Infrastructure and resources
Oxford information
A key part of EPSC’s Embedding Graduate Studies initiative (from 2005) is improving the admissions and enrolments experience for research students.
A survey of 625 PGR students at Oxford found that 83% were satisfied with the institutional infrastructure (enrolments, libraries, administration, etc.), and 80% with their departmental infrastructure. There are, however, significant Divisional differences in satisfaction with departmental infrastructure. An extract from the survey report includes discussion of responses concerning departmental infrastructure.
Ideas and tools
You can see how PGR students in your department/ faculty have reported their perceptions of the infrastructure by looking at relevant questionnaire items from the 2006 OPREQ survey, where responses are based on a five-point scale from ‘strongly disagree’ to ‘strongly agree’.
- I have access to a suitable working space;
- I am able to organise good access to necessary equipment;
- I have good access to the technical support I need;
- I have good access to computing facilities and services in my department;
- There is appropriate financial support for research activities in the department;
- The department administration is effective in supporting my research.
Insights from research and literature
The doctoral experience starts with admissions, includes services and facilities available at departmental and institutional levels and continues through to awareness of examination requirements. PGR student satisfaction with their overall research experience is strongly related to their perceptions of departmental and institutional infrastructure. The need to think about doctoral education systemically as a complex educational undertaking emerges from the growth of the doctoral enterprise; this growth necessitates a move beyond the traditional focus on the supervisory relationship (Pearson, 1999). Pearson goes on to say that even in the early 90s, there were calls to attend to institutional resources and infrastructure - from desks to libraries - as regards their effect on the outcome of doctoral study.
This position is supported by Wright & Cochrane (2000) who note the lack of attention to the role of departments in a quality PhD experience.
An interesting study by Deem & Brehony (2000) emphasizes this point; they reported that access to research cultures often had a material as well as a social and cultural base. For instance, they reported that international students, in particular, experienced difficulties in accessing facilities (e.g., a place to meet informally) and resources (e.g., use of photocopiers).
The above text was based on:
Deem, R. and Brehony, K. (2000) Doctoral students' access to research cultures: are some more unequal than others? Studies in Higher Education, 25(2), 149-165.
Pearson, M. (1999). The Changing Environment for Doctoral Education in Australia: implications for quality management, improvement and innovation. Higher Education Research & Development, 18(3), pp269-287.
Trigwell, K. and Dunbar-Goddet, H. (2005) The Research Experience of Postgraduate Research Students at the University of Oxford, Institute for the Advancement of University Learning, University of Oxford.
Wright, T. and Cochrane, R. (2000) Factors influencing successful submission of PhD theses. Studies in Higher Education, 25(2), 181-195.