Academic Board
23 March 2011
Agenda item: 10
Paper: AB/11/07
UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX
RESEARCHER EXPERIENCE COMMITTEE
REPORT TO ACADEMIC BOARD MARCH 2011
Report from the Meeting of the Researcher Experience Committee held on 9 March 2011.
ITEMS FOR INFORMATION
1
Postgraduate Research Experience Survey 2011
Noted
The bi-annual PRES will run between 1 March-17 May 2011. The questionnaire
template has been set by the HE Academy. The University has used the same
questions as in previous years in order to allow longitudinal comparison. The 2009
PRES showed that the two areas in need of most improvement were Intellectual
Climate and Infrastructure.
The University will also take part in the next Careers in Research Online Survey
(CROS). This survey will be administered by Learning and Development (LD) and
focuses on the experiences of contract researchers.
2
ESRC Doctoral Training Centre and other Research Councils (Paper REC/11/1)
Noted
The University has been accredited as one of only 21 ESRC Doctoral Training
Centres (DTCs) across the UK. The Essex DTC was awarded 16 studentships per
annum, for the next five years. Twenty one of our 23 submitted doctoral pathways
were accredited. Our ESRC institutional steer requires that six studentships are
offered to students whose ‘primary discipline’ is Economics, eight to those using
Advanced Quantitative Methods and three to those engaged in some form of
collaboration with other public, private or third sector organisations. Two further
studentships are flexible and can be offered to students following any of our 21
accredited pathways. One of these pathways, the ‘Open Pathway’ linked to the
‘Global Challenges’ projects, has been accredited for one year in the first instance.
ESRC studentship awards will be made by the ESRC DTC Panel. The Panel will
allocate studentships based on departmental rankings of candidates and the strategic
needs of the DTC as a whole.
The ESRC has an annual reporting mechanism to monitor DTC performance and to
give HEIs an opportunity to raise strategic questions. In a separate development, the
academic leads from each DTC have created their own email network within which
they can share information.
All DTCs must offer high quality training in three areas: transferable skills,
advanced research methods and advanced subject skills. Some of this provision must
be ‘open’ to students and users from outside a given DTC.
The DTC model has already been adopted by other Research Councils and is very
likely to be adopted by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) in the
near future.
In anticipation of this, an AHRC Panel has been created. It will take an active role in
the allocation of studentships for 2011/12 and is expected to be closely involved,
among other stakeholders, in the framing of any future bid for accreditation as an
AHRC DTC or similar. It is likely that the University will need to enter into a
partnership with one or more research intensive HEIs with complementary strengths
as part of such a bid.
3
Completion Year Fee Increase
Noted
4
Careers Support for Postgraduate Research Students (Paper REC/11/2)
Noted
5
The Tuition Fees Working Group and University Steering Group have agreed that
the fees for completion year fees for PGR students will be increased from October
2011. The completion fee will rise to £250 per term. Fees for a second completion
year will rise to £500 per term. The Graduate School will ensure that this is
communicated to PGR students and departments.
The committee approved a draft proposal from the Graduate School and the Careers
Centre to improve postgraduate employability. The proposal will be finalised and
submitted to the Registrar and Secretary.
The University Skills Centre and PGR Support
Reported
The University Skills Centre (USC) has been established within the International
Academy (IA). Some of its provision is aimed at postgraduate students.
Representatives from USC and Learning and Development (LD) have met with the
Dean of the Graduate School in order to begin to identify potential areas of
collaboration and potential overlap. Both bodies are engaged in different aspects
GTA/D and PGR skills training.
Action
An REC working group will be established and will include representatives from
UCS, LD and the Graduate School. The group will consider the ways of rationalising
the distributed provision of GTA/D and PGR skills training. Draft membership and
TOR will be circulated for approval by REC members.
Laura Ruddick
Academic Officer (Research Students)
14 March 2011