Doctoral study in business and management
As you would expect from a School with top ratings for research, LUMS has one of the highest ranked and largest PhD programmes for business and management in the world. Find out more.
The Research Assessment Exercise (RAE)
Business & Management Studies - December 2008
The RAE, or Research Assessment Exercise, assesses the quality of research in universities in the UK. It is the only government-sponsored ranking of research quality in UK universities. Lancaster achieved the maximum rating (5 or 5-star) in each RAE under the old methodology in 1992, 1996 and 2001, within the Business and Management Studies panel, and as a consequence received a special 6-star designation in 2003 from the Higher Education Funding Council, one of only two UK business schools to receive this accolade.
Under the new methodology introduced for RAE 2008, there is a range of legitimate ways of intepreting the data. Using the simple grade point average that has been introduced in the 2008 RAE, Lancaster is equal 5th in the UK for Business and Management.
Perhaps a better indicator of quality and scale is the detailed data against a scale of research quality. Using this scale (see below), 75% of Lancaster University Management School’s research activity has been assessed as world leading or internationally excellent in terms of originality, significance and rigour, and virtually all its research (95%) is at least of international standing. Using this as a benchmark of international quality, Lancaster is 3rd in the UK.
RAE 2008 quality levels
| 4* |
Quality that is world-leading in terms of originality, significance and rigour. |
| 3* | Quality that is internationally excellent in terms of originality, significance and rigour but which nonetheless falls short of the highest standards of excellence. |
| 2* | Quality that is recognised internationally in terms of originality, significance and rigour. |
| 1* | Quality that is recognised nationally in terms of originality, significance and rigour. |
| Unclassified | Quality that falls below the standard of nationally recognised work. Or work which does not meet the published definition of research for the purposes of this assessment. |
