Widening participation and postgraduate research

Professor Nigel Vincent(The University of Manchester)

Vice-President for Research & HE PolicyThe British Academy

Points covered in this talk

• the role of the British Academy• three types of PGT• doctoral training centres and PGT/PGR interface• PGR and subsequent careers

The Academy’s role: general

• promotes individual excellence• consults and advises on policy• promotes education in relevant disciplines• occupies unique national position spanning H & SS

The Academy’s role: particular

• liaises with HEFCE on Strategically Important & Vulnerable Subjects (SIVS)

• disburses £5m special funding in 2011-2014 to promote Languages & Quantitative Skills (LQS)

• seeks to raise awareness in relation to postgraduate careers and funding

Strategically Important & Vulnerable Subjects (SIVS)

‘For 2011-12 the top policy priorities for targeted funding should be supporting widening participation and fair access, and ensuring adequate provision of Strategically Important and Vulnerable subjects. During 2011-12 we would like you to consider what subjects, including arts, humanities and social sciences subjects, should in future be within scope.’

[BIS letter to HEFCE 20/12/2010]

Languages & Quantitative Skills“Languages & Quantitative Skills: a new programme supporting languages and the use of rigorous, especially quantitative methods, in the humanities and social sciences. ......Through a targeted programme of research support, partnerships and interventions the Academy will supply leadership to help strengthen skills in these vital areas, which are necessary to maintain the UK’s competitiveness.”

Languages

• research in languages and cultures• language-based area studies• use of languages in scholarship• promotion of language teaching at all levels

‘Quantitative skills’

• covers a range of mathematical techniques• includes but not limited to statistics• also covers formal methods in philosophy,

linguistics, psychology, etc

Three types of PGT

a) full or part-time Masters after a period of employment

b) full-time Masters back-to-back with BA/BScc) the foundation year of a doctoral programme

Early and mid-career Masters

• type most commonly talked about• average age 28• mostly part-time• not a priority, say Browne and others

Many postgraduate students have already been in work and so may have savings as well as a financial track record which helps for obtaining credit. Some are supported by employers in doing their degree. Therefore they have better access to private investment than undergraduate students and undergraduate students should therefore be the priority for public investment.

[Browne Review, p. 55]

Full-time post-BA/BSc Masters

• in effect a continuation of the first degree

• competes with so-called ‘undergraduate

Masters’ (e.g MEng, MChem, MHist, etc)

• arguably raises the same WP issues as does the

first degree

Masters as part of ‘1+3’

• the normal route to a doctorate in HSS

• matches international norms

• not easy to get funding for the first year

• thus likely to disadvantage WP students

Doctoral Training Centres

• recent development• two kinds– inclusive (ESRC and AHRC)– intersective (EPSRC)

• blurs PGT/PGR distinction especially in small

depts

Doctoral Training Centres• four-year integrated programme• a mix of taught courses ( broadly equivalent to Masters)

and doctoral research project• membership of a cohort of fellow doctoral students• interdisciplinary perspective• integration into/supervision by world-class research teams• links with industry and/or other (inter-)national centres• training in a range of professionally relevant skills

PhDs vs professional doctorates

• various types of professional doctorate (EngD, ClinPsyD, EdD, DProf)

• concerns about ‘taught doctorates’• international value and prestige

Post-PhD careers• increasing percentage not in academia• wide diversity of career destination• high employment rate• more mobility between the academic and non-

academic sectors in sciences than in HSS[Data from What do researchers do? Career

paths of doctoral graduates 2011, Vitae]

Post-PhD careers: academic

• post-doctoral fellowships• research assistants• lectureships

Post-PhD careers: other routes• 42% of Social Science and 46% of Arts & Humanities doctoral

graduates were employed in teaching and lecturing in HE after 3 years

• 89% SS and 83% A&H were in employment• Other occupations taking doctoral graduates include social science

professions, business, public administration, creative industries, museum management, etc

[Data from What do researchers do? Career paths of doctoral graduates 2011, Vitae]

Thank you