The Study On The Research Excellence Framework In Britain Universities And Colleges

With the development of technology, knowledge economy began to take shape entering the 21st century. The research activities which knowledge becomes the final product become the core and focus in the social development areas and are regarded as the most powerful driving force of social development. The research activities have caused increasing concern. Universities and colleges, as the most important base and strength carrying out national research activities, assemble the important national resources of research development, is an important part of the research system. Consequently, countries take the research activities of universities and colleges into key account of research evaluation in the process of evaluation of scientific research.The research evaluation of universities and colleges in the Britain is the most unique. Britain government commissions the semi-official intermediary organizations-Higher Education Funding Council to evaluate the national scientific research achievements every 4-5 years The evaluation results serve as the main basis for the government to allocate annual funding of public research, and help the government to select the research projects and research institutions to fund. Since the 1980s, driven by the Britain government’s higher education policies, and needs for universities and colleges research because of the social development,and so on, higher institutions’research in the Britain improves continuously. Research Excellence Framework(REF)has been implemented seven times to 2014. The evaluation of university and colleges research in Britain has an important impact on the development of higher education and society. It helps the British government to control the higher education effectively, and promote the development of Britain universities and colleges effectively. Indeed, the Britain research evaluation also inevitably has some problems. This paper attempts to study operation and implementation of the Research Excellence Framework (REF) in the Britain universities and colleges. Then, the thesis discusses suggestions about universities and colleges’research evaluation for our country.The content of the study carries out as follows:Firstly, the paper explores the deep-seated reasons for the implementation of the Britain research evaluation framework from the four aspects of economic conditions, political environment, cultural heritage and international environment. Secondly, this thesis details the framework content from the perspectives of the main body of evaluation, evaluation schedule, evaluation requirements, evaluation units, evaluation methods, evaluation teams and members, and so on. Then, the characteristics of Research Excellence Framework in Britain universities and colleges are summarized according to the implementation of evaluation, and its positive and negative effects are discussed from the perspectives of the governments, enterprises and schools. It is helpful for us to discuss these issues to get a clear understanding of the essence of the British University Research Excellence Framework. Finally, the current situation and existing problems of higher institutions research evaluation in our country are summarized. According to the advantages and the available reference of the British University Research Excellence Framework, feasibility proposals are suggested.