Chair mentioned that further news on the scholarship programme for 2015-16 is expected over the coming months but the allocation mechanism is likely to move to a Faculty based approach rather than a central one. R&EC-14-4.9 Faculty Research Degree Committees Annual Reports 2013-14 Consolidated Report – The Director of Postgraduate Research explained that this consolidated report drew together all the FRDC annual reports for academic session 2013-14. This was for general discussion but it was clear that there were two main areas of concern. Firstly, the number of PhD completions has fallen considerably in recent years, and secondly, the feedback from external examining teams regarding their recommendations for awards needed addressing. The Chair re-iterated that the recent drop in PhD completions was worrying and canvassed opinion from the Committee whether this was due to cumbersome administrative processes that needed streamlining. PhD registrations were consistent but withdrawals for a variety of reasons were on the increase. One general view was to make some of these processes more electronic rather than so heavily paper based and the Chair will have some preliminary discussions with Paul Butler (ILS) to explore any such possibilities. R&EC-14-5 REF 2014 DISCUSSION The Chair stated that he had held meetings with most of the UoA co-ordinators in recent weeks to talk through the REF 2014 results and gave a short presentation on some of the outcomes of the exercise. The Secretary will circulate this after the meeting. General headlines included the GPA rising by 0.43 on a baseline of 1.9 since RAE 2008 which represented an increase of 23% compared to a national level of 18%. There had also been a significant improvement in the percentage of both 3*/4* research and certain UoA’s had performed well above the national average in terms of output/impact. If the same funding methodologies are used as last time, and the size of the REF funding pot remains the same, then this should equate to a QR funding increase for the University of between 15% - 25%. On the negative side, environment scores remained fairly stagnant since the last exercise, which generally came down to the environment statements and not performing as well as other universities in terms of PGR students. The Chair stated that work on the strategy for REF 2020 should start now and as such would like to form a small working group
Chair mentioned that further news on the scholarship programme for 2015-16 is expected over the coming months but the allocation mechanism is likely to move to a Faculty based approach rather than a central one. R&EC-14-4.9 Faculty Research Degree Committees Annual Reports 2013-14 – Consolidated Report The Director of Postgraduate Research explained that this consolidated report drew together all the FRDC annual reports for academic session 2013-14. This was for general discussion but it was clear that there were two main areas of concern. Firstly, the number of PhD completions has fallen considerably in recent years, and secondly, the feedback from external examining teams regarding their recommendations for awards needed addressing. The Chair re-iterated that the recent drop in PhD completions was worrying and canvassed opinion from the Committee whether this was due to cumbersome administrative processes that needed streamlining. PhD registrations were consistent but withdrawals for a variety of reasons were on the increase. One general view was to make some of these processes more electronic rather than so heavily paper based and the Chair will have some preliminary discussions with Paul Butler (ILS) to explore any such possibilities. R&EC-14-5 REF 2014 DISCUSSION The Chair stated that he had held meetings with most of the UoA co-ordinators in recent weeks to talk through the REF 2014 results and gave a short presentation on some of the outcomes of the exercise. The Secretary will circulate this after the meeting. General headlines included the GPA rising by 0.43 on a baseline of 1.9 since RAE 2008 which represented an increase of 23% compared to a national level of 18%. There had also been a significant improvement in the percentage of both 3*/4* research and certain UoA’s had performed well above the national average in terms of output/impact. If the same funding methodologies are used as last time, and the size of the REF funding pot remains the same, then this should equate to a QR funding increase for the University of between 15% - 25%. On the negative side, environment scores remained fairly stagnant since the last exercise, which generally came down to the environment statements and not performing as well as other universities in terms of PGR students. The Chair stated that work on the strategy for REF 2020 should start now and as such would like to form a small working group
minutes-2015-02-11.docx