Scottish ratings rise

NINE out of 12 discipline groupings in Scotland have improved their research ratings, according to the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council.

A SHEFC summary, using weighted-average ratings to provide a comparison between 1992 and 1996, shows that education dropped from 2.8 to 2.6, submitting 53 per cent of staff compared with 41 per cent. A five-subject "other" grouping including town and country planning dropped from 3.3 to 3.1, submitting 56 per cent of staff compared with 62 per cent. Language-based studies stayed at 3.4, while the number of staff submitted dropped from 94 to 87 per cent.

The most dramatic improvement among the other nine areas is in business and administrative studies, which rose from 2.5 to 3.8, each time submitting 53 per cent of staff.

The humanities and physical sciences both rose from 3.4 to 3.9, with the percentage of humanities staff submitted falling from 94 to 88, while those in physical sciences dropped from 88 to 84 per cent.

Biological and related sciences, and mathematics and computing, also rose to 3.9, from 3.6 and 3.7. The number of staff submitted dropped slightly in both areas, from 86 to 84 per cent in biological science, and 74 to 73 per cent in maths and computing.

Engineering and technology rose from 3 to 3.7, with the number of staff submitted rising from 67 per cent to 71 per cent. Mineral and mining engineering rose from 4 to 5, while electrical and electronic engineering rose from 3.3 to 4.4.

Social sciences and hospital-related subjects rose by 0.5, from 3.3 to 3.8 and 3.1 to 3.6 respectively.