REF 2021: Results day

Seven years of work pay off—the Research Excellence Framework 2021 results are finally published

At one minute past midnight on 12 May, the long wait was over. Following months of delay caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, the Research Excellence Framework 2021 results finally revealed the culmination of seven years’ hard work at 157 universities that made submissions.

That work appears to have paid off. Of the 1,878 submissions made to the assessment exercise, 41 per cent were judged to be “world-leading” and given the rating 4*, while 43 per cent were 3* and deemed “internationally excellent” on the overall rating.