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Story Posted: 18 December 2008

The Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) results rated Roehampton University as number one for its research in Dance. Dance at Roehampton has the fifth highest concentration of world-class activity of any department in the country in any subject.

Roehampton University also achieved first place in Biological Anthropology in the UK – beating Cambridge University’s Biological Anthropology Department. 80 per cent of the research submitted from Anthropologists was deemed internationally excellent or world class. Drama also scored well, achieving top-20 status.

The RAE found that over a third of research at Roehampton is classed as internationally excellent or world class (3* or 4*) – the highest classifications available. When 2* ranking is included, 78% of research submitted is regarded as being of internationally recognised standard.

Among London’s new universities, Roehampton University also performed strongly achieving top position in Drama, History, Theology, Spanish and Anthropology; second in Education, English, Sociology, Psychology and Sport; and fifth in Communication, Culture and Media Studies. 

The RAE, which includes universities from across the UK, shows that Roehampton University performed significantly better across all areas of participation compared to the last RAE in 2001, with over half of Roehampton University’s submissions ranked within the top 30 in the UK.

There has been some debate in the media about the number of research staff submitted by some institutions, with accusations that some universities excluded a high proportion of academic staff in order to inflate their ranking. In comparison, Roehampton increased the number of staff submitted compared to last time, with half of its academic staff entering the RAE.

As the Vice-Chancellor of Roehampton University, Paul O’Prey, explains:

“The results from this year’s RAE are very good news indeed. They confirm Roehampton’s growing and sustained reputation for excellent quality research, especially when compared with larger and more established institutions.

“This year, by increasing our level of participation, our submission shows the quality, impact, breadth and depth of research across the University. Our academics are to be congratulated for their outstanding efforts and high achieving results which will provide an excellent platform on which to build for the future.”

Other key results for Roehampton University include a strong performance at a national level in Education; Communication, Culture and Media Studies; Theology; and Sociology. Additionally, over 90 per cent of submissions ranked first or second among London post-92 universities.

Research funding will be announced in March, calculated on the results of the RAE. View a full summary of Roehampton University’s RAE performance (PDF) and our Research Profile.