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MPs add to pressure for REF to be pushed back

Clamour for REF 2021 to be postponed grows as schools shut and exams are cancelled

MPs have joined calls for the REF 2021 to be delayed as universities grapple with the growing fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.

REF leader Kim Hackett assured vice-chancellors on 13 March that contingency plans were being put in place for the research assessment exercise, which is due to take place in 2021. At the moment, submissions to the REF must be made by 27 November but a growing number of experts are warning that the deadline could be difficult to meet.

Hackett said the REF team was “considering a range of options” in response to the upheaval caused by the coronavirus, which has severely restricted universities’ capacity to deal with anything other than pressing business. Despite this, a Research England spokeswoman told Research Professional news on 17 March “there are currently no plans to postpone REF 2021”.

But there have been growing calls among MPs and REF experts for the exercise to be put back as exams are cancelled and universities run a skeleton operation of online learning for the foreseeable future.

Labour’s shadow higher education spokeswoman Emma Hardy told Research Professional News the 2021 REF cycle should be pushed back a year. “With universities facing unprecedented demands, Ofsted stopping inspecting schools, and how the coronavirus is disrupting almost every facet of REF, now is a good time to suspend 2021 REF until 2022,” she said.

Daniel Zeichner, MP for Cambridge and leader of the APPG on Universities, said “it would be sensible to extend the time frame” of the REF for practical reasons “given the many immediate pressures facing universities at the moment”.

The University College Union, which has just finished a 14-day strike partially over workloads for staff, urged the REF team to delay the 2021 cycle as the “top priority” should be staff and students’ health during the pandemic. “We’re calling on universities to close down core functions as far as possible and focus their energies on keeping staff and students safe in the current crisis, so non-essential activities like the REF should be postponed,” said UCU general secretary Jo Grady.

Among academics there has been growing unease on the REF deadline. John Drew, REF leader at the University of Buckingham, said it would be “fair” to postpone the REF as staff were “still collecting key evidence for impact case studies, and that the process is already being affected (slowed down; put on pause) due to the effects of the coronavirus”.

But Matthew Guest, policy manager at GuildHE—the body for small and specialist providers—said the group “does not think a lengthy postponement of the REF is necessary or a good idea” as smaller institutions “have invested significant time and energy into their research efforts over the last seven years” using their limited resourses.

“Many institutions are well into their preparations and a full delay is likely to have an impact on future work,” he said. But Guest stressed the current schedule for REF 2021 “is not viable” and the deadline for submitting impact case studies and environment statements should be “extended beyond the current deadline”.

The REF is carried out by the Department for the Economy in Northern Ireland, the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales, Research England and the Scottish Funding Council. UKRI, which runs the REF on behalf of Research England, has been contacted for comment. 

On 19 March, a spokesperson for Research England told Research Professional News that it was “a very challenging time for everybody, including universities, and we are aware of the significant pressures many institutions are facing as they respond to the coronavirus”.

“The funding bodies are in touch with universities at this time, and are listening carefully to a range of comments and concerns being raised about REF submission preparations,” the spokesperson added. “While formal decisions are still under consideration, this issue is a priority area for the funding bodies and we will keep institutions updated as plans progress.”