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Research results reveal areas of excellence

16/09/2008
 
 
The results from the latest Research Assessment Exercise, a peer review exercise to evaluate the quality of research in UK higher education institutions, show a significant improvement at Wolverhampton.
 
Particular strengths include Library and Information Management (ie advanced analysis of web content and traffic), Computational Linguistics (ie natural language processing, advanced computer language analysis etc) and Art and Design. These subject areas, which underpin advanced applications of IT, and the creative industries, are ranked in the top quartile nationally.
 
Elements of research were rated as four-star, which is the equivalent to the best in the world.
 
Vice-Chancellor, Professor Caroline Gipps, said she was extremely pleased with the latest results and thanked staff for their hard work.
 
She said: “A significant percentage of our research is equivalent to the best in the world and that is something we should be very proud of. Eight of our 11 units of assessment had a percentage of research of world-leading quality and all of our submissions had internationally-excellent work.
 
“A tremendous amount of effort has gone into this and the results are a fantastic vindication of this work. It has been an extremely successful enterprise.”
 
Professor Jean Gilkison, Dean of Research and Graduate Studies, said: “These are very pleasing results, particularly within a difficult funding climate.
 
“The fact we have such a spread of four-star research is a very good sign and very heartening.
 
“Overall, the University’s grade point average has exceeded expectations at 2.01, which means that our research is of internationally recognised quality, and we have gone up eight places in the national rankings.
 
“This is a real feather in our cap and clearly demonstrates the talent and ability which exists at the University alongside our excellent teaching and nationally-recognised knowledge transfer activities.”
 
ENDS

Notes to Editors:

RAE 2008 follows a major review of research assessment that took place in 2002-03.
 
For more information please contact Emma Kilvert in the Press Office on 01902 322003.

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