Some of the UK’s most prestigious university departments are losing seven-figure sums under reforms tied to the Research Excellence Framework (REF) despite excelling in the latest assessment.
At the University of Oxford, the annual allocation for mathematical sciences – for which it ranked number one nationally in the 2021 REF – fell by £734,000 to £7 million this academic year, representing a cut of almost 10 per cent, while its computer science and informatics grant dropped by 12 per cent to £3.2 million – a £425,000 cut – despite rising from seventh in 2014 to second on its grade-point average (GPA) ranking.
For economics, Oxford’s annual REF allocation fell by £1.2 million to £1.3 million – a 44 per cent reduction, despite improving on its 2014 GPA score. At the London School of Economics (LSE) – ranked top for economics in 2021 – its quality-related allocation for that discipline fell by a third to £1.1 million this year, following a cut of £560,000.
Other leading departments are also facing cuts in their annual quality-related (QR) funding despite strong performances in the 2021 REF, the results of which were published last May. It follows several changes from the 2014 exercise, including the requirement for all research-active staff to enter at least one research output, which led to a 46 per cent rise in the number of submitted academics.
