Sir, - It was reported in your newspaper that the vice-chancellor of Queen's University Belfast, Prof George Bain, is adamant that 80 per cent of Queen's staff support his restructuring plan (Education & Living, September 15th).
Almost every non-targeted person that I know in Queen's is against the plan, but is afraid, for a variety of reasons, to say so in public. I suggest that Prof Bain poll the academic staff by secret ballot to find out just how many support him. He might well be surprised.
It is also important that university academics in "the South" understand fully what the plan at Queen's is about. The targeting of 107 academic staff for early retirement/severance has been based totally on their expected contribution to RAE 2001. I use the word "totally" with care, in contrast to a member of the senior management team at Queen's who quite wrongly substituted "largely" when interviewed for the RTE Radio 1 programme This Week, broadcast on September 6th. Let me clarify: RAE stands for Research Assessment Exercise. Five is the highest and one the lowest, and the school to which I belong was rated RAE3a in the last exercise. I have been targeted and judged as "research inactive" because I cannot reach RAE4 or above. There is little or no chance that you will be judged as RAE4 or above unless your research attracts significant external income. A consistent publication record is not enough.
In my 24 years at Queen's, I have produced 34 research papers, most of which are in good international journals, and 18 teaching papers in journals such as Journal of Biological Education and American Biology Teacher. My research receives international respect and I continue to do research despite the limited facilities provided by Queen's. My acknowledged contribution to the teaching of plant science at Queen's is seemingly not valued. Can Prof Bain continue with the pretext that he is aiming for "balanced excellence" at Queen's? It looks more like he has decided that the RAE alone should set the agenda for the future of Queen's. The plan for restructuring at Queen's is doomed to failure. Those targeted will not be easily replaced and considerable damage has already been done to morale. I remain committed to my subject area, my students in the coming year and my principles concerning what universities should be. - Yours, etc., Dr Paul Clifford,
Lecturer, School of Biology and Biochemistry, Queen's University Belfast.