University of Essex - Research Assessment Exercise 2001
The departmental grades are as follows (in the order 2001 1998 1992))
AFM 5 4 4
Art History 5 5 4
Biological Sciences 4 4 3
Computer Science 4 4 4
Economics 5* 5 5
ESE 5 4 3
Government 5* 5* 5
History 5 4 3
Law 5 5 3
Linguistics 5 4 5
Literature 4 4 4
Mathematics (Applied)** 3a 3a 3
Mathematics (Pure)** 3a 3a n/a
Philosophy 5 4 4
Psychology 5 4 3
Sociology 5* 5* 5
** the two Mathematics submissions were solo entries.
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Observations
11 out of 15 departments (counting Mathematics as one) received a 5 or 5-star
30% of submitted staff are in grade 5-star departments - the 9th highest in the UK
over three quarters of submitted staff (76%) are in 5/5-star departments (double that of 1996 - 38%) - the 13th highest in the UK
99% of submitted staff are in grade 4/5/5-star departments
7 out of 15 departments improved their grade
no department dropped a grade
If The Times and Times Higher produce their league table on the same basis as last time, Essex will be ranked 9th in the UK - up from 11th in 1996. This system allocates 1 point to grade 1, 2 to grade 2, 3 to grade 3b, 4 to grade 3a, 5 to grade 4, 6 to grade 5 and 7 to grade 5-star.
On the grading system that allocates 2.75 points to grade 3b, 3.25 to grade 3a, 4 to grade 5, 5 to grade 5 and 6 to grade 5-star, Essex would rank 10th.
Using the 1996 formula of The Times and Times Higher, the top 20 in 2001 are:
1. Cambridge
2. Imperial
3. Oxford
4. LSE
5. Warwick
6. UCL
7. Cardiff
8. Manchester
9. Essex
10. Southampton
11. Durham
12. Lancaster
13. Sheffield
14. Edinburgh
15. Bristol
16. York
17. St Andrews
18. Bath
19. Royal Holloway
20= King's London
20= Birmingham
Compared with 1996 we have been overtaken by Manchester and Cardiff. But we have overtaken UMIST, Bath, York and Lancaster.
However, it should be noted that if the league tables weight the grade scores by the proportion of total staff submitted into account, Essex's ranking in the league table would be lower. In view of the probable inconsistencies in the definition of 'total staff' used by different universities, we must hope that this form of misleading ranking will not be used in the press.
This is a quite excellent result for the University. It reconfirms the University's position as one of the top ten research universities in the UK. For a small university, maintaining research across the broad spectrum of disciplines, the achievement is all the more impressive. The breakthrough to grade 5 of two science departments for the first time; the royal flush of 5-stars in economics, government and sociology and the almost clean-sweep of 5s in the humanities are all particularly gratifying.
[From an announcement by Ivor Crewe, Vice Chancellor of the University of Essex, December 2001]