REF Impact Pilot: Less Would Be More

Hefce has published the findings of the REF Impact Pilot exercise. Whilst broadly supportive of the assesment of Impact as part of the REF ('workable' was there somewhat less than glowing conclusion), it was felt that the weighting given to impact assessment should be reduced from the planned 25 per cent.

29 UK HEIs took part in the exercise. Each participating HEI made an impact submission to two of the five pilot Units of Assessment (UOAs). The REF team then recruited an expert panel for each of the five pilot UOAs to assess the impact submissions and report their findings on the assessment method.

As well as reducing the weighting, they thought that:

• The expert review of case studies was an appropriate means for assessing impact.
• The case study approach should be developed further for use in the REF - with some improvements, such as better guidance, changes to the template, and a clearer understanding of the parameters of impact.
  

The full report and annexes are available here.