that educational research had undergone “a tremendous period of growth and improvement” since 2008‘s assessment exercise.“We are particularly proud of our research in games-based learning, peer learning, educational transitions and medical education,” he said. Professor Kelly explained that the improvements followed a long-term and ongoing emphasis on building research capacity at the school.
“A number of strategies have been put in place since 2008 to increase the number of active researchers,” he said. “These measures start with the recruitment process, through clear expectations of new and current staff in terms of research and scholarship, and then the provision of support and resources.”
The school supports up to 15 members of staff a year on doctoral programmes, provides research mentoring, and runs training and staff seminars on research methods, as well as an annual school research conference.
The University of Edinburgh was also celebrating: it achieved a 100 per cent rating for the quality of its education research environment and scored highly on impact, too. “We are totally thrilled,” said Dr Rowena Arshad, head of Moray House School of Education.
She added that the school’s supportive environment had helped its score: peer mentoring had been introduced and colleagues read each other’s draft papers.
Overall, the work of more than 52,000 academics from 154 UK universities was scored by a panel of experts. Across all subject areas, 22 per cent of research outputs were judged to be 4* - up from 14 per cent in 2008.
Laurence Howells, chief executive of the Scottish Funding Council, said the figures were “confirmation that our universities’ research is world-leading and impacts on almost every aspect of daily life”.
He added: “By making the most of our investments in research, Scotland’s universities are rightly on the podium with the best in the world.”