Dear colleagues,
I am writing to you earlier than usual this morning to share with you the results of the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021 – the UK Government’s system for assessing the quality of research in UK higher education institutions – published today, and what this means for Strathclyde as a research-intensive university.
I am delighted to tell you that Strathclyde’s performance is very strong – with almost 90% of our overall research quality profile rated world-leading or internationally excellent, compared to the sector average of 84%.
In a reflection of Strathclyde’s reputation as 'the place of useful learning', the University’s overall impact and research environment have been recognised as particularly strong, with both quality profiles above average for the sector.
We submitted more than 1,800 research outputs and 58 impact case studies across 14 units of assessment (UOA) for peer review by expert panels. Each UOA is awarded a quality rating, with the top ratings being ‘world-leading’ (4-star) or ‘internationally excellent’ (3-star).
For each submission, three distinct elements were assessed: the quality of outputs; their impact beyond academia; and, the environment that supports research. Together these provide an overall quality profile for each UOA.
The results show overall institutional quality profile above the sector average for ‘world-leading’ and ‘internationally-excellent’ research of 89.3% versus 84%.
Our proportion of world-leading research has increased since REF 2014 from 28% to 41%. As a result, Strathclyde’s ranking in the Times Higher Education’s (THE) REF tables, based on Grade Point Average (GPA), has risen four places from 37th to joint 33rd.
The proportion of our research impact rated as ‘outstanding’ (four-star) is above the sector average (57.1% vs 49.7%), with 93.2% rated as ‘outstanding’ or ‘very considerable’ (four-star and three-star), compared to the sector average of 87.2%. According to the THE REF rankings, Strathclyde has the second-highest impact quality profile in Scotland based on GPA.
The proportion of our research environment rated as ‘conducive to producing world-leading research’ is above the sector average (56.1% vs 49.6%), with 96.2% rated as ‘world-leading’ or ‘internationally-excellent’, compared to the sector average of 86.5%.
In each Faculty, too, there have been outstanding performances:
- the School of Government and Public Policy’s submission in the Politics and International Studies UOA was the highest-rated, with 62% of the research rated ‘world-leading’ and 100% of the impact rated ‘outstanding’. THE ranked it first in the UK overall
- Strathclyde’s Architecture submission was rated 100% ‘outstanding’ for impact and was the only submission in the UOA to achieve this. THE confirmed that this is the highest impact quality profile in the UK
- Strathclyde’s Engineering submission, which included the research of seven departments from the Faculty of Engineering, has the joint highest impact quality profiles in Scotland and joint highest environment quality profile in Scotland, based on GPA as calculated by THE
- Strathclyde’s Allied Health submission, which included research across four Strathclyde departments and schools, rated 100% ‘world leading’ for its research environment. The submission was ranked joint 11th in the UK for its overall research quality by THE, making Strathclyde the highest-ranking Scottish institution in the UOA
- Strathclyde Business School’s environment submission was rated 75% ‘world-leading’
The results are tremendous for Strathclyde and show significant uplift and growth in our research quality from the last REF in 2014 and this performance confirms further reinforcement and expansion of our research quality and power. This result is an important milestone on our institutional journey and represents the enhancement of our distinctive profile.
Our performance reflects our status as a leading international technological university that is delivering high-quality research which is making a positive impact on the world.
This also recognises the emphasis we place on creating a first-class research environment that allows our academics – and those who support our research activities – to make a positive impact in tackling some of the biggest societal challenges we face. This demonstrates the importance we place on working in collaboration with academic, industrial and public and third sector partners, both within Scotland and the UK as well as internationally. Collaborative working is crucial to high-quality research and this is part of Strathclyde’s distinctiveness.
In the few areas where we did not achieve the targeted performance, we will be looking at how we can work with the associated departments to understand their results and make improvements reflective of our established institutional research quality and intensity.
All staff can now view the REF 2021 results and highlights on our REF 2021 web pages. In addition, all colleagues have access to a dedicated Sharepoint Site which holds the results, detailed analysis and guidance on how to responsibly and appropriately use the information.
The Strathclyde REF Team will run drop-in Q&A sessions this afternoon to allow staff to ask any questions they may have after accessing the results.
Our staff – and our students too – lie at the heart of our success, and the process of submitting to REF is a considerable undertaking. I would like to thank all colleagues for the collective part you have played in this important piece of work and in achieving these outstanding results.
Please enjoy your weekend when it comes.
Best wishes,
Jim