Letter: Real cost of RAE cuts 4

Roger Brown is right to highlight the way the RAE has weakened rather than strengthened the links between research and teaching ("One half of a double act", THES , February 15). A number of institutions have made it part of their learning and teaching strategy to strengthen these links. This cannot simply involve strengthening research and hoping that this will somehow benefit teaching. It probably has to involve changes in the nature of research undertaken, in curricula and in teaching methods. We could start on the research side by expecting institutions' research strategies to be accompanied by "pedagogic impact statements" explaining how such narrowly focused, RAE-driven efforts could possibly benefit undergraduate students.

Graham Gibbs
Director
Open University Centre for Higher Education Practice