Research funding is currently about "games playing", a report says

A report by Sir Gareth Roberts recommends that one third of English universities - mainly former polytechnics - should be taken out of the main assessment process for research cash.

He says those doing most research - such as Oxford, Cambridge and Imperial College London - should be scrutinised more rigorously.

And the 40 English universities whose research budgets amount to 2% of overall grants would be assessed separately.

'Destructive'

Many in higher education fear this will create a "two-tier system", where those institutions not considered elite are left to focus only on teaching.

Sally Hunt, general secretary of the Association of University Teachers, said: "This announcement may prove to be the final nail in the coffin for many of the 20,000 jobs at departments up and down the country.

"To limit research funding to only a small number of institutions will lead to the break-up of the unified system, as we know it."

She said it would "establish an unashamed, two-tier structure, where an Ivy League will develop around those institutions that soak up all the research money".

"The new approach to funding is one of the most destructive things this government has ever done with regard to higher education."

Star system

The four funding bodies for UK higher education, which commissioned the research, have not yet endorsed its findings.

Academics have until September to make their views known.

Sir Gareth said that, if implemented, his review would reduce the "games playing" that affected the last round of budget setting.

Under the old system, the best departments were given five stars and the worst one star.

Universities won or lost large amounts of the �1bn available, depending on which grade their departments gained.

Some universities fear becoming teaching-only institutions

This prompted some to resort to tactics such as poaching researchers to boost their profile, said Sir Gareth, president of Wolfson College, Oxford.

He added that, in future, each researcher should be awarded up to a maximum of three stars, with that mark representing international class.

Each star would be worth a certain amount of money, which would vary according to subject.

A three-star researcher in clinical medicine could bring in more money than a colleague rated the same in an English literature or history department.

Sir Gareth said separating research output from activities such as staff development, equal opportunities and promoting "public understanding of research topics" would make the process more "visible and credible".

Those activities would be assessed two years before the main research assessment.

'Complex'

If a university failed to come up to the required standard in any of those categories, it should still be allowed to enter budget negotiations.

But it should be prevented from getting any money "until it had demonstrated a satisfactory performance".

Sir Gareth said universities would want to do what was needed in order to be able to pass.

"I think most vice-chancellors would feel ashamed if they couldn't meet the points raised," he said.

Higher education colleges, many of which do not do much research, said they did not want to be excluded from the main assessment system.

In a statement, the Standing Conference of Principals, said: "While we believe the report contains many helpful recommendations, our major concern relates to the proposal to treat less research-intensive institutions totally separately from the rest of the sector."

'Transparent'

Diana Warwick, chief executive of Universities UK, which represents principals and vice-chancellors, said she was pleased the report acknowledged that all higher education institutes did research, "albeit at different levels".

"We have consistently called for that research to be properly funded," she said.

"We also want any new research assessment system to produce funding outcomes that are more transparent and stable than the current system - and for it to be clear where funding for emerging disciplines fits in to the overall picture.

"It is noteworthy that Sir Gareth does not typecast or limit institutional strategies.

"Universities UK is keen to have reassurance that institutions will remain able to make strategic choices on their research activities in the new system."