The Postgraduate Research Experience Survey
Oxford information
The Graduate Panel of Education Committee decided that, from 2008, the University should participate in voluntary national surveys of the Postgraduate Research Experience being administered by the Higher Education Academy. The focus of the survey is primarily on the student experience, rather than student satisfaction per se.
The PRES is seen as complementing at postgraduate level the Oxford Student Course Experience Questionnaire (OSCEQ) data collected at undergraduate level.
The 2009 Postgraduate Research Experience Survey (PRES) is the most recent version of the survey first trialled by HEA in 2007 amongst 58 institutions, including eight Russell Group universities, of which Cambridge was one. Oxford participation in the survey enables benchmarking of the University's ratings against a selection of other Russell Group universities. The survey is completed online, and research students are invited to participate by their institution. Only aggregate data is publicly available, but each institution receives its own data so that it can conduct additional analyses and form benchmarking partnerships, if desired. Each participating university also has the option of adding institution-specific questions to the survey, and Oxford has added questions addressing research students' College experience.
In 2007, 58 institutions participated (including 8 Russell Group universities). It involved 10,544 students, and achieved an average institutional response rate of 25%. This grew in 2008 to 72 institutions (12 Russell Group, including Oxford), 16,524 students and an average response rate of 30%.
Results of the 2008 survey, the most recent available, indicate that 55% of Oxford respondents agreed that their research programme was better than they had expected, and a further 24% that it met their expectations. Over 80% agreed that the University's facilities met or exceeded their expectations, and 69% were satisfied with their supervision. With respect to colleges, 80% of students agreed that their college provided opportunities for social contact with other postgraduate students, but only 47% that a supportive intellectual climate was provided and 28% that they felt part of a community of scholars in their subject area in their college. The situation was not ideal in departments either, with only 45% agreeing that they felt integrated into their department's community. About two thirds of respondents felt that developing transferable skills was an important part of their research degree, but only 54% were satisfied with the opportunities available to develop such skills. In addition, there was substantial confusion about opportunities to teach at Oxford, and less than half of those who taught felt that they had received adequate support for teaching. However, 64% of all respondents agreed that there are adequate opportunities for them to develop research skills.
Ideas and tools
Results of the PRES are collated at institutional and divisional level, not at the level of individual supervisors or departments. Nevertheless, departments and supervisors may find it helpful to use items from the questionnaire for their own internal survey purposes.
For instance, Faculties or Departments may wish to assess their students' experiences of departmental infrastructure and intellectual climate, using relevant items from the questionnaire. Students might be asked to indicate the degree to which they agree with items such as the following (which should be chosen to suit the discipline):
Infrastructure
- I have adequate access to the equipment necessary for my research
- I have a suitable working space
- There is appropriate financial support for research activities
- There is adequate provision of computing resources and facilities
- There is adequate provision of library facilities
- I have the technical support I need
Intellectual climate
- My faculty/ department provides opportunities for social contact with other research students
- My faculty/ department provides opportunities for me to become involved in the broader research culture
- The research ambience in my department/ faculty stimulates my work
- I feel integrated into my department's/ faculty's community
- My faculty/ department provides a good seminar programme for research students
Supervisors may wish to use relevant items from the questionnaire to inform their supervision. The items could be used for self-assessment purposes, by reflecting on the extent to which you think you do these things, or trying to guess how you think your students would rate you. You could also distribute the survey amongst your students, but this may be difficult where numbers are small.
The survey items on supervision include:
- My supervisor/s have the skills and subject knowledge to adequately support my research
- My supervisor/s make a real effort to understand any difficulties I face
- I have been given good guidance in topic selection and refinement by my supervisor/s
- I have received good guidance in my literature search from my supervisor/s
- My supervisor/s provide helpful feedback on my progress
- My supervisor/s are available when I need them
Insights from research and literature
The PRES was developed from the Postgraduate Research Experience Questionnaire (PREQ) used in Australia, but adapted to the UK context by HEA. The UK PRES differs from the Australian PREQ in that the Australian instrument is completed by recent graduates, while the PRES is completed by current students. It is also large, containing additional items that reflect the QAA precepts.
Australia and the UK are unusual in having national policies for the regular collection and reporting of postgraduate experience in which it is possible to view the results of individual universities. However, there are a number of studies of postgraduate experience done in other countries that report similar kinds of concerns to those reported in PRES. For instance, Golde & Dore (2001) reported that only about half of the students in their American study reported having a formal opportunity to explore and understand career possibilities, whether academic or non-academic. Other studies report doctoral students holding incomplete understandings of academic life, experiencing mixed messages about the relative importance of teaching and research, being aware of conflicting demands on academics, wondering about the possibility of a balanced life, and not being sure if it is possible to align their own values with those of the academy (Austin, 2002; Bieber & Worley, 2006; Nettles & Millett, 2006). Overall, there is plentiful evidence to support the view that internationally research education may not be preparing individuals as well as it might for future work either as academics or elsewhere.
The above text was based on:
Austin, A. (2002). Creating a bridge to the future: Preparing new faculty to face changing expectations in a shifting context. Review of Higher Education, 26(2), 119-144.
Australian Council for Educational Research (2000) Evaluation and Validation of the Trial Postgraduate Research Experience Questionnaires, Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs, Commonwealth of Australia.
Bieber, J., & Worley, L. (2006). Conceptualizing the academic life: Graduate students' perspectives. Journal of Higher Education, 77(6), 1009-1035.
Golde, C.M. & Dore, T.M. (2001). At Cross Purposes: What the experiences of doctoral students reveal about doctoral education. Philadelphia, PA: A report prepared for The Pew Charitable Trusts.
Graduate Careers Council of Australia. (2003) Postgraduate Research Experience Questionnaire: A National Survey of the Activities of Year 2002 University Graduates. Graduate Careers Council of Australia Ltd.
Graduate Careers Council of Australia. (2003) Postgraduate Research Experience Questionnaire: 2002. Graduate Careers Council of Australia Ltd.
Kulej, M. and Park, C. (2008) The Postgraduate Research Experience Survey 2008: Final Report, Higher Education Academy
Nettles, M., & Millett, C (2006). Three magic letters: getting to the PhD. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins.
Park, C., Hanbury, A. and Kulej, M. (2007) The Postgraduate Research Experience Survey: Final Report, Higher Education Academy