From Education to Law, Economics to Geography, European Studies to Business Studies, the social sciences group covers a large intellectual territory, now marked by a level of RAE success unimaginable in the aftermath of the 1996 results.
If the RAE is treated as a seven point scale, with 7 points for a 5*, the performance of these departments and schools in the 2001 exercise averages out to be a 5. In 1996, the average was a little over a 4. Such results and improvements makes the social sciences group one of the strongest in the UK. European Studies in Birmingham, with the added boost of the ERI, is the clear national leader. Education is now confirmed in the top five. Both Political Science and International Studies, and Law, have moved from the middle of the pack to the top group.
All of these successes are the product of enormous work and commitment from Heads, RAE leads and research directors, and of course the researchers. It would however be impossible without the contribution of all staff in the departments and schools, and also that of students, particularly at the doctoral level, both past and present. The next task for all is to embed sustained high achievement across the whole social sciences group.
Sustained high achievement in a series of research assessment exercises is rare. But the success of the Centre for Russian and East European Studies (CREES) is particularly remarkable, the 5* in this exercise meaning that CREES has achieved the top grade in every single exercise to date.
The School of Education, the largest such school in the region and one of the largest in the UK, has achieved a 5 in each of the last three exercises.
www.education.bham.ac.uk
Newer success is also welcome. The Institute for German Studies (IGS) achieved a 5 in its first separate submission.
www.igs.bham.ac.uk
The success of CREES and IGS is crucial to the intellectual development of the new European Research Institute (ERI), following its launch a few weeks ago by the Prime Minister.
www.eri.bham.ac.uk
Political Science and International Studies, moved from a 3a to a 5, a remarkable achievement. This has been a dramatic few weeks for POLSIS, with the RAE 5 following close on a 24 in its TQA.
www.polsis.bham.ac.uk
An important contributor to the ERI, the School of Law’s rating of 5 reflects the vibrancy of the research culture and the quality and range of its work, not only in European law but also in other areas, from the theoretical and doctrinal to the empirical and inter-disciplinary.
www.law.bham.ac.uk
Public Policy, graded with a 4, consistently achieves the largest annual intake of research income from central and local government and the health authorities in the country in social sciences. That is, in such research income, the School of Public Policy alone outperforms every other university in the UK.
www.publicpolicy.bham.ac.uk
The Business School, Economics, and Social Policy and Social Work between them teach around 2500 students, at all levels, and the achievement of 4s underlines the commitment to research led teaching.
www.business.bham.ac.uk
www.economics.bham.ac.uk
www.spsw.bham.ac.uk
In Geography and Environmental Sciences, research income has grown 6-fold since the l996 results placing the School among the top research earners in the disciplines from the UK’s Natural Environment Research Council.
Finally, special mention should be reserved for colleagues in Education at the former Westhill College. Although not part of the University’s submission, Westhill moved up to a 3a, providing a strong platform for future development with, since August of this year, the School of Education, with which it is integrated, creating a base for further improvement.
