Future UK RAEs to be Metrics-Based

[Phil Davis]

Stephen, I wouldn't call you a "capitalist pig" but a willfully blind,
cultural elitist.  In countries where education is wholly (or mostly)
funded by the government -- not just the UK and Europe, but Canada and
others -- the government is concerned about making sure that everyone gets
some modicum of funding.  That does not mean a completely equitable
rationing system, but it ensures a base-level of funding.  In the United
States, this base-level funding often comes from one's own department or
college.  Granted, the capitalist-approach you speak of does reward the
best and greatest, and this Winner-takes-all approach does result in
pioneering research, yet it only rewards the few.

--Phil Davis



Stephen Bensman wrote:

>Speaking as a capitalist pig, the entire RAE system is just another example
>of socialists hoisting themselves on their own petards.  Point 1 below
>contains the essence of the problem.  The US has done pioneering work on
>the evaluation of research-doctorate programs but was never silly enough to
>allocate research resources on the basis of it.  Luckily because these
>evaluations were usually screwed up in some way.  Allocation of research
>resources was always done on a project-by-project basis by the NSF, NIH,
>and others, with experts in the fields evaluating individual research
>proposals.  The Europeans have a tendency to overplan everything with
>disastrous consequences--the disaster in Eastern Europe just being the
>latest example of it.
>
>SB