1. Postgraduate research experience survey (PRES) results 2007-9

2. PRES 2007-9 2 108 HEIs took part in PRES at least once ‘Research students’ are PG students who are registered fro research awards at UK HEIs; the vast majority are on doctoral programmes and the rest on research Masters programmes.

3. Overall experience 84% of students in 2009 said that the overall experience of their programme met or exceeded their expectations 82.5% in 2008 80.7% in 2007 8 Sept 2009Vitae conference3

4. Motivations and career aspirations A third (33.8%) of the 2009 respondents agreed that their main motivation was an interest in the subject A third (31.7%) agreed that it was to improve their career prospects for an academic or research career The next most popular answer (14.7%) was that “it felt like a natural step for me”. In terms of career aspirations, nearly half (44%) had in mind an academic career in higher education (either research and teaching, or teaching only), One in seven (13.9%) had in mind a research career in higher education A further one in seven (13.9%) wished to pursue a research career outside higher education.

5. Scales - summary 5

6. 8 Sept 20096Vitae conference

7. Scales - summary 8 Sept 20097Vitae conference

8. Supervision 8 Sept 20098Vitae conference

9. Infrastructure 18 May 20109Surveys conference

10. Infrastructure 18 May 201010Surveys conference

11. Infrastructure 18 May 201011Surveys conference

12. Intellectual climate 8 Sept 200912Vitae conference

13. Intellectual climate 8 Sept 200913Vitae conference

14. Intellectual climate 14

15. Goals and standards 8 Sept 200915Vitae conference

16. Goals and standards 8 Sept 200916Vitae conference

17. Roles and responsibilities 8 Sept 200917Vitae conference

18. Roles and responsibilities 8 Sept 200918Vitae conference

19. Roles and responsibilities 19

20. Thesis examination

23. Skills development 23

24. Skills development 8 Sept 200924Vitae conference

25. Skills development 8 Sept 200925Vitae conference

26. Skills development – by year of study 26

27. Professional development and career 27

28. Professional development and career – discipline The national average % of agree for these three items is 40% Medicine and dentistry (47% on average) and agriculture (52% on average) students agree the most with professional development items (also engineering – 44% and business management – 45%) Creative arts and design (34% on average) and law (35%) students then to agree the least with professional development items 28

29. Professional development and career - domicile Non UK students tend to agree considerably more with all professional development items (on average 7% more in agreement than home students) Non EU students agree particularly strongly (49% vs 43% on average) that they were encouraged to reflect on their professional development needs. 29

30. Professional development and career - age In general, the older the students the less they agree with professional development items Age groups who agree the most (on average 42% agree on all three items) are 26-40 years old (they are also the most motivated by improving their existing career) 30

31. Conclusion Overall, PRES findings suggest the PGR experience is positive The most positive areas are supervision, skills, and thesis examination The least positive areas are infrastructure, intellectual climate and professional development 31

32. Lessons from PRES – full report http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/ourwork/ supportingresearch/postgraduatework