The University of Sheffield
Research and Innovation

Research Assessment Exercise

The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) is a process which enables the higher education funding bodies to distribute public funds for research selectively on the basis of quality. The RAE provides quality ratings for research in universities and colleges in the UK across all disciplines.

Rating

Subject areas are rated on a scale of 1 to 5*, according to how much of the work is judged to reach national or international levels of excellence. A rating of 5* represents 'quality of international excellence in more than half of the research activity submitted and of national excellence in the remainder'.

Results

In the 2001 RAE, 35 out of the University's 48 subjects (73%) attained the top two grades, 5 and 5*, which are reserved for research of international standards of excellence. This figure compares with the national average of 39%. The results also show that 81% of staff assessed are in 5* and 5-rated departments, compared with the national average of 55%.

  Subject Area HEFCE Rating 2001 HEFCE Rating 1996
2 School of Health and Related Research 4 2
3a Hospital-Based Clinical Subjects 5 4
3b Infection and Immunology 5*  
4 Dentistry 5 3a
5 Biomedical Science 5* 4
10 Nursing 5 3b
11a Human Communication Sciences 4 3a
11b Psychotherapeutic Studies 3a 2
13 Psychology 5 5
14a Animal and Plant Sciences 5* 4
14b Molecular Biology and Biotechnology 5* 4
18 Chemistry 5 4
19a Physics 5 4
19b Medical Physics 5 2
20 Earth Sciences 3a 3b
21 Environment 4 4
22 Pure Mathematics 5 3a
23 Applied Mathematics 4 4
24 Statistics 5 4
25 Computer Science 5 4
27 Chemical and Process 4 5
28 Civil and Structural Engineering 5 4
29a Automatic Control and Systems Engineering 5* 5
29b Electronic and Electrical Engineering 5* 5*
30 Mechanical Engineering 5 5
32 Engineering Materials 5* 5*
33 Architecture 5 5
34 Town and Regional Planning 5 5
35 Geography 5 5
36 Law 5 5
38 Economics 3a 4
39 Politics 5* 5
40 Sociological Studies 5 4
43 Management 4 4
47 East Asian Studies 4 3a
50 English 5 4
51 French 5 4
52 German 4 4
54 Russian 5* 5
55 Hispanic Studies 5 4
58 Archaeology 5 5*
59 History 5 5
61 Information Studies 5* 5*
62 Philosophy 5 5
63 Biblical Studies 5 5*
65 Journalism 4  
67 Music 5 5
68 Education 5 5
69 Leisure Management 4 3a