all volume-based evaluation was removed to account for the criticism that volume rather than quality was rewarded.

The 1992 exercise also stipulated that the staff submitted for assessment had to be in post by a specific date (the "census date") in order to counter the criticisms that the staff that had moved on were still counted in the assessment. This led to the phenomenon of "poaching" of highly qualified staff by other universities ahead of the census date. In the 2001 exercise, the credit for the staff that moved institutions in