REF14

http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=421623

It seems that REF could have inevitably negative impact on the research culture in higher education. Despite its objective in measuring research output, individuals and institutions partake in planning their hiring "strategically" directly to effect their REF result. It is not short of data manipulation. REF rules cannot sieve out these either because everyone allegedly plays by the rules anyway. Prevalent are practices such as holding out research publication and hiring research staff on temporary or part-time contracts to synchronise with REF cycles. I think it is inorganic and has many unintended implications. For example, resources that would otherwise be used for teaching and learning are unavoidably rerouted to support REF-boosting activities, surges in research activities which are out of sync with global research environment and ultimately REF results which do not reflect actual institution's strengths and weaknesses.