• 11.07.07 - Advice on RAE appeals
• 03.07.07 - Final Submission

top 11th July 2007: Appeal advice

Following the University Management Board of 27 June 2007, all eligible academic staff will have received a letter from the Vice-Chancellor informing them of their RAE status: return, non-return, strategic omission or conditional. The letter from the Vice-Chancellor to those in the categories non-return and strategic omission indicates that staff dissatisfied with the outcome may wish to avail of the option of appealing. It is also possible that individuals placed in the conditional category might wish to appeal although this is not specifically mentioned in the letter from the VC.

If you are intending to appeal you should consult the updated RAE Code of Practice http://www.qub.ac.uk/rrs/webpages/qubonly/rae/rae-code-of-practice.doc in the first instance. You should also consult the relevant sub-panel criteria, published in the RAE 2008 Panel Criteria and Working Methods in January 2006 http://www.rae.ac.uk/panels/. Finally you will need information on the reasons for the UMB decision in your case. UCU have approached the University on this issue and it is accepted that those appealing need to have access to the information necessary for a meaningful appeal. The procedure to be followed is that you should write to the head of school setting out clearly the information you require. In most cases, the head of school should be able to provide the relevant information but it may also be necessary to contact colleagues in Research and Regional Services. None of this precludes informal discussions with the Head of School. If you are experiencing difficulties, please contact UCU at

ucu-officers@qub.ac.uk.

top 3rd July 2007: RAE Update - Final Submission

We understand that UMB has now approved the 'final' submission for RAE
2008, that decisions have been communicated to heads of school and that
they will be communicated to individual members of staff before the 6th
of July. The deadline for appeals is set as 17th of August 2007.

Information on the later stages of the selection process, grounds for
appeal and the appeal process are available in the updated RAE Code of
Practice.(The updated code also contains information about the recently
introduced 'third and final stage' of the RAE process which was
presumably written after the event, see
http://www.qub.ac.uk/rrs/webpages/qubonly/rae/rae-code-of-practice.doc).

We understand that in reaching its final decisions, the UMB sought to
achieve an average rating of 2* per item entered and that this has
resulted in a submission rate of approximately 80% across the
University.

As you will all be aware, the RAE process in Queen's has been at best
opaque. UCU will be seeking an urgent meeting with the University to
discuss what information will be made available to staff to enable them
to formulate appeals particularly against 'strategic' omissions and
appeals on equal opportunity grounds.

The logistics of providing support to members during the holiday period
obviously presents a challenge for the local officers. We are setting up a special email address
ucu-officers@qub.ac.uk (this will be active from Friday 6th July) which you can
use to communicate with us on RAE matters. We will also endeavour to
provide updated information through the UCU website so please check it
regularly.

The Officers, Queen's UCU