In the UK, universities found a different target to game: the Research Excellence Framework, which is designed to measure the quality of academic research done and hand out public money to the top performers. A loophole quickly became apparent: a university department could get credit for research conducted by an academic on a part-time contract that demanded only 20 per cent of full-time hours. Getting a full-time research credit for 20 per cent of a full-time salary is a good deal – and universities promptly embraced it.
