Other kinds of "impact" REF 2014

David Willetts speech-at UUK conference today was interesting for many reasons. The biggest 'impact' for me was where he was talking about what will be REF'able and how research will be assessed for the Research Excellence Framework 2014.
The most surprising thing was that you could include unpublished work and journal impact factors would have no relevance!

Universities UK launches guide to quality and standards

As mentioned in their media release, UUK have launched  a new publication which outlines how quality and standards are assessed and assured within UK universities. The are 6 key features in the UK system for safeguarding standards :

1.       National tools that are used by all universities (the ‘Academic Infrastructure’) including Frameworks for higher education qualifications, Subject Benchmark Statements and a  sector-wide Code of practice for the assurance  of academic quality and standards in higher education;

2.       Universities’ own systems for ensuring their standards are right and quality is maintained, such as procedures for the design and review of courses and the use of external examiners;

3.       Independent external review of each university by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA), resulting in published reports;

4.       Effective engagement with students and employers, including professional, statutory and regulatory bodies, which helps to shape what universities do;

5.       Mechanisms to support improvements in quality, for example by learning from the experience of others, sharing good practice and ways of supporting professionalism in teaching;

6.       Measures to address complaints.

These features provide the backbone of the quality standards assessment. This document helps clarify the way this system works.  http://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/Publications/Documents/44806UniUK_guide_lores.pdf

or for the summary see: http://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/Publications/Documents/44835UniUK_Summary_lores.pdf

  There is an increasing request for transparency of the HE system and provisions. This seems to be another way of demonstrating the value of UK universities.