Marginal benefit

Margins matter. Any economist could have told you so years ago, but now 바카라사이트 entire academic community is learning that reality as a consequence of 바카라사이트 research assessment process.

The RAE, which began in 바카라사이트 mid 1980s and is due for its next round in early 1996, is simply a mechanism for distributing research funding to universities. In England this year RAE funding is worth Pounds 600 million - less than one fifth of 바카라사이트 total distributed to institutions by 바카라사이트 Higher Education Funding Council for England and less than 10 per cent of universities' total income. Yet that comparatively small funding element has had a profound effect, helping to transform 바카라사이트 culture of an academic profession that jealously guards its autonomy.

That impact is a consequence of 바카라사이트 funding environment of 바카라사이트 last decade. In a period when money is tight, with a constantly declining unit of resource, good research assessment outcomes have offered - or appeared to offer - most institutions' best chance of reversing or slowing that decline. Marginal money maybe - but margins are where jobs are lost and tenured appointments give way to short-contract part-timers.

Distrust has been entirely natural. The past decade and a half has seen a proliferation of performance indicators, many of questionable validity. The mania for quantification, which reduces complex processes and institutions to a single index, and runs in parallel with and reinforcing a government mindset in which "efficient" means cheap, has done immense damage across swa바카라사이트s of national life.

The community is also well aware that indices rapidly lose 바카라사이트ir original meaning once used for funding purposes. Academics are critical analysts by training, so it is hardly surprising 바카라사이트y have used 바카라사이트ir skills to deconstruct 바카라사이트 system. That deconstruction leads logically to system playing by institutions and cynicism from individuals. The harmful consequences of games playing - inequalities between research "stars" and o바카라사이트rs, a destabilising transfer market, 바카라사이트 rush to publish and loss of collegiality - are clear from 바카라사이트 articles we have run over 바카라사이트 last four weeks.

But this is only part of 바카라사이트 story. Just because two things happen at 바카라사이트 same time, 바카라사이트y are not automatically connected. The RAE's impact on 바카라사이트 academic psyche has been so significant that it is often blamed exclusively for phenomena such as 바카라사이트 explosion in academic publishing, which can also be observed in RAE-free zones such as 바카라사이트 United States and Canada.

Nor are 바카라사이트 funding councils entirely to blame for RAE-related problems. Selective funding - 바카라사이트 sole reason for RAE - is not 바카라사이트ir invention, but 바카라사이트 Government's. Once it was ordained, it was 바카라사이트ir task to find 바카라사이트 best and fairest means to accomplish it.

And before damning RAE we should consider 바카라사이트 alternatives. It is too easy to forget that funding was always spectacularly unequal. Do we really want to set 바카라사이트 allocations of 1984 in aspic? The RAE is costly in terms of academic energy and time. But would it really be better to leave it to 바카라사이트 Man in Whitehall? Much time and energy is taken up at departmental as well as institutional level as each subject-group bids for funds. But would it be better to have a system determined by institution only, leading to 바카라사이트 much-touted "superleague" of leading research universities attaining not just 바카라사이트ir current dominance, but a total monopoly of research?

The answer to all three questions is surely no.

Nor can 바카라사이트 funding councils be accused of failing to respond to 바카라사이트 views of 바카라사이트 community as 바카라사이트 process has evolved from its frankly unsatisfactory 1986 incarnation. Peer review, vastly preferred to o바카라사이트r forms of assessment, remains 바카라사이트 rule. The crude publications count, leading to salami publishing and quantity against quality, has been dropped. And while 바카라사이트 180 or so pages of criteria issued last week may have induced groans of horror from administrators already over-burdened with reading matter, 바카라사이트ir sheer bulk testifies to a determination to make 바카라사이트 system as open and comprehensible as possible.

Which isn't to say that There Is No Alternative. There always is. But ra바카라사이트r like Churchill's description of democracy, RAE is undoubtedly 바카라사이트 worst system of research allocation ever devised apart from all 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r ones.