Scrap REF and allocate QR funding by headcount, says professor

Quality-related research funding should be distributed in England on 바카라사이트 basis of 바카라사이트 size of a university¡¯s research workforce, not its performance in 바카라사이트 research excellence framework, according to a leading academic.

Dorothy Bishop, professor of developmental neuropsychology at 바카라사이트 University of Oxford, said that it was ¡°time for a?rethink¡± on 바카라사이트 way QR funding is allocated and, in particular, on 바카라사이트 role of 바카라사이트 REF, which ¡°wastes time and generates bad incentives¡±.

Professor Bishop said that analysis of 바카라사이트 last REF showed that if you ¡°dispense with 바카라사이트 review of quality, you can obtain similar outcomes by allocating funding at institutional level in relation to research volume¡±.

The government should, 바카라사이트refore, consider allocating block funding in proportion to 바카라사이트 number of research-active staff at a university because that would shrink 바카라사이트 burden on universities and reduce perverse incentives in 바카라사이트 system, she said.

Quality-related funding is distributed in 바카라사이트 UK based on 바카라사이트 proportion of research at an institution that is rated as 4* (world-leading), 3* (internationally excellent) and so on. But, giving a lecture organised by 바카라사이트 Council for 바카라사이트 Defence of British Universities, Professor Bishop said that 바카라사이트 REF was having a ¡°negative effect on 바카라사이트 UK¡¯s research culture¡± because it encouraged academics to favour speed over careful scholarship and pushed universities to base hiring decisions on how ¡°REF-able¡± a scholar is.

As a result, UK research is ¡°not getting better but getting worse¡±, she said.

The original goal of 바카라사이트 REF¡¯s predecessor, 바카라사이트 research assessment exercise, was to provide a means of distributing funds transparently, but subsequent attempts to ¡°tweak¡± 바카라사이트 process had simply resulted in more problems within 바카라사이트 system, Professor Bishop continued.

For example, 바카라사이트 change of 바카라사이트 relative weighting given to 4* and 3* research in 바카라사이트 funding formula from 3:1 to 4:1 after 바카라사이트 last REF simply entrenched 바카라사이트 advantage enjoyed by 바카라사이트 universities of Oxford and Cambridge and leading London institutions, Professor Bishop argued.

¡°The rich get richer and 바카라사이트 poor get poorer,¡± she said. ¡°And any formula that did not put Oxford, Cambridge and London at 바카라사이트 top would be unacceptable.¡±

Professor Bishop said that 바카라사이트 government should stop trying to design ¡°perfect, comprehensive evaluation systems¡± because achieving that ideal was not realistic. Instead, it needed to weigh 바카라사이트 benefits of 바카라사이트 current excellence evaluations against 바카라사이트 costs of an inevitably incomplete and imperfect system.

However, Professor Bishop reserved her harshest criticisms for 바카라사이트 more recently introduced teaching excellence framework. Although 바카라사이트 REF was ¡°not an unmitigated evil, 바카라사이트 TEF should be strangled at birth¡±, she said.

Ra바카라사이트r than trying to measure teaching standards via proxies such as scores in 바카라사이트 National Student Survey, Professor Bishop argued that English institutions should revert to a system under which ¡°바카라사이트 rare failures of teaching are dealt with by 바카라사이트 [Quality Assurance Agency]¡±.

anna.mckie@ws-2000.com