Education and Skills Secretary, Charles Clarke has today written to the
Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) seeking advice on how to protect higher education courses of national strategic importance.
He has asked HEFCE to consider the following as courses of national strategic importance:
* Arabic and Turkish language studies and other Middle Eastern area studies, former Soviet Union Caucasus and central Asian area studies - this is mainly for strategic security and inter-cultural awareness reasons, as highlighted by the recent British Society for Middle East Studies Report;
* Japanese, Chinese, Mandarin and other far eastern languages and area studies - for business and trade purposes, as highlighted by, among others, the UK-Japan 21st Century Group;
* Science, technology, engineering and mathematics - chiefly for maintaining the UK's excellent science base and ensuring our national productivity;
* Vocationally oriented courses of particular interest to employers in industries that are of growing importance to the UK economy; for example, the cultural and creative industries, and e-skills; and
* Courses relating to recent EU accession countries, especially those in Eastern Europe and the Baltic.

Area Studies Colleagues are reminded about the free Disciplinary identity of Area Studies event that takes place on 29 November at CILT, Covent Garden, London.
Speakers are Colin Brooks, Jonathon Gibson, Carl Griffin, John Canning, Kuo-cheng Huang, Jeremy Leaman and B. Chandramohan. Please register via the Subject Centre website or e-mail llas@soton.ac.uk

Professor Judie Newman, University of Nottingham has been appointed chair of RAE Panel L convering American Studies and Anglophone Area Studies, Middle Eastern and African Studies, Asian Studies, European Studies.
Professor Nigel Vincent, University of Manchester, will chair Panel M covering Russian, Slavonic and East European Languages, French, German, Dutch and Scandinavian Languages, Italian, Iberian and Latin American Languages, Celtic Studies, English Language and Literature, Linguistics

http://www.hefce.ac.uk/news/hefce/2004/raechairs.asp

From the Subject Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies
Disciplinary identity of Area Studies
Date: 29 November 2004
Location: CILT, London
Call for papers

Global forms of knowledge and their advocates will not generate the funding for area studies unless the necessity for area-specific knowledge is clearly and
widely understood. But instead of building its own intellectual foundations in the university, the intellectual benefits of area studies have gone into the disciplines, including language teaching. (Ludden 1998).

Area Studies courses are widely taught in UK Higher Education, and multidisciplinary Area Studies Associations continue to thrive yet practitioners generally see themselves primarily as historians, political scientists, geographers, linguists etc. and not as Area Studies specialists. This raises questions about the support provided by the Subject Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies.
The Area Studies Project involved six partner Subject Centres from the arts, humanities and social sciences. The nature of disciplinarity and notions of interdisciplinarity and multidisciplinarity were soon identified both optimistically as opportunities or more pessimistically as threats to current disciplines.

This conference aims to discuss the nature of Area Studies and its value to its composite disciplines, its contribution to teaching and research and most importantly whether Area Studies itself is, or can become a discipline.
Contributions may include, but are not limited to:
Area Studies: a discipline?
Links between teaching and research in Area Studies
Institutional structures of Area Studies
Area Studies and government policy
Bringing Area Studies into disciplines.
Contribution of disciplines to Area Studies.
International perspectives on Area Studies
Issues of identity for staff and students.
Please send proposals for papers to: John Canning j.canning@soton.ac.uk by Friday 1 October 2004. The Subject Centre will pay travel expenses within the UK for papers accepted.

Register for this event at http://www.lang.ltsn.ac.uk/events/llaseventitem.aspx?resourceid=2166

Further reading
Ludden, D. 1998. Area Studies in the Age of Globalisation http://www.sas.upenn.edu/~dludden/areast2.htm

RAE 2008
From R J Ellis, Secretary (UKCASA)
After talking with HEFCE it has become apparent that the best time to request a visit from one of HEFCE's RAE team to talk to UKCASA about RAE2008 would be in early/mid January.
Strategically, if we chose to arrange things so that this meeting coincided with UKCASA's AGM, then this would help in terms of HEFCE's perception that this would be a key meeting between HEFCE and the Area Studies Community. If we approached the RAE team shortly after the team's establishment in September 2004 with a firm date for such a meeting, then it has been suggested to me that this might be the best approach. HEFCE regard a good turn-out as critical.
Accordingly, I suggest we pencil in Friday 14 January 2005, starting at 1.00 (sharp -- to leave sufficient time) to have a meeting with one of the HEFCE RAE team, and then move on to a crisp AGM. This would entail bringing forward the date of the AGM a little, but as I understand it, this would be the best approach.
Whilst only one representative from each Area Studies Association (ASA) can have the status of that Association's representative on UKCASA, we have agreed that more than one person from each ASA could attend (with 'non-voting', auditor status to the extras). Shall we say a maximum of two from each ASA?
I will announce the venue soon, but the meeting will need to be in London.
On this occasion, I will take silence to signify consent to this approach, if you all don't mind, but do email me if this will pose problems!
Benaeth this email I have pasted in some information on the nomination procedure for the RAE panels. I hope this is useful. Because it is heavily formatted, it may be distorted in email transmission, but I have already provided everyone with the web address for this information.
Best
R. J. Ellis Secretary, UKCASA
www.rae.ac.uk/nominations can be visited to obtain the Rae nomination form.
Main panel composition and recruitment
1.      Advertisements will appear shortly in the specialist press inviting applications for appointment as main panel chairs.  We envisage that these will be people with a significant personal record in research at the highest level; with previous experience in quality assessment, in research management or leadership across a broad disciplinary field, and in leading groups of their peers to shared decisions.
2.      Main panels will be made up of:

·       The chair ·       The chairs of each of the sub-panels in the main panel grouping ·       One or two international assessors ·       Where possible and appropriate, other people with specific expertise and observers.
Additional members
3.      We would welcome the nomination of international assessors as additional members of main panels. International nominees should be practising researchers with a very high level of knowledge of and expertise in research across a broad discipline area internationally, including substantial experience in at least one country outside the UK.  They should be people whose judgement is likely to command the respect of the HE community across their broad disciplinary field.   
4.      We would also welcome nominations for people to be additional members of the main panels on the basis of their experience in using and commissioning research conducted in higher education while working at a senior level in business or the public sector.
5.      We may invite observers from key stakeholder groups to attend main panel meetings. Observers may provide informal advice to panels but will not share their responsibility for determining quality profiles.  The funding bodies’ chief executives will decide which groups will be invited to send an observer.
Sub-panel composition and recruitment
6.      Sub-panels will be made up of: ·       the chair (who will also serve as a member of a main panel) ·       a group of assessors, not normally exceeding 15 members ·       in most cases one or more observers (nominated by invited stakeholder bodies and not participating directly in the assessment process). 7.      Sub-panel chairs will be appointed by the funding bodies’ chief executives, after considering nominations received and taking advice from main panel chairs and from those who served as panel members in 2001.
8.      Sub-panel members will be appointed by the chief executives after taking advice from the sub-panel chair in each case.  Sub-panel members will mainly be practising researchers of suitable personal standing and expertise.  As in past exercises, we hope that continuity will be assured by the re-employment of panel members who served in previous RAEs. Wherever possible, at least a third of the members of each sub-panel should have previous RAE panel experience.  In deciding sub-panel membership the chief executives will have regard to the desirability of ensuring that the overall body of members reflects the diversity of the research community, including in terms of age, gender, ethnic origin, scope and focus of their home institution, and geographical location.Criteria for appointing sub-panel members

·       Sub-panel members will all be appointed on the basis of their personal experience and expertise, not as representatives of any group or interest.  The great majority will be practising researchers.
·       The membership of each sub-panel should command the respect of the relevant research community. The sub-panel’s collective expertise should ensure good coverage of the principal fields of work within the UoA.
·       Where possible and appropriate, sub-panels should include individuals with significant experience of a broad research environment, including experience of commissioning and using research in business or the public sector, of conducting research linked to practice, or of overseas research organisations.
·       The diversity of the research community in the relevant field should be reflected in the sub-panel membership.
       
Name of nominating body Contact name
Postal address
Telephone number  E-mail address Full name and title of nominee Has this person agreed to be nominated?       (yes  )   (  no  ) E-mail address of nominee
Main panel, sub-panel or specialist field for which nominated Name of institution, or name and address of company at which nominee can be contacted Role for which nominated (select one) International representative (main panel) Additional main panel member Sub-panel chair Sub-panel member Research user/practitioner (sub-panel) Specialist adviser Please summarise the reasons for this nomination addressing each of the following headings: 1.      Area(s) of research expertise 2.      Current role and other recent posts of relevance 3.      Major esteem indicators (e.g. major grants/prizes awarded, editorial posts, chairmanship of subject bodies) 4.      Relevant experience of research management and quality assessment 5.      Relevant experience of using and commissioning research or as a practitioner (where applicable)

To: Area Studies colleagues

The UK Council of Area Studies Associations has made contact with the RAE managers at hefce in order to ensure that the Area Studies community is fully represented in the forthcoming consultations. We expect the first phase of consultation, on panel structure, to begin shortly. A second phase of consultation, on panel membership, is not to be expected until any structural questions have been dealt with.
At all stages we shall keep UKCASA members informed of the process, and shall be drawing on the Area Studies community for views and expertise. We want to ensure that the parallel efforts of UKCASA and the individual Area Studies Associations give full and effective voice to Area Studies as the next RAE is developing.

Philip John Davies
Chair, UK Council of Area Studies Associations

The following were elected as officers of UKCASA at the first committee meeting held at Senate House, University of London on 6 February 2004:

Chair: Professor Philip John Davies (De Montfort University/ British Library)
Vice-Chair: Professor Mike Smith (Glasgow Caledonian University)
Secretary: Professor Dick Ellis (Nottingham Trent University)
Treasurer: Dr Tony Chafer (University of Portsmouth)