Research Assessment Exercise (RAE)
Manchester's outstanding performance in the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) 2008 means that now, more than ever, the University can rightfully claim its place as one of the UK's leading research universities.
The RAE is the UK government's formal method of assessing the quality of research in universities. It is based on a large and complex amount of data and is presented in a different way to previous RAEs.
There are a number of different ways of analysing the results and in any of these The University of Manchester ranks among the country's top-performing universities.
One example is the ranking which looks at the volume of research activity judged to be in the two highest possible quality levels, called 'World-Leading' (4*) and 'Internationally Excellent' (3*). This places Manchester in third position, behind only Oxford and Cambridge:
| Ranking | Institution |
| 1 | University of Oxford |
| 2 | University of Cambridge |
| 3 | The University of Manchester |
| 4 | University College London |
| 5 | University of Edinburgh |
| 6 | University of Nottingham |