It has become increasingly clear over the past decade that the question of a positive link between research and teaching has no simple or general answer. At the same time, there may well be a positive link under particular conditions. This paper argues that a positive link can be due primarily to the processes, rather than the outcomes, inherent in research and teaching, and that, in particular, student-centred teaching and learning processes are intrinsically favourable towards a positive link, while more traditional teaching methods may at best lead to a positive link for the most able students, who in the perception of traditional academics are, of course, the future university teachers. This nding, in turn, leads to a rational explanation of the persistent myth of a general positive link. Finally, it is argued that pedagogic research and its outcomes could play an important role in strengthening the link.

It is argued that many of the consequences that have followed successive Research Assessment Exercises (RAEs) have been unintended and a high proportion of these, particularly the longer term ones, are deleterious or potentially so. Of these, the most serious is almost certainly the competitive, adversarial and punitive spirit evoked by the RAE which is clearly inherent in it.

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