RAE 2008 results
International quality
Over 85 per cent* of our submitted research was judged to be of international quality in terms of originality, significance and rigour, when the national Research Assessment Exercise 2008 results were released in December 2008.
A rising star
We were ranked 58 out of 163 UK Higher Education institutions. This is an improvement of 35 places on the previous position of 93 and the University was described as a “rising star” for its research performance by the Times Higher Education (*THE Table of Excellence, 18/25 December 2008).
These results compare favorably with the overall national results.
International excellence
All 14 units submitted for assessment were recognised for international excellence. “This proves that our research is continuing to be innovative, enterprising and of the highest quality”, says John Senior, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research) at the University of Hertfordshire.
World-leading
Our research attained the highest level of quality, world-leading, in the following areas:
- History – 25 per cent
- Nursing and midwifery – 25 per cent
- General engineering – 15 per cent
- Physics – 15 per cent
- Computer science and informatics - 10 per cent
- English language and literature - 10 per cent
- Art and design - 10 per cent
- Pharmacy - 5 per cent
- Business and management - 5 per cent
- Psychology - 5 per cent
- Music - 5 per cent.
See a list of the University’s full RAE submission.
Who carried out the research assessment?
The UK national Research Assessment Exercise was conducted jointly by the Higher Education Funding Council for England, the Scottish Funding Council, the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales and the Department for Employment and Learning, Northern Ireland.
RAE2008, which was based on expert review, included the views of international experts in all the main subject areas.
The primary purpose of the RAE 2008 was to produce quality profiles for each submission of research activity made by institutions.
The overall quality profile is awarded based on research outputs, research environment (including research grant income and research students) and indicators of esteem.
Read the full report
For the full results, please visit the Research Assessment Exercise 2008 website.