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Government REF results confirm that Bradford research has huge international impact

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The results of the Research Excellence Framework (REF 2014), a UK Government audit of the quality of UK university research, sees University of Bradford School of Management retain our position in the top tier of UK business schools.

Bradford University School of Management The REF assesses higher education institutions based on the strength of their research. The School of Management is ranked above other high quality business schools such as Glasgow, Leicester, Hull and Brunel and we have similar research scores to top quality schools like Kent, Birmingham and Exeter. An impressive 65% of our research was judged to be 3 or 4 star – that is internationally recognised or world leading in terms of originality, significance and rigour.

We are especially pleased that in assessing the impact of our research the REF panel of experts judged that almost 90% of Bradford’s submission demonstrated very considerable impact on business practice and policy and of that 47% was judged to be “outstanding”. As a University that believes in “Making Knowledge Work”, we are pleased that external experts have confirmed that our research really does make a difference and has an impact on the world outside academia. The impact of our research is ranked above larger, high quality schools such as Bath, Imperial, Lancaster, Manchester, Warwick and London Business School and it puts us in the top third of business schools.

The Dean, Professor Jon Reast said "As one of the UK’s oldest research-led business schools, we are extremely pleased that the REF panel have confirmed our belief that our applied, highly relevant research makes a difference to the world. Bradford has some world leading researchers and our excellent performance has contributed to the University’s rise up the rankings into the top 50 UK Universities overall."

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