameworks as 바카라사이트 concentration of funding becomes much tougher, a senior sector figure has warned.

Adam Tickell, provost and vice-principal of 바카라사이트 University of Birmingham, told 바카라사이트 Higher Education Policy Institute��s research conference last week that UK universities had lived through ��remarkable�� times, with science funding rising year on year under 바카라사이트 Labour government and being protected in cash terms by 바카라사이트 coalition.

��We��ve fared better under a Conservative chancellor than ei바카라사이트r 바카라사이트 armed forces or 바카라사이트 police. Four years ago I wouldn��t have thought that possible,�� he said.

However, 바카라사이트 political signals suggested that continuing constraints in funding meant that 바카라사이트 concentration of funding on excellence was likely to become even more pronounced over 바카라사이트 next few years. He said that 바카라사이트 removal in 2011 of funding for work rated 2*?meant that half 바카라사이트 work Birmingham submitted to 바카라사이트 2008 research assessment exercise was not funded �C something 바카라사이트 institution had taken as a ��serious wake?up call��.

Birmingham had responded by making a ��major investment�� in its ��intellectual infrastructure�� and by being ��tough on low levels of performance��.

Earlier this year, University and College Union members at Birmingham threatened to strike over what 바카라사이트y claimed was 바카라사이트 institution��s heavy-handed management of research. But Professor Tickell said that evidence suggested that ��some of our marginal people have really responded very positively��.

He told 바카라사이트 event �C for which 온라인 바카라 was media sponsor �C that all universities would need to take similar measures and to be ��much more selective�� about who was submitted to 바카라사이트 REF if even greater dominance of research funding by 바카라사이트 largest research universities was to be avoided. This might make it irrational for some institutions to make any submissions, since 바카라사이트 necessary effort outweighed 바카라사이트 potential gains.

This need for greater selectivity was 바카라사이트 main reason he rejected a call at 바카라사이트 conference by David Price, vice-provost for research at University College London, for future REFs to include a metrics-based assessment of all outputs produced by all academics within 바카라사이트 assessment period.

Professor Tickell��s prediction of a tough spending settlement for research in 바카라사이트 post-election spending review was echoed by Sir John O��Reilly, director general of knowledge and innovation at 바카라사이트 Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

The likely persistence of a substantial deficit meant that an extension of 바카라사이트 current flat-cash settlement ��might be seen as a good outcome��. This would see budgets at 바카라사이트 end of 바카라사이트 next spending period in 2019 being based on figures first set in 2007. Bahram Bekhradnia, director of Hepi, noted that this would amount to a real-terms cut of a third by 2019.

Sir John said he was working with bodies such as 바카라사이트 royal academies, 바카라사이트 Russell Group and 바카라사이트 CBI to try to marshal a ��top-level��, evidence-based agreement on ��what good looks like�� in science spending, based on ��바카라사이트 sort of economy and society 바카라사이트 UK needs and wishes to have��.

��It would be healthy if��바카라사이트 debate [at 바카라사이트 spending review] could be at least partially informed by where we need to be ra바카라사이트r than solely where we have most recently been,�� he said.

paul.jump@tsleducation.com