The University of East Anglia is proud to be an early adopter of the More Than Our Rank | INORMS initiative.
This statement sets out how UEA is so much more than our rankings in international league tables may suggest, and we encourage readers to consider the full breadth of performance, not just a number in a list.
All of the following and more has been achieved by the University before the celebration of the University’s 60th anniversary in 2023:
REF 2021
UEA has demonstrated its excellence in research, teaching, and knowledge exchange through consistent external assessments – the REF21 results concluded that 91% of our research is world leading or internationally excellent (The University of East Anglia : Results and submissions : REF 2021); UEA was awarded Teaching Excellence Framework Silver status (2023) (TEF outcomes - Office for Students), and the Knowledge Exchange Framework (KEF) results show UEA as above average across most indicators in our grouping (Knowledge exchange framework: Dashboard (kef.ac.uk)).
Innovation and Impact
The success of our innovation and impact approach is exemplified by a growing portfolio of new and ongoing impact cases, steady and high annual consultancy income (~£9m), a cumulative portfolio of 174 patents and significant growth in IP income to £1.9m (2019/20) from £0.25m (2013/14). The 2020 award of an ESRC Celebrating Impact Prize for business and enterprise impact (Winners and finalists: 2020 – UKRI) further demonstrates this commitment to taking research beyond the academy.
Queen’s Anniversary Prizes for Higher and Further Education
Queen’s Anniversary Prizes for Higher and Further Education have been awarded to UEA for international development studies (2009), creative writing (2011) and environmental sciences (2017). Notable alumni include Sir Paul Nurse (1973, Nobel Prize for Medicine 2001), Kazuo Ishiguro (1980, Nobel Prize for Literature 2017), Michael Houghton (1972, Nobel Prize for Medicine 2020) and Sarah Gilbert (1983) who led the Oxford University team to develop a COVID-19 vaccine, approved in 2020.
Partnerships and Networks
We are proud to have formal links and partnerships through our founding memberships of the Aurora (Aurora | European University Alliance (aurora-universities.eu)) and Eastern ARC (Home - Eastern Arc) networks. Closer to home, our Norwich Research Park membership locates UEA in one of the largest concentrations of research institutes in the whole of Europe – four independent internationally-renowned research institutes: John Innes Centre, Quadram Institute, Earlham Institute and The Sainsbury Laboratory; with the University of East Anglia and Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, supported and funded by The John Innes Foundation and UKRI Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council.
Doctoral Training Partnerships
Our Doctoral College, established in 2018, hosts six Doctoral Training Partnerships and integrates Faculty and School provision for 1600 Postgraduate Research Students (including those from across the Norwich Research Park), enabling collaboration and innovation.
Sustainable Campus
We recognise our global impact and were one of the first universities to declare a climate and biodiversity emergency in June 2019. Our sustainable campus, including over 50 acres of environmentally valuable parkland, is constantly evolving with ambitions to be 100% net zero by 2045 or sooner.
University of Sanctuary
UEA is a University of Sanctuary, an accreditation given to universities that show an ongoing commitment to creating a welcoming culture of inclusivity and awareness. We are committed to widening participation and public engagement, and are actively working towards cementing a Civic University Agreement in 2023.
Athena Swan Silver Award
UEA was awarded the Silver Athena Swan Award in 2019, and all of our Schools of study have been awarded either Bronze awards (15 departments) or Silver awards (6 departments).
A vibrant place to study, learn and work, UEA’s award-winning campus in Norwich is so much more than our rankings.