News & Views item - October 2007

 

The University Researcher and the University Teacher: a UK Analysis. (October 25, 2007)

Amanda Goodall at the Warwick Business School University of Warwick has published Experts Leading Experts: A Longitudinal Study of Leadership and University Performance.

 

Analysing data from 1992 - 2001 obtained from 55 of the universities in the UK she presents a statistical argument that "a university performs better if its leader has been an accomplished scholar".

 

Using the scores from Britain's Research Assessment Exercises from 1992 - 2001 her figure four shows the relationship between the scholarship (based on journal citations) of the universities' vice-chancellors and the movement in RAE scores.

 

 

 

 

In addition Dr Goodall makes the point: "In the UK a separate measure for teaching quality was established by government -- Teaching Quality Assessment (TQA). TQA scores have been shown to correlate highly with RAE [Research Assessment Exercise] scores (Shattock, M. 2003. Managing Successful Universities, Berkshire: Open University Press.). In other words, those institutions that perform best in the RAE tend to obtain the highest TQA scores also."

 

As an example of the Teaching Quality Assessment scores and its relationship to a university's ranking by Shanghai Jiao Tong University, below are the results for the University of Cambridge, fourth in research university rankings:

 

 

 

And Cambridge University's most recent published TQA placing:

 

 

We live in hope that someone politically well placed might pay heed.