Are departments that obtained a 5 rating the "real losers" of the 2001 research assessment exercise ("A cloud in blue skies", THES , February 8)?
My department received a 1 in the 1992 RAE and a 2 in 1996. Our improvement meant an award of about £40,000 a year. We achieved a 3b in 2001, with the expectation of at least maintaining this support. But we are to receive nothing. A department facing a 100 per cent cut in funding loses far more than one subjected to a 15 per cent cut.
Mark Irle
Forest Products Research Centre
Buckinghamshire Chilterns University College