KEF results demonstrate University’s economic and societal impact

The University of Portsmouth’s success in sharing knowledge, ideas and experience to benefit both the economy and society has been recognised in the latest Knowledge Exchange Framework (KEF).

The KEF, published by Research England, demonstrates the range of activities English universities conduct with external partners locally, nationally, and internationally, evaluating performance across seven areas of knowledge exchange activity (called KEF Perspectives). Each perspective’s performance is scored in quintiles from 1 (very low) to 5 (very high), with all universities compared with each other. 

Nationally, Portsmouth is rated 4 out of 5 (High Engagement) in Research Partnerships, Working with Business, Local Growth and Regeneration, Working with the Public and Third Sector, and continuous professional development (CPD) and Graduate Start-ups.

No overall ranking is provided. Instead, universities are grouped into clusters and compared against similar institutions. Portsmouth is in the biggest cluster - Cluster E - comprising large universities with broad discipline portfolios generating excellent research across all disciplines. In this, Portsmouth exceeds the average score for our cluster overall.

Professor Jeremy Howells, Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Research, Innovation and External Relations at the University of Portsmouth, said: “Knowledge exchange is becoming ever increasingly important for universities to ensure research and innovation activities maximise their benefit to society, our economy and the planet. These KEF results demonstrate the achievements of our staff across the full range of knowledge exchange activities benchmarked against other UK universities.

“These results and other recent performance assessments demonstrate progress towards our long-term ambition to be the top modern UK university and in the top 100 young universities in the world by the end of the decade.”

Sarah Duckering, Director of Research and Innovation Services at the University of Portsmouth, said: “Knowledge exchange is an essential part of our mission and it showcases a diverse picture of the tremendous work we do locally, nationally and internationally.

“This report allows us to better understand and improve our Knowledge Exchange activities and helps us to support individuals, groups, organisations and business in accessing our world-class knowledge and expertise.”

The KEF sits alongside the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) and the Research Excellence Framework (REF), and together they provide a fuller picture of how universities are performing and what impact they’re having.

In the TEF, the University recently received the highest possible Gold rating, and in June 2022, it received impressive Research Excellence Framework (REF) outcomes where Portsmouth was ranked third of all modern UK universities for research power in the Times Higher Education REF rankings.

This latest success follows Portsmouth’s Top 20 position in England for learning resources and academic support as reported by the National Student Survey, and its rise to 33rd in The Guardian Good University Guide.  Portsmouth was named as one of the UK’s top 50 universities, according to the 2024 edition of the QS World University Rankings and reclaimed its top 50 place in the Complete University Guide.

The full results of KEF 2023 are available on the Research England website.

For more information, visit our dedicated KEF pages.