RAE 2008 results

See our results from the national Research Assessment Exercise of 2008

International quality

Over 85 per cent* of our submitted research was judged to be of international quality in terms of:

• originality
• significance
• rigour

The results of this national Research Assessment Exercise were released in December 2008.

*The Table of Excellence, 18-25 December 2008

A rising star

We were ranked 58 out of 163 UK Higher Education institutions.

This was an improvement of 35 places on the previous position of 93.

The University was described as a “rising star” for its research performance by the Times Higher Education.

International excellence

All 14 units submitted for assessment were recognised for international excellence. 

World-leading

Our research attained the highest level of world-leading quality 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 on the left hand menu.

Visit the Research Assessment Exercise website for the full RAE 2008 results.

Who carried out the research assessment?

The UK national Research Assessment Exercise was conducted jointly by:

• Higher Education Funding Council for England
• Scottish Funding Council, the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales
• Department for Employment and Learning for Northern Ireland

Reviewed by experts

RAE 2008, 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)
• indicators of esteem

"This proves that our research is continuing to be innovative, enterprising and of the highest quality."

John Senior, Pro Vice Chancellor (Research)