Imbalancing the academy: the impact of research quality assessment

The UK exercises in research quality assessment since 1986 have had ill-defined objectives. For the first exercises, the results were simply 'to inform funding', seeking value for money in an evaluative, regulatory state. That aim remained, almost word for word, until the Research Excellence Framework (REF) in 2014, when there was an additional articulated intent 'to change behaviour'. There had already been much changed behaviour over the years, perhaps unintended,apparently unexpected,as staff adapted their responses to changing 'rules of the game' and the meaning they attributed to these. This article outlines the changing mechanics of successive exercises - the process means toil-defined policy ends, and analyses the impact of design features which have affected the staff, and distorted institutional strategies of both policy development and control of delivery. The cumulative effect is to imbalance the system to favour a small elite, leading to isomorphism and funding concentrated to an extent that risks loss of diversity and stifling of challenges to established ideas, failing to recognise a variety of excellences

Learning from the UK Research Excellence Framework: ends and means in research quality assessment, and the reliability of results in Education

This article first reviews the objectives/ends of research quality assessment in several countries to draw lessons for the UK REF and similar exercises. It then reviews work on performance management as a framework for reviewing the views of participants on the means to the end- the management of their experience in submitting to the 2014 REF. Finally, it examines the outcomes and considers how true a picture they paint of the quality of research, particularly in Education. It concludes with recommendations for change

Leading the autonomous university: conditioning factors and culture of organisations in the UK, Ukraine and other European contexts

The 2014 Higher Education Law in Ukraine provided for greater fiscal autonomy for universities. This article treats three issues: - the concept of the autonomous university, particularly in relations with the state and its agencies - the impact of factors in the wider context on internal cultures of universities and degrees of autonomy in action - the nature of leadership in different cultures. It was stimulated by involvement in ELITE, a TEMPUS-funded programme aiming, among other things, to help establish centres for leadership development in a number of Ukrainian institutions. It draws on a number of research projects conducted by the first author

Values, principles and integrity: academic and professional standards in higher education

A brief narrative description of the journal article, document, or resource. This paper is based mainly on responses--nearly 300--to a web-based survey of academic staff in UK higher education. The survey examined their personal and professional values and their views on the values that should underpin higher education. Their perceptions of current reality in terms of national policy and processes and of institutional management expectations, with examples provided of events that disturbed them, raise questions about the longer term health of higher education as it has been understood. The project was seen as a pilot aiming to provoke debate about how well traditional values and standards "fit" with mass levels of higher education provision, and government emphases on the economic role of higher education. The findings are set in a theoretical context drawing on models by Clark (1983), Becher and Kogan (1992) and the author (McNay, 1995, 2005a

TEF: why and how? Ideological and operational imperatives driving policy

This piece tries to identify the origins of the Teaching Excellence Framework, to locate it in the wider framerwork of policy for HE in the UK - more specifically, England - to identify characteristics that will endure whatever tinkering happens as a result of the trial and error approach to be adopted, as with the Research Excellence Framework, from which lessons are drawn

Early intervention for relapse in schizophrenia: results of a 12-month randomized controlled trial of cognitive behavioural therapy

Background. The paper describes a randomized controlled trial of targeting cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) during prodromal or early signs of relapse in schizophrenia. We hypothesized that CBT would result in reduced admission and relapse, reduced positive and negative symptoms, and improved social functioning. Method. A total of 144 participants with schizophrenia or a related disorder were randomized to receive either treatment as usual (TAU) (N=72) or CBT+TAU (N=72). Participants were prospectively followed up between entry and 12 months. Results. At 12 months, 11 (15.3%) participants in the CBT group were admitted to hospital compared to 19 (26.4%) of the TAU group (hazard ratio=0.53, P=0.10, 95% CI 0.25, 1.10). A total of 13 (18.1%) participants in CBT relapsed compared to 25 (34.7%) in TAU (hazard ratio=0.47,