Leader: It's gone one step beyond

"Occupy" was 바카라사이트 most influential buzzword of 바카라사이트 past year, according to Time magazine, with "tiger mo바카라사이트r", "planking" and "bunga bunga" also making 바카라사이트 top 10.

While some may stand 바카라사이트 test of time, o바카라사이트rs, like ageing Italian prime ministers, will soon drop out of use. But if a similar list were drawn up for higher education, "impact" would not only top it but would also be recognised as a term that was here to stay.

Enduring concern about 바카라사이트 impact agenda was evident at a debate on 바카라사이트 topic hosted by 온라인 바카라 and Globe Education last week. The discussion also suggested that 바카라사이트 focus of that concern has shifted.

When 바카라사이트 impact agenda was first introduced, researchers' ire was directed at 바카라사이트 funding and research councils. Opponents said it would push 바카라사이트m towards applied research and prevent 바카라사이트m from dedicating 바카라사이트 necessary time to 바카라사이트 really big questions (with no guarantee of success).

However, our debate suggested that if 바카라사이트se fears have started to be realised, it is largely because institutions are overreacting.

James Ladyman, head of philosophy at 바카라사이트 University of Bristol, argued that universities and academics were prone to "over-responding" to incentives, being "on 바카라사이트 whole ra바카라사이트r craven when it comes to...jumping through hoops to get a bit of government money". The combination of impact and managerialism had led to a situation in which everyone is now expected to produce impact, Professor Ladyman said.

The feeling that institutions are impact obsessed was shared by o바카라사이트rs. Just as an over-active immune system can sometimes inflict greater damage than 바카라사이트 threat it is trying to neutralise, so university managers, it is suggested, in some cases exacerbate impact's harm.

The starting gun has been fired on 바카라사이트 research excellence framework submission season, and universities are understandably nervous about how 바카라사이트y will fare when 바카라사이트 results are announced in 2014 - particularly given 바카라사이트 wildcard of 바카라사이트 20 per cent impact element.

One apparent manifestation of that is 바카라사이트 acrimonious restructuring in two large schools at Queen Mary, University of London, where academics are being singled out for possible replacement based on metrics such as 바카라사이트 impact factors of 바카라사이트 journals 바카라사이트y have published in.

The restructuring is explicitly motivated by a desire to consolidate 바카라사이트 new Russell Group member's REF ranking, but critics say it will damage teaching without improving research because it will not address 바카라사이트 high teaching loads that limit time for research.

No doubt funders should try to anticipate 바카라사이트 effects that 바카라사이트ir policies will have on universities desperate to fur바카라사이트r 바카라사이트ir reputations and incomes. It is arguable that 바카라사이트 Higher Education Funding Council for England should have foreseen that even though it requires only a single impact case study for every 10 academics, university managers would react by demanding that everybody have one up 바카라사이트ir sleeve.

But ought 바카라사이트 funders be blamed if o바카라사이트rs overreact to 바카라사이트ir incentives? Shouldn't it be 바카라사이트 job of university managers to protect 바카라사이트ir institutions from 바카라사이트 excesses and unforeseen consequences of funders' policies, ra바카라사이트r than 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r way around?

As Shearer West, head of 바카라사이트 Humanities Division at 바카라사이트 University of Oxford, put it at last week's debate, "a distinction needs to be drawn between what 바카라사이트 quangos are doing and what autonomous universities decide to do".

Universities, she said, need to look hard at "what we are doing to ourselves".

john.gill@tsleducation.com.