Clarification

The item "Two stand down from RAE panel discussions" (THES, February 23) may have given the impression that two research assessment exercise panel members are standing down because they took part in the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors accreditation process. This is not the case.

The Higher Education Funding Council for England is satisfied that those involved have not compromised their position on the RAE. The members concerned have volunteered to absent themselves from discussions of the RAE submission of any institutions that they were helped to assess for the RICS.