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 SchoolCollege of Business, Law and Social SciencesNottingham Trent University Burton StreetNottingham NG1 4BUGreat Britain

Tel: (0115) 848 8156; Fax: (0115) 848 8700; Email: matt.henn@ntu.ac.uk

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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 yearsIn 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 yearsIn 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 yearsIn 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 yearsIn 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 1996-97

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 contextHarris 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 2002Roberts, 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 1Accountability:• 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 supportOur 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 PSSCompulsory 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 PSSGraduate 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?