The RAE process

The RAE process began in January 2005 when initial guidance about the exercise was issued. In December 2006 HEIs were formally invited to make submissions to the RAE process. The closing date for submissions was 30 November 2007. The 2008 RAE is the sixth time the RAE has been carried out and it will be the last RAE. In future, it will be replaced by a new system, known as the Research Excellence Framework (REF).

How is research quality judged?

The RAE is conducted jointly by the UK funding bodies, comprising the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), the Scottish Funding Council (SFC), the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW) and the Department for Employment and Learning, Northern Ireland (DEL).

The University of Manchester submitted to 53 of the 67 available units of assessment. This was the largest number of submissions of any HEI in the UK, reflecting the great breadth of research activity at this University.

Each submission had to include information about research staff, their outputs and esteem, and data and narrative on the research environment (including research income and research student data). Electronic or physical copies of up to four research outputs for every submitted member of staff were also made available (more than 7,000 outputs in total).

Submitted work was assessed by experts, drawn from HEIs and the wider research community, both in the UK and worldwide.

More than 1,000 panel members were appointed by the UK funding bodies following nominations received from subject associations and other stakeholder organisations, including users of research. They were chosen for their standing in the academic and wider research community, their extensive research experience, and their understanding of the needs of research users and commissioners of research from both the public and commercial sectors.

All submissions were then reviewed by these panels to determine the results for each unit of assessment.