Editing Research Assessment Exercise (section)

{{Short description|University research assessment process}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2020}}
The '''Research Assessment Exercise''' ('''RAE''') was an exercise undertaken approximately every five years on behalf of the four UK [[higher education]] funding councils ([[Higher Education Funding Council for England|HEFCE]], [[SHEFC]], [[HEFCW]], [[Department for Employment and Learning|DELNI]]) to evaluate the quality of research undertaken by British higher education institutions. RAE submissions from each subject area (or ''unit of assessment'') are given a rank by a subject specialist peer review panel. The rankings are used to inform the allocation of quality weighted research funding (QR) each higher education institution receives from their national funding council.  Previous RAEs took place in 1986, 1989, 1992, 1996 and 2001. The most recent results were published in December 2008.<ref>{{cite web|title=RAE 2008|url=http://www.rae.ac.uk/|work=Research Assessment Exercise|access-date=20 August 2013}}</ref> It was replaced by the [[Research Excellence Framework]] (REF) in 2014.

Various media have produced league tables of institutions and disciplines based on the 2008 RAE results. Different methodologies lead to similar but non-identical rankings.