Kent Business School at the University of Kent was placed 25th in the UK for business and management studies on its ‘research intensity’ in the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF). The School was also ranked 24th for its depth and breadth of research across the whole community of research active staff. [1]
This is an improvement on our ranking in the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) 2008, putting the School in the top quartile of all UK business schools on this measure.
Research intensity measures the quality of research submitted, weighted against the number of staff submitted for assessment. These metrics are important to understanding Kent Business School’s research performance in terms of quality and quantity of research undertaken.
The Association of Business Schools (ABS) recently published these results and acknowledged the importance of business and management research nationally:
“The competitiveness of the British economy requires greater investment in business and management research capacity which translates invention into innovation, and transforms a ground-breaking discovery into a world-beating business.
REF results demonstrate the strength, impact and value that business and management research achieves right across the economy and on the wider society.”[2]
Kent Business School was also assessed for its quality and impact of research beyond academia in areas such as society, economy, culture and environment. 76% of research submitted by Kent Business School gained the top 3 or 4-star rating in REF 2014 for its impact, deeming it either “outstanding” or “very considerable”.
The REF results have led to a surge in applications for the PhD programme at Kent Business School, as the intensity ranking is a strong indicator of the quality of research projects and supervision received. The deadline is 31 January for many PhD scholarships, so interested prospects should apply now, or for further information email kbsadmissions@kent.ac.uk.
[1] http://www.associationofbusinessschools.org/content/uk-business-schools-call-address-research-funding-imbalance-following-successful-ref-results
[2] http://www.associationofbusinessschools.org/content/uk-business-schools-call-address-research-funding-imbalance-following-successful-ref-results