Tourism Studies and the Governance of Higher Education in the United Kingdom

Abstract

A major academic debating point in recent times has been the impact of the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) on the higher education sector in the UK. Ex-post analyses of the RAE's effects have appeared but this paper argues for a more forward-looking perspective. RAE 2008 is different to previous exercises, set as it is amid a period of significant reform and turbulence in the sector. Rather than exclusively dwelling on the past, it is necessary to explore how tourism studies and tourism geography will fare in the new era. While there has been transparency in the dissemination of change and much is known about what is to come, several important ‘unknowns’ remain, not least how several reforms will function together. An attempt is made to identify likely changes and to map their potential impacts on the future nature and practice of tourism scholarship.

Key Words:

• Higher Education
• Research Assessment Exercise
• Full Economic Costing
• Tourism Studies
• Tourism Geography
• UK

Acknowledgement

Thanks to several colleagues and the anonymous referees for their helpful input. The opinions expressed herein are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect those of either the University of Exeter or the University of Exeter Business School. This paper was first presented in 2006 and accepted in Autumn 2007. Prior to its final publication, initial results from RAE 2008 were published on 18 December 2008. Many of the issues in this paper are yet to be resolved.