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The government is to delay the research excellence framework by a year to see whether consensus emerges in the sector over plans to measure the social and economic "impact" of academics' work.
David Willetts, the universities and science minister, said this week that he had yet to be convinced by the efficacy of the impact measure....
The first REF, which will replace the research assessment exercise as the means of distributing £1.5 billion in annual quality-related funding in England, was due to complete in 2013, with up to a quarter of departmental scores based on impact.
Mr Willetts, who is due to announce the delay in a speech on 9 July in London, told Times Higher Education that the new time frame was reasonable given the "lively dispute" on the issue.
He said that he wanted the Higher Education Funding Council for England to "establish whether there is a measure of impact that is methodologically sound and that commands the assent of the academic community". He added: "I don't believe those criteria have been met yet, but a year will give Hefce and the academic community longer to see if a consensus view emerges."
(Thanks to Emma Borg for the pointer.)
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