- University Homepage
- Schools & departments
- Medicine & Veterinary Medicine
- Research
- Research excellence and RAE 2008
Research excellence and RAE 2008
The College is an internationally leading centre for basic to clinical research.
- Our approach ranges from molecules to man, from bench to bedside, from process to population - and 'from lab to labrador'
- We have had a 30 year strategy of interdisciplinarity and integration of basic and clinical sciences
- Research programmes within the College explicitly link biomedicine and veterinary medicine, in promotion of the concept of "One Medicine".
College achieves outstanding RAE results
Recent Research Assessment Exercise results confirm the College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine is the UK’s top medical school and its top veterinary medical school.
In RAE 2008 we achieved an outstanding result with around 70% of our research rated as 'internationally excellent' or 'world leading'.
Hospital-based clinical subjects
We are currently first in the UK, whether assessed by the percentage for the very top-rated (4*) science or the average score of research across the board, with 40% of the submission rated as 4* (indicating quality that is 'world leading'), 40% 3* (internationally excellent) and the remaining 20% 2* (internationally recognised). We were rated top of 28 submissions in the whole UK.
Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies
We are the UK's top-rated Veterinary School with 20% of our research in the top 4* 'internationally leading' category. Edinburgh's submission included more researchers than any other UK institution in this research area, underlining our breadth and depth.
Psychiatry and Neuroscience
This was the College's other major submission, where Edinburgh was 6th in the UK with 65% of the submission deemed internationally excellent research.
Social Science
Our Social Scientists were returned in a cross-College submission in Uo40 (Social Work and Social Policy & Administration) which was rated 5th of 67 UK submissions by internationally-leading work, with 30% 4* and 35% 3* research.
What is the RAE?
The Research Assessment Exercise (RAE):
- is held every 5 to 7 years
- is the key independent measure of research quality in the UK
- Institutions are assessed at the level of various discipline area submissions and specifically the proportion of academic staff research outputs which are:
- 4 star: world leading
- 3 star: internationally excellent
- 2 star: recognised internationally
- 1 star: recognised nationally
- unclassified
Further information
This article was published on Sep 7, 2012