Resources from NUS Postgraduate Forum in Bath

Added on 18/02/2010

Resources can now be downloaded from the Postgraduate Forum, held at the University of Bath on 13th February, 2010.

The Forum opened with a plenary presentation by Professor Jane Millar, PVC (Research) at Bath.

NUS launched the preliminary results of the NUS/UCU Postgraduate Employment Survey, conducted during January 2010.

Delegates also discussed international postgraduate students, intellectual climate for research students, funding for taught postgraduates, best practice in engaging postgraduate students in students' unions and the effects of research funding concentration on students.

In the coming months, NUS will release a Postgraduate Employment Charter, a guide for unions on engaging postgraduates and a position paper on research funding concentration.

Contact Debbie McVitty for further information on the work of the NUS Postgraduate Campaign.

Postgraduate Forum 13th February at Bath

Added on 22/01/2010

The next Postgraduate Forum will be held at the University of Bath, on Saturday 13th February.

Postgraduate Forums provide the opportunity for officers and staff responsible for representing or supporting postgraduate students to come together to share practice, and discuss all matters postgraduate.

The February Forum will be on the theme 'National Issues for Postgraduates', in anticipation of National and Postgraduate Conferences in April. Issues to discuss include: funding for postgraduate taught students, international postgraduates, postgraduates that teach and the concentration of research funding in research-intensive institutions.

The Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research at Bath, Professor Jane Millar, has agreed to open the event with a plenary talk on 'The postgraduate experience in a harsh funding climate'.

The event costs only £10 per delegate (payable on arrival) and lunch is provided. The event will begin at 11.00am and end no later than 4.30pm.

To register email Debbie McVitty with name(s), role, institution, and any dietary or access requirements. If you wish to travel down and stay over on the night of the 12th, please make this clear and we will recommend a suitable hotel or hostel.

You can download resources from the last Postgraduate Forum here.

NUS responds to Research Excellence Framework proposals

Added on 15/01/2010

At the end of December 2009 Hefce closed its consultation on its proposed Research Excellence Framework (REF), the successor to the Research Assessment Exercise used to determine the distribution of research funding to universities.

The REF consultation has caused controversy in the HE sector over proposals that the ‘impact’ of past research should be weighted up to 25% of the assessment of excellence.

Some academics have argued that research impact is unmeasurable by any meaningful scale, and will prioritise forms of research that have immediate, short-term economic impact, rather than ‘blue-skies’ research that is motivated by the pursuit of knowledge, but which can result in unforeseen benefits to society.

Scholars in the Arts and Humanities are concerned that emphasis on the impact of research will marginalise their disciplines, which contribute greatly to the knowledge and quality of life in the UK, but which are less immediately profitable than many science disciplines.

Debates around how research excellence should be funded link to concerns about the extent to which public funds for research should be concentrated in research-intensive institutions. Further concentration of research funding would make it very difficult indeed for newer universities to sustain a solid research profile, which would also impact on the teaching of students in those institutions. However, research-intensive institutions argue that excellent research requires a 'critical mass' of researchers and resources for research.

NUS will be holding discussions over the coming months about the impact of the assessment, funding and management of research on students. If you have any questions in the meantime, please contact Debbie McVitty.

NUS’s response to REF consultation

Useful links

Hefce REF consultation site

Universities UK REF response

Russell Group REF response

University Alliance REF response

Million+ REF response

UCU response

NUS makes submission to BIS Postgraduate Review

Added on 18/12/2009

NUS is using the BIS Postgraduate Review to let the government know what the issues are for postgraduate students in the UK. There are recommendations on finance and funding, information and guidance, careers and employability, support for international students, taught and research students, part-time students and much more.

There is also data you can use to back up any of your own work on postgraduates.

You can download the submission here

NUS launches Postgraduate Employment Survey

Added on 07/12/2009

NUS is delighted the launch its first major piece of research for the new Postgraduate Campaign in collaboration with UCU: a Postgraduate Employment Survey.

You can access the survey here

The Postgraduate Employment Survey seeks to find out:

- what kinds of higher education employment roles postgraduate research students undertake within and outside their institutions

- the quality of the postgraduate higher education employment experience in terms of information and support

- how postgraduates’ experience of being employed in a teaching role compares to their experience of other kinds of paid work in higher education

The results of the survey will be used to inform and update the NUS/UCU Postgraduate Employment Charter and produce a Guide to the Charter for the use of unions, scheduled to be released in early 2010.

Please disseminate the link to the Postgraduate Employment Survey widely and encourage as many doctoral or recently postdoctoral researchers as possible to fill it in.

You may wish to use the email below as a model:

Dear researchers,

NUS and UCU have recently launched a Postgraduate Employment Survey which aims to uncover the experiences of postgraduate researchers who are employed in academic or academic related roles in higher education institutions in the UK.

Employment can be anything from teaching undergraduates to exam invigilation to library work to lab demonstrator to research assistant, as long as it was undertaken in a UK university between September 2008 and the present day.

If you have undertaken any kind of employment since September 2008 for your own or another institution as a postgraduate research student, please take this opportunity to complete the survey and let us know about your employment conditions, good, medium or bad.

In particular, if you have undertaken a teaching role as part of your postgraduate employment experience, NUS and UCU are interested in what kinds of support and training are offered to postgraduates that teach and whether you feel confident and well-resourced in your teaching role.

The survey should take no more than 15-20 minutes to complete. All researchers who complete the survey will be given the opportunity to be entered into a prize draw to win £50 of Amazon vouchers. 

Access the survey by clicking the link below:

http://surveymonkey.com/s/BRYX8QQ

Aaron Porter, VP (Higher Education), NUS, Ed Bailey, UCU, [insert the name of your Education Officer here]