Abstract
How does one assess research excellence in legal education? Is it the extent to which ideas attract external funding, that is, the approval and sanction of moneyed interests, be they governmental or non-governmental? Is it through the recognition of one’s peers? If so, which peers “matter”? Is it the sheer number of citations in peer-reviewed publications, reports of advocacy groups, and court judgments, domestic and international? Is it a combination of these? Research can influence the law and social change in ugly and unpleasant ways, and one can certainly imagine that establishment forces would have a vested interest in demonizing threats to their authority.
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Notes
- 1.
Mahatma Gandhi, Hind Swaraj, 28 (2010); On Hind Swaraj, see B.S. Chimni, “The Self, Modern Civilization, and International Law: Learning from Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi’s Hind Swaraj or Indian Home Rule”, 23(4) European Journal of International Law, 2012, at 1159.
- 2.
Research Excellence Framework, 2014, (REF) available at: http://www.ref.ac.uk/; The REF defines research as a “process of investigation leading to new insights, effectively shared.”; REF 2014, Assessment Framework and Guidance on Submissions (updated to include addendum published in January, 2012), annex C at 48, REF 02.2011 (July 2011), available at: http://www.ref.ac.uk/media/ref/content/pub/assessmentframeworkandguidanceonsubmissions/GOS%20including%20addendum.pdf (Assessment and Guidance).
- 3.
Research Assessment Exercise 2008, available at: http://www.rae.ac.uk/.
- 4.
Assessment and Guidance, supra note 2, at 10.
- 5.
REF 2014, Panel Criteria and Working Methods, at 3, REF 01.2012, available at: http://www.ref.ac.uk/media/ref/content/pub/panelcriteriaandworkingmethods/01_12.pdf (Criteria and Methods).
- 6.
Assessment and Guidance, supra note 2, at 4.
- 7.
Criteria and Methods, supra note 5, at 6.
- 8.
Ibid.
- 9.
Ibid.
- 10.
REF 2014, Assessment Criteria and Level Definitions, 2012, available at: http://www.ref.ac.uk/panels/assessmentcriteriaandleveldefinitions/ (Criteria and Definitions).
- 11.
Assessment and Guidance, supra n. 2, pp. 17–26.
- 12.
Criteria and Methods, supra note 5, pp. 58-77; In addition to legal education research, the REF describes law as including theoretical, doctrinal, comparative, empirical, critical, historical and other research on law and such legal phenomena as criminology, and socio-legal studies. See id., at 60.
- 13.
Id., at 13.
- 14.
Ibid.
- 15.
Id., pp. 13–14; See also Assessment and Guidance, supra note 2, pp. 15–16.
- 16.
Criteria and Methods, supra note 5, at 64, But, see Id., at 66.
- 17.
Id., pp. 66–67.
- 18.
Assessment and Guidance, supra note 2, at annex 3 at 48. Paragraph seven reads as follows: “For the purposes of the impact element of the REF: (a) Impacts on research or the advancement of academic knowledge within the higher education sector (whether in the UK or internationally) are excluded. (The submitted unit’s contribution to academic research and knowledge is assessed within the ‘outputs’ and ‘environment’ elements of REF.) (b) Impacts on students, teaching or other activities within the submitting HEI are excluded. (c) Other impacts within the higher education sector, including on teaching or students, are included where they extend significantly beyond the submitting HEI.”
- 19.
Id., at 28.
- 20.
Id., at 29.
- 21.
Id., pp. 28–30.
- 22.
Id., at 27.
- 23.
Criteria and Methods, supra note 5, at 68.
- 24.
Id., pp. 69–70.
- 25.
Id., pp. 73–74.
- 26.
Id., at 74.
- 27.
Assessment and Guidance, supra note 2, pp. 30–32, See also Criteria and Methods, supra note 5, pp. 76–77.
- 28.
Assessment and Guidance, supra note 2, pp. 32–33, See also Criteria and Methods, supra note 5, pp. 75–76.
- 29.
Criteria and Methods, supra note 5, at 77.
- 30.
Ibid.
- 31.
See, e.g., Paul Jump, “Research Intelligence—What’s on the Cards for the REF?”, Times High Education, September 20, 2012, available at: http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storycode=421179.
- 32.
See REF 2014, Summary of Responses to the “Consultation on Draft Panel Criteria and Working Methods”, March 2012, available at: http://www.ref.ac.uk/media/ref/content/pub/summaryofresponsestotheconsultationondraftpanelcriteriaandworkingmethods/responses.pdf (Summary of Responses).
- 33.
See REF 2014, Units of Assessment and Recruitment of Expert Panels, at 5, REF 01.2010, July 2010, available at: http://www.ref.ac.uk/media/ref/content/pub/unitsofassessmentandrecruitmentofexpertpanels/01_10.pdf (Units of Assessment).
- 34.
For the full list of nominating bodies, see REF 2014, Nominating Bodies, available at: http://www.ref.ac.uk/media/ref/content/expanel/member/Nominating%20bodies%20Sep%202012.pdf.
- 35.
Units of Assessment, supra note 33, pp. 5–7, There is also provision for designated observers to assist in the process. Id., at 5, The full list of panelists can be accessed at: REF 2014, Panel Membership, available at: http://www.ref.ac.uk/panels/panelmembership/.
- 36.
Units of Assessment, supra note 33, at 6.
- 37.
Id., at 7, See also Criteria and Methods, supra note 5, pp. 4–6.
- 38.
Criteria and Methods, supra note 5, at 14.
- 39.
REF 2014, Analysis of Panel Membership (July 2011), available at: http://www.ref.ac.uk/media/ref/content/pub/analysisofpanelmembership/Analysispanelmembership.pdf.
- 40.
Criteria and Methods, supra note 5, at 66, See Id., at 3, “These descriptive accounts should be read alongside, but do not replace, the generic definitions.” Id., at 6.
- 41.
Id., pp. 66–67.
- 42.
Criteria and Definitions, supra note 10.
- 43.
Summary of Responses, supra note 32, at 4.
- 44.
Id., See also Id., at 19 (expressing related concerns).
- 45.
Criteria and Methods, supra note 5, pp. 15–17.
- 46.
Id., at 15.
- 47.
Assessment and Guidance, supra note 2, at 7.
- 48.
Ibid.
- 49.
Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Advisory Opinion, 2004 I.C.J. 136, 244, July 9 (Buergenthal, J., declaration).
- 50.
Assessment and Guidance, supra note 2, pp. 39–40.
- 51.
Louis D. Brandeis, Other People’s Money: And How the Bankers Use It (Martino Publishing, 2009).
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Barnidge, R.P. (2018). Research Excellence in Legal Education: A Critical Assessment of the Research Excellence Framework 2014 and the British Approach. In: Nirmal, B., Singh, R. (eds) Contemporary Issues in International Law. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-6277-3_35
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