Easy street for the top departments. Hard times, however, for the many losers. More classroom grind. With the RAE, you simply told the universities to slug it out like gladiators. Last one standing was the winner.
Competition is the law of the universe.
Darwin taught us that. It is a lousy system. Survival of the fittest may work for the animal kingdom, but it's bugger all use for tertiary education. It's analogous to Association Football. Britain has the most elaborate and fiercely competitive league system in the world.