While many people across the country know Loughborough University for its excellence in several academic areas, fewer know about the sheer range and quality of world-leading research undertaken on campus.
Jo Lumani speaks to Professor Peter Golding, Pro Vice Chancellor for Research, about the outstanding results achieved by Loughborough in the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) and how every department across all three faculties is working hard to confirm the University’s status as a leading light among research-intensive universities.
It has certainly been a year where Loughborough University has again excelled itself. Named ‘University of the Year’ for 2008-2009 by the Sunday Times, the University complemented that success by being awarded ‘Best Student Experience’ for the third year in succession, a prize based on student votes across the country. Throw into the mix an outstanding national student survey, a sixth Queen’s Anniversary Prize and an excellent staff survey and you have a heady cocktail of success certain to make any Higher Education outfit in the country cast envious eyes in the direction of the East Midlands.
Let’s face it – Loughborough University is on a high. And in a year where much is going right for the University, the excellence identified in the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise is simply the icing on the cake for a university which is internationally recognised as a force in numerous areas of world-leading research.
Professor Peter Golding, Pro Vice Chancellor for Research,
is therefore a proud and happy man. The results of the RAE
saw Loughborough named as one of ‘three rising stars’ by the
Times Higher, noting just how much further the University has
progressed even since the very good results in 2001.
“I was delighted with the outcome of the Research Assessment Exercise as I thought it painted a really excellent picture of research quality at Loughborough University,” said Professor Golding.
“For me, one of the most exciting things about being Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research is going around the campus and discovering all of the exciting, innovative and important research that people are doing. I learn something new about that almost every day.
“The RAE provides us with a national endorsement of the quality of our work and I thought that was thoroughly well deserved and also means that Loughborough’s research is now recognised as it should be, for being among the highest quality in the country.
“I am also delighted that the research funding recently announced by HEFCE, sees us named as a top 20 research-intensive university.”
In all, a total of 10 departments had 20 per cent or more of their research considered to be world-leading, with three of those departments – Design and Technology, the Ergonomics and Safety Research Institute and the School of Sport and Exercise Sciences – rated as number one in the country, according to calculations by the Guardian and Times Higher.
“It is always pleasant to be rated number one,” adds Professor Golding. “I would always want to say to people that they should understand that it’s been true for some time that research excellence in Loughborough is to be found in many areas of work, outside those that people who don’t know us well traditionally associate with the University.
“But I have to stress that the most important thing is the sheer range of academic excellence in research in all subjects. It really is a university-wide effort. Right across the campus you can see not just excellence, but recognised excellence, with outstanding research making a real input.”
Much of Loughborough’s excellence may lie in the fact that the
University submitted over 94 per cent of its academic staff for
assessment as part of the RAE – a rise of 16 per cent from 2001
and one of the highest returns of any university in the country.
“That’s very high compared with most universities and it reflects what we mean by ‘research-intensive’. Most of our staff – if not all staff – are research active to a very high quality level,” stresses Professor Golding.
“The way the RAE works is that we are being judged by leading figures in each field – so I think that earning the respect, support and endorsement of these figures is exceptional. The data shows that 56 per cent of the outputs produced by academic staff at Loughborough were regarded as internationally excellent or world-leading. That is an extraordinary endorsement of the very high-quality work that people are doing.”
And while it would be easy to sit back and bathe in the success of the 2008 RAE, Professor Golding underlines that it is essential for all departments to push on and build on their current successes.
“I think it’s very important to see progression and to build on it. We are undoubtedly far better placed than we were in 2001, and rightly take our place among the leading research universities in the country. We regard ourselves as a researchintensive university which is of course why we are a member of the 1994 group of universities.
“We are already improving the quality and range of research that we produce. Creating the research schools was a major step forward because it takes us into the area of inter-disciplinary and cross-disciplinary activity, and all of the research schools are thriving, and engaging more and more people across the campus in the kind of crossdisciplinary research they do. I have no doubt that this will be a major growth area for us over the next few years. In every department, there are areas of strength which have been recognised and commented on by the RAE and I know that all departments are working very hard now to see how they can grow those areas and develop new areas to help push the boundaries of their disciplines further.
“The range of partners for research that Loughborough has externally is extraordinary, including Government departments, local government, the voluntary sector and charities, as well as research councils and commercial companies. Loughborough is recognised as having research which is valuable and works for a whole host of external partners. I know that they will continue to want to work with us.”
With developing research making more and more of a difference across the world, Professor Golding reiterates that the boundaries of possibility for research at Loughborough University are endless.
“Strength in research means very many different things. Above all it means research that influences and challenges the way that people think, that advances the disciplines and brings new knowledge and understanding, which is the primary mission of any university. Equally, it is research that can be immediately applied and change the world in which we live, or address some of the most pressing issues that affect us, like climate change, sustainability, questions of poverty and inequality, the Economy, or of political stability. All of these – whether they be social, political, economic, science, engineering, or humanitiesbased – are being addressed by research at Loughborough.
“The work being done here makes a difference, is of the highest quality, and is being recognised for the fact that it is research that matters.”
