Research Excellence in Physics

For no other reason that I was a bit bored watching the FA Cup Final on Saturday I decided to construct an alternative to the Research Excellence Framework rankings for Physics produced by the Times Higher last week.

The table below shows for each Unit of Assessment (UoA):  the Times Higher rank;  the number of Full-Time Equivalent staff submitted;  the overall percentage of the submission rated  4*;  and the number of FTE’s worth of 4* stuff (final column), by which the institutions are sorted. The logic for this – insofar as there is any – is that the amount of money allocated is probably going to be more strongly weighted to 4* (though not perhaps the 100% I am effectively assuming) than the GPA used in the Times Higher.

1. University of Oxford	9=	171.3	57	97.6
2. University of Cambridge	3	148.2	64	94.8
3. Imperial College	18=	130.1	49	63.7
4. University of Edinburgh	13=	118.0	51	60.2
5. University of Manchester	2	87	66	57.4
6. University College London	24=	112.5	42	47.3
7. University of Durham	23	84.2	45	37.9
8. University of Nottingham	7	63.9	59	37.7
9. University of Warwick	20	79.2	47	37.2
10. University of Birmingham	4	55.2	66	36.4
11. University of Bristol	5	54.1	61	33.0
12. University of Glasgow	12	58.2	53	30.8
13. University of York	13=	59.9	51	30.5
14. University of Lancaster	21	56.1	46	25.8
15. University of Strathclyde	13=	46.7	52	24.3
16. Cardiff University	18=	52.2	46	24.0
17. University of Exeter	22	49.4	48	23.7
18. University of Sheffield	1	34.7	65	22.5
19. University of St Andrews	8	40.8	55	22.4
20. University of Liverpool	16	44.4	49	21.7
21. University of Leeds	9=	34	53	18.0
22. University of Sussex	26	42.7	42	17.9
23. The University of Bath	24=	38.8	42	16.3
24. Queen’s University of Belfast	31	49.7	32	15.9
25. Queen Mary University of London	28=	48	33	15.8
26, University of Southampton	27	41.7	38	15.8
27. The Open University	32=	41.8	36	15.0
28. University of Hertfordshire	38	42	32	13.4
29. Liverpool John Moores University	17	25.8	50	12.9
30. Heriot-Watt University	9=	21	55	11.6
31. King’s College London	28=	33.9	34	11.5
32. University of Portsmouth	6	19.8	58	11.5
33. University of Leicester	35=	34.3	28	9.6
34. University of Surrey	35=	30.6	31	9.5
35. Swansea University	32=	25.2	32	8.0
36. Royal Holloway and Bedford New College	35=	19.1	36	6.9
37. University of Central Lancashire	39	19.3	25	4.8
38. Loughborough University	40	19.8	22	4.4
39. University of Keele	32=	9	38	3.4
40. The University of Hull	30	11	28	3.1
41. University of Lincoln	43	15.2	16	2.4
42.The University of Kent	41	19	12	2.3
43. Aberystwyth University	44	18.2	7	1.3
44. University of the West of Scotland	42	8	11	0.9

Using this method to order institutions produces a list which clearly correlates with the Times Higher ordering – the Spearman rank correlation coefficient is + 0.75 – but there are also some big differences. For example, Oxford (=9th in the Times Higher) and Cambridge (3rd) come out 1st and 2nd with Imperial (=18th in the Times Higher) moving up to 3rd place. Edinburgh moves up from =13th to 4th. The top ranked UoA in the Times Higher table is Sheffield, which drops to 18th in this table. Portsmouth (6th in the Times Higher) drops to 32nd in this version. And so on.

Of course you shouldn’t take this seriously at all. The lesson -if there is one – is that the use of the Research Excellence Framework results to produce rankings is a bit arbitrary, to say the least…

Follow @telescoper