95% international quality research from Physics

We are ranked 8th best Physics department in the UK based on percentage of research activity in the top two categories of 4* (world leading) and 3* (internationally excellent). This puts us ahead of some of the UK's most renowned Physics departments, including Manchester, Bristol, Southampton, Warwick and Oxford.

These results firmly demonstrate that Physics at Exeter has increased substantially in both quality and quantity since the 2001 RAE.

We have seen a 40% growth in the staff over the past seven years and seek to build further on our success with the recruitment of a significant number of leading physicists over the coming year.

Professor Tim Naylor, Head of Physics said "This has been a spectacular week for Exeter Physics, with the announcement on Monday that Exeter will lead the creation of a Centre of Graphene Science in collaboration with Bath University funded by some £5M from EPSRC, and now an excellent RAE result!"

Exeter was one of 159 higher education institutions submitted to the RAE which measures the quality of research across the higher education sector. RAE expert panels assessed more than 200,000 pieces of work from 52,500 staff. The results will be used to distribute £1.5 billion a year worth of research funding to UK universities from August 2009.

Since the last RAE in 2001 Exeter has shown significant improvements in:

1. The amount of internationally-rated research: more than 90 per cent is now internationally rated compared to 57 per cent in 2001.
2. The number of staff submitted: Exeter submitted 636 staff compared to 457 in 2001. Some 95% of staff were submitted which is amongst the highest in the sector.
3. The proportion of research in the very highest 4* category: now 17 per cent compared to 2 per cent in 2001.

The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Exeter Professor Steve Smith said: "These results show a significant improvement since 2001. Particularly pleasing is the increase in the amount of 4* rated research. We have achieved our targets in terms of research outputs and we will be looking to build on this result as we go forward."

The RAE rates research across a five point scale ranging from ungraded to 4*. The higher the grade the more research funding is achieved. Grades 2*, 3* and 4* denote ascending grades of international research quality. 34 per cent of research at Exeter falls into 2*, 39 per cent at 3* and 17 per cent at 4*.

15% of Physics' research was classed as 4* and 'world leading', 45% as 3* and 'internationally excellent' and 35% as 2* and 'recognised internationally'.