CHUDE Annual Report to RES Executive Committee for 2015-16
There have, as usual, been two full meetings this year: on 31st October 2015 at UCL and on 21st March 2016, at the RES Conference held in Brighton (University of Sussex); and two Steering Group (SG) meetings both at University of Westminster on 6st February 2016 and 24th September 2016. I am very grateful to Daniel Zizzo who chaired the February and March meetings, whilst I was on abroad on study leave.
1. The Stern Review of REF
1.1 All research active staff to be submitted, but with a variable set of outputs (which could be zero). So the question “have you been submitted to REF” simply translates to “how many of your outputs have been submitted to REF”, with an additional layer of complexity, and strategic opportunities, for HEIs in managing the process.
1.2 Because of (1.1) and in order not to increase the overall workload for HEFCE in running the REF, the average number of outputs per FTE required is likely to be halved. If only an average of 2 outputs are required and these can be chosen more freely across the UoA submission (given (1.1)), there will be an increased premium on 4* output quality. Moreover if, as anecdotal evidence suggests, it were easier to publish 4* output in certain areas within the Business and Management UoA than in other areas such as Economics, there might be a concern of how economists may be comparatively treated within Business and Management UoA submissions.
1.3 Outputs are recommended to be non-portable. The specific suggestions on how to do this will depend on the technical consultation; the current implementation suggestions would be such that the short term incentive may be to recruit early in the cycle (you can benefit from the outputs if the member of staff stays and if he or she leaves).
1.4. Impact and environment statements are to be combined. There will be an institutional level statement and Unit of Assessment (UoA) specific statements. There will also be institutional level case studies and institutional level material will encourage interdisciplinarity.
1.5 The weights on output and impact are recommended to stay at 65% and no less than 20%, respectively. The number and configuration of existing UoAs is seen as outside the remit of the Review, but generally fine.
1.6 A technical consultation on the next REF is expected with final REF rules to be published in the summer of 2017.
2. Economics Network (EN)
2.1 In 2016, the Royal Economic Society and Scottish Economic Society endorsed the Economics Network’s programme of workshops. An independent panel was established to review the workshops, which"agreed that theprogrammes are of a high quality and appropriate for the intended purpose of supporting new lecturers and GTAs as they begin their careers as teachers of economics".Later this year, the Network will submit any changes to the workshop documentation to the panel for approval. The outcome will then be reported to the RES and SES in the spring. A full review will take place every three years.
2.2 This autumn, the Network has scheduled 11 GTA workshops and has 187 attendees registered so far. The Network has established a process to introduce new presenters to the GTA workshops to ensure the workshops are always fully staffed and to provide professional development opportunities for more staff across the sector. The two day early careers workshop took place in April at the University of Westminster and was attended by 26 delegates from 20 different institutions. The feedback was outstanding. The Network and Senior Associates have worked to review and develop the early careers workshop over the last year to update the content and delivery. The 2017 workshop will take place at the University of Leeds on 6th and 7th April.
2.3 The number of subscriptions to the Economic Review has continued to rise and the editorial board have worked to diversify the articles and respond to changes in the A-level curriculum.
2.4 The Network is currently processing subscriptions for the 2016-17 academic year of which there have been 43 to date. The costs of subscribing have remained the same for the past three years. (There were 56 subscriptions for 2015-16). So far, 43 departments have renewed their subscriptions for this academic year and they are following up on the remaining departments.
3. Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF)
3.1 CHUDE responded on behalf of the RES for the Dept of Business Innovation and Skills consultation on the TEF. We raised questions about the appropriateness of some of the metrics and cited evidence from the US experience (e.g. drawing on the article in the JEL by Allgood et al June 2015).
3.2 The 24 TEF panel members have been chosen, the membership of which seems to be dominated by the new universities. The chair is Professor Chris Husbands, vice chancellor of Sheffield Hallam University.
4. Other Matters
4.1 I attended the launching of the ‘Crossing Paths’ initiative at the British Academy in May, which encouraged multi-disciplinary work between all scientists. It was acknowledged that academics would probably have a publication record in their home subject before partaking in cross-disciplinary research.
4.2 I completed the feedback for the RES/CHUDE on post-16 maths and subsequently spoke to one of the team responsible for delivery with regards to syllabus needs as far as Economics were concerned. I attended a Department of Education workshop in London (24 September 2016) on behalf of the RES, which seemed to conclude that any initiative to increase maths teaching beyond 16 would most likely be severely constrained by the acute shortage of mathematics teachers.
4.3 CHUDE are delighted that Professor Peter Neary will be attending the CHUDE meetings in the future following the restructuring of the RES management with “three” Presidents.
4.4 Once again there has been a surplus of colleagues volunteering to join the steering group. Selection has been determined by the need to maintain the geographical representation of the committee and to improve the gender balance.
Eric Pentecost (Chair of CHUDE)
October2016
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