Transcript www.ukim.edu.mk

Doctoral programmes and Graduate
Schools in the UK: A case study of
Nottingham Trent University
Dr Matt Henn, Head of Research Degrees and Research Training
Graduate School
College of Business, Law and Social Sciences
Nottingham Trent University
Burton Street
Nottingham NG1 4BU
Great Britain
Tel: (0115) 848 8156; Fax: (0115) 848 8700;
Email: [email protected]
Nottingham Trent University
• Four Colleges (Art and Design and the Built Environment /Arts,
Humanities and Education / Science / Business, Law and Social
Sciences):
– 23,000 students, including 4,000 postgraduate or professional
qualification students, and over 400 PhD students
– College of Business, Law and Social Sciences – largest of the 4
colleges, with 106 PhD research students, and 115 Professional
doctoral students
• One central virtual Graduate School – centralised web-based
admissions process
• Each college has it’s own Graduate School office (administration and
academic staff) to ensure local compliance with central university
regulations, and support for PhD students
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A personal view of changes in the
organisation of UK PhD’s over 20 years
In the past:
• The traditional apprentice model, in which the research student sat
at the feet of the supervisor who was the Fountain of Knowledge
• Very personal and “individualised” relationship
• No support outside of that relationship (subject, methodological,
pastoral)
Now:
• There is now much support outside of that relationship
– a team of supervisors
– School Research Degree Co-ordinators
– Head of Research Degrees
– Graduate School
– and of course, the other students!
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A personal view of changes in the
organisation of UK PhD’s over 20 years
In the past:
• Single discipline-orientation
Now:
• Interdisciplinary orientation
– Supervisors
– PhD Programme of Supporting Studies
– Research environment
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A personal view of changes in the
organisation of UK PhD’s over 20 years
In the past:
• Little contact with other research students
Now:
• Part of a Graduate School - and subsequently of thriving graduate
and research communities
– Gathered together in a single open-plan workspace
– Workshops every two weeks (research training, transferable skills,
teacher training)
– Graduate School Conferences twice each year
– Subject research seminars open to all
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A personal view of changes in the
organisation of UK PhD’s over 20 years
In the past:
• Little regard for ethical issues, or for health & safety matters in the
research project
Now:
• All prospective PhD research degrees projects are required to gain
approval from the College Research Ethics Committee
• Workshops and comprehensive guidance notes – Ethics; Health and
safety
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A personal view of changes in the
organisation of UK PhD’s over 20 years
In the past:
• Very low completion rates  1970s and 80s - the Winfield Report
revealed that only 20% of UK social scientists completed within 4
years (Taylor, S. 2007. Improving retention rates and completion rates. UK
Council for Graduate Education, Goodenough College, London UK, March 2007)
Now:
• Research councils set target completion rates – 4 years
• 36% of UK students who began their PhD research degrees in 199697 completed within 4 years, 57% within 5 years (Higher Education
Funding Council for England, 2007. PhD research degrees update: Entry and
completion. Bristol: Higher Education Funding Council for England)
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What is a “Graduate School”, and what are
its benefits - Bologna
Create organisational structures for:
• Research training to prepare people for careers outside of the HE
sectors across Europe to strengthen research capacities and meet
needs of wider employment market
• Promote interdisciplinarity in terms of skills training, and also in the
research environment
• Professional skills development and training of academic staff
• Increasing mobility across Europe for research students, and
international collaboration between universities and other partners
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Graduate Schools - The UK context
Harris Review of postgraduate education 1996
• Harris, M., (1996). Review of Postgraduate Education, M 14/96. Higher
Education Funding Council for England, Bristol. Accessed on 26 March 2009
from <http://www.hefce.ac.uk/Pubs/hefce/1996/m14_96.htm>.
Roberts Review 2002
Roberts, G., (2002). SET for success: The supply of people with science,
technology, engineering and mathematics skills. The Report of Sir Gareth
Roberts’ Review. HM Treasury, London. Accessed on 26 March 2009 from
<http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/ent_res_roberts.htm>.
• Complaints from employers of the quality of PhD research students,
as well as the technical skills and the creativity of many of them
• Recommend at least 2 weeks per year of transferable skills training
The UK treasury funded this with “Roberts money”
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Graduate Schools - The UK context
• QAA (Quality Assurance Agency) 2004 Code of practice for the
assurance of academic quality and standards in higher education http://www.qaa.ac.uk/academicinfrastructure/codeOfPractice/section1
/
• The Research Councils:
– ESRC (Economic and Social Research Council) http://www.esrc.ac.uk/ESRCInfoCentre/opportunities/postgraduate/
pgtrainingpolicy/
– AHRC (Arts and Humanities Research Council) http://www.ahrc.ac.uk/FundingOpportunities/Pages/default.aspx
• VITAE - http://www.vitae.ac.uk/
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The Graduate School at Nottingham Trent
University
NTU Graduate School formed ten years ago:
• Co-ordinate institutional ambition for high-quality provision for
research students
• Interdisciplinarity
• Bring students together to create a critical mass and a stimulating
knowledge environment
• Centre for methods and general research skills training
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How we ensure quality 1
Accountability:
• We comply with the quality assurance standards as determined by
key national bodies (the Quality Assurance Agency [e.g.,
Institutional audit 2008], and the Research Councils [e.g., ESRC
recognition exercise every 2-3 years])
• Regulations, policy and practice governed by a University Research
Degrees Committee which is accountable to the University’s
Academic Board
• Devolution of day-to-day operationalisation of research degrees to
our College Research Degrees Committee, and to Graduate School
• College handbooks with local operationalisation (e.g., teaching limit
of 3 hours per week, supervision arrangements, student progress
reporting etc…)
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How we ensure quality 2
• Recruitment and applications process – the Graduate School is the
key point of initial contact with all prospective students
• Project approval
• Monitoring arrangements (twice yearly)
– Annual monitoring of student as a condition of progress to
subsequent year of study. It includes a review meeting with the
student, the supervisory team, and an independent assessor
• Ethical approval
• Transfer (MPhil-PhD upgrade) stage
• Independent assessors
• The viva
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How we ensure quality 3:
Supervisory support
Our principles:
• Supervisor/ student relations are very important - but the
supervisory team is accountable to the university for the successful
conduct of supervision
• Supervision teams – minimum qualifications (2 completions)
• PhD students are entitled to regular, accurate and constructive
feedback about their progress
• The university has an obligation to ensure that the student receives
the support, training and advice needed for success in the PhD and
in their future career
• Supervisors need support, training and advice too!
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How we ensure quality 4:
The student experience
• Student training – Programme of Supporting Studies (workshops,
conferences)  We will consider this in a moment…
• High level research environment with exposure to alternative
paradigms and approaches
• Student evaluation and feedback
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PhD programme of supporting studies (PSS)
What is the Programme of Supporting Studies?
• Programme of research training designed to:
– Support PhD research
– Provide skills and competencies training for later careers
• Process for development of the Programme of Supporting
Studies
• Active participation in, and full completion of, the PSS is specified
in the research student’s Project Approval application
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Content of the PhD PSS
Compulsory research training modules
• Year I – students who have not already completed our MSc
Research Methods (or equivalent) normally take three research
training modules from our MSc Research Methods programme
This element is assessed - students must pass all the modules
specified to progress to the next year of study.
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Content of the PhD PSS
Graduate School Conferences: December and May
• Each conference lasts for two days.
• Attendance is compulsory for full-time research students
• The focus is on academic issues involved in undertaking advanced
research, including:
1. Sessions led by academic staff and external speakers on
methodological issues in research practice
2. Research student presentations on work in progress. full-time
research students present a paper once per year; part-time
students usually every two or three years.
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Content of the PhD PSS
Graduate School Workshops
• A programme of practical research training workshops for all
research students within the College.
• Purpose is to provide students with skills and insights that will be
helpful to them as they develop their PhD work, and also beyond.
• Training and guidance available at the NTU Online Workspace
(NOW): https://now.ntu.ac.uk/
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Content of the PhD PSS
Graduate School Workshops
• Transferable skills - writing for different audiences, upward
management, effective project management, professional
presentations, one-to-one communication, academic networking
• Research training – for instance managing ethics and risk in social
research, exploitation of research and intellectual property rights,
specialist IT training for research (Nvivo, SPSS etc), advanced
quantitative and qualitative analysis techniques
• Teacher training - In Year II of the PhD, the programme also
involves undertaking training in teaching and learning
• Workshop details: https://now.ntu.ac.uk/
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Content of the PhD PSS
Research Groups’ Annual Seminar Series
• All research students are expected to participate fully in the annual
seminar series of their own research group or discipline
• All research students are to present a research paper at least once
during the period of study, as well as actively contribute to
discussions
• All research students are to be actively encouraged to participate
in external academic conferences relevant to their PhD topic
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Content of the PhD PSS
Individually Identified Specialist Advanced Research Training
• Any additional training needed to complete the PhD successfully
will be identified during the admissions process
• Further training may be identified during the annual monitoring
process in the light of the evolving demands of the project
• This may include:
– Systematic coaching in specialist research methods which will be
provided by experts in the student’s School.
– Training in English for Academic Purposes for international
students
– Language training will also be arranged for UK students intending
to undertake fieldwork abroad.
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The outcome?
• Initially – culture of resistance… especially amongst supervisors
• Now – general appreciation that such a supporting programme
equips the student with the skills to approach their PhD research
degree with confidence
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Any
questions?
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