The Postgraduate Taught
Student Experience

There is a strong consensus among postgraduate taught students that there is a real need for Schools, departments, the University and the Students’ Union to run more regular events throughout the academic year and increase engagement with postgraduate taught students to help foster a stronger sense of community within this cohort while studying at Royal Holloway.

1.1 Schools and departments should run more regular social events throughout the academic year for postgraduate taught students, and each School and department should review their annual budget and reserve funding for these social events. These events should be a mixture of daytime and evening activities to allow more opportunities for commuter, part-time and mature students to participate. Events could include guest lectures, informal reading groups, tea and coffee mornings or could encompass an entire day in the vein of a student-run conference. Following implementation, academic communicates could additionally run a coordinated events schedule alongside departments.

1.2 Departments and Schools should review their annual budgets and reserve funding for students to run their own regular events throughout the academic year. The English department at King’s College London, for example, has a postgraduate student-run seminar series, ‘The Abstract’, where postgraduate taught and research students meet fortnightly and present papers or discuss their work in a more informal environment outside the classroom. The convenors of The Abstract are also responsible for running their annual postgraduate student conference each year, which brings together staff, postgraduate taught and research students together for a day to listen to papers presented by postgraduate students in that department. Departments could consider allocating these funds to the academic community assigned to each department following implementation.

1.3 The Students’ Union should host a greater number of events specifically for postgraduate taught students throughout the academic year. Set events should occur each year for postgraduate taught student meet and mingle days during the separate September and January induction periods at both the London and Egham campuses, and all other events can be adjusted depending on the schedule that academic year. Events should be a mixture of daytime and evening activities to allow more opportunities for commuter, part-time and mature students to participate in the events, and the Students’ Union should liaise with the Postgraduate Taught Community Officer when planning these events.

1.4 The University, Schools, departments and the Students’ Union should consider ways they can better engage with students who are primarily based at the London Graduate School in Bloomsbury. Both the University and Students’ Union should review their current funding allocation to run more regular events throughout the academic year at the London campus, while additionally considering ways they can further connect those students with members of the postgraduate taught community on the Egham campus if they reside outside of London.

1.5 The Students’ Union should increase outreach on postgraduate taught issues and continue to offer support for postgraduate taught students. This could be done through campaigns run by student leaders, regular blogs and social media posts, the Advice Centre and our Postgraduate Taught Community Officer.

1.6 The Students’ Union should send a termly targeted email out to postgraduate taught students which reminds them of ways they can engage with their School Rep and postgraduate Course Rep to ensure they understand this is another avenue to submit feedback to their departments about their experience at Royal Holloway. Information should also include how postgraduate taught students can find their Course Rep on the Students’ Union website.

1.7 The Students’ Union should review the current level of participation among postgraduate taught students in our student groups, and further encourage postgraduate taught students to become more involved in our student groups. This recommendation aligns with recommendation 4.4 below.

1.8 The Students’ Union consider running a Buddy Scheme for postgraduate taught students during the September and January induction periods. This buddy scheme would introduce current postgraduate taught students to each other and suggest events they could attend together based upon their shared interests during the induction period.

1.9 1.9 The University should consider creating a Postgraduate Taught Student Hub on the main University website, Student Intranet and Royal Holloway App. This could be set up in a similar vein to the Doctoral School website where postgraduate taught students could find all relevant information about their course in a single place. A single webpage could streamline important information for September and January starters.

There are issues with the current provision of inductions for both September and January starters.

2.1 The University, Schools and departments should review its induction process for September and January starters, ensuring that the time and date of events are easily accessible and correct on the Royal Holloway main website, Student Intranet and Royal Holloway App. There were recurring comments that stated events were shared last minute or times did not match what was on the website.

2.2 The University, Schools and departments should review the induction material for postgraduate taught students during the September and January induction period. There were recurring comments in our Term One survey which highlighted the material was repetitive to those who attended Royal Holloway during their undergraduate degree, there were assumptions in knowledge about the way the University runs which negatively impacted students who did their undergraduate degree elsewhere and there were also comments which stated the information was not targeted towards postgraduate students.

2.3 The University, Schools and departments should consider including an induction talk on Financial Advice for postgraduate taught students during both the September and January induction periods. One of the main reasons listed by students who considered pausing or leaving their studies was that they were unable to work and undertake the degree at the same time. This was a recurring theme for both full-time and part-time students, although dissatisfaction in this area was highest for full-time students.

2.4 The University, Schools, departments and the Students’ Union should consider ways of improving engagement with postgraduate taught students who are situated at the London Graduate School during the September and January induction periods.

2.5 The University, Schools and departments should review the induction process for January starters, and whether these postgraduate taught students are receiving the same information, support and guidance during their induction period as September starters. The percentage of January starters who attended induction sessions upon arrival was much lower than September starters. The most noticeable difference was with CEDAS.

2.6 2.6 The Students’ Union should consider sending a targeted email to all January starters during their induction period which provides detailed information about the Students’ Union, our Sabbatical Officers and student leaders, our services like the Advice Centre and food outlets and information about upcoming events. The Students’ Union should also include information about our student groups and the ways January starters can become involved in extracurricular activities while studying at Royal Holloway.

Throughout the Policy Inquiry the Students’ Union repeatedly asked students to list one thing they would change about their experience and course structure was a recurring comment made by students.

3.1 The University should clearly identify in each postgraduate course prospectus whether teaching for that course will occur at the Egham or London campus. This information should be uploaded to the main Royal Holloway website by a set date each academic year. Providing concrete information about the teaching location for a course will give students accurate information about their course and allow them to make a conscious decision around housing and whether they would like to study at that specific campus. There were complaints throughout our policy inquiry about students feeling misled about the location they would study at and the consequences of believing they were studying at the Egham campus when they were in fact situated in Central London. Housing and commuter status were the biggest complaints made by students who experienced this during the 2022-23 academic year.

3.2 The University should include a list of separate term dates for January starters on their main University website, the Student Intranet and the Royal Holloway App. This list of dates should include students’ start date, teaching terms and the general dissertation deadlines for both January Models. There is currently no central information page for January postgraduate taught students where they could look up key dates for their degree, and this should be remedied as soon as possible to avoid confusion about the length and structure of the course.

3.3 The University should include a clear explanation about the difference between the two January Models on their main website, the Student Intranet and the Royal Holloway App. A list of courses assigned to each Model should also be included for further clarification about the course structure. The University should also be transparent on the course prospectus about which courses follow the Model 1 or Model 2 timeline. Communicating this information more clearly would allow students to better understand the structure of their course before making a final decision on whether to enrol at Royal Holloway. Some students might not want to submit a dissertation before they complete both terms of teaching, and the lack of information about the different model timelines could be considered misleading and have a real impact on a student’s decision to undertake a postgraduate taught degree at Royal Holloway.

There is a strong consensus among current postgraduate taught students that there are recurring timetable and organisational issues within departments that should be streamlined and improved with an aim to increase their overall satisfaction of the course.

4.1 The University should investigate whether the current timetabling software is fit for purpose and assess whether a better alternative may be available for use. As a short-term solution, the University should work with departments to identify best practice in this area, such as the use of provisional timetables when selecting modules

4.2 Schools and departments should review their timetable process and ensure postgraduate taught students receive their schedules before the start of term and that all information is accurate and up to date before teaching commences. A high frequency comment in our Term One survey highlighted that a high proportion of students experienced numerous timetable delays and incorrect schedules after the start of term which negatively impacted their induction period and learning experience.

4.3 The University, Schools and departments should review whether block mode teaching is fit for purpose and the best course structure for postgraduate taught students at Royal Holloway. There were repeated requests to spread teaching out more evenly across the week in all our surveys this academic year. Student dissatisfaction with the number of contact hours with staff and the total number of teaching hours each week was another recurring issue in all three surveys, and Schools and departments should consider whether postgraduate taught students have reduced access to professional and academic staff in comparison to undergraduates and postgraduate research students.

4.4 The University, Schools and departments should review the timetable structure for postgraduate taught students and whether they could benefit from the Wednesday afternoons off in a similar vein to undergraduate students which would allow them to participate in sports club events.

There are currently issues with the scheduling and communication of assessments as well as recurrent deadline stacking within departments.

5.1 School Administration teams should generate an annual report scrutinising exam and assessment hand-in dates for postgraduate taught students to ensure clashes and deadline stacking is avoided within departments.

5.2 Schools and departments should ensure that postgraduate students receive their exam schedules by a set date to ensure students have enough time to prepare for the assessment. Times, locations and dates should be correct and up to date when students receive this information. Any changes that are made should be done so in a timely manner before the assessment date, and it should be communicated to students both in person and in writing to ensure they receive the updated information.

5.3 Departments should review marking criteria and whether deadlines to return feedback to postgraduate students are consistent and being implemented correctly across all modules.

Careers support for postgraduate taught students could be improved both within the University professional services as well as academic departments.

6.1 The University Careers Service and departments should review their current provision of support and funding for postgraduate taught students and highlight gaps in their services.

6.2 Departments should conduct audits of their courses for postgraduate taught students and create a supporting document which outlines learned skills students should expect to gain while undertaking the course. This document should be shared with students at the start of each course. Recurring feedback throughout the policy inquiry was that students were dissatisfied with the lack of practical elements in their course. A review and properly signposted document detailing the practical experience students acquire could, perhaps, improve satisfaction in this area.

6.3 The University’s Careers Service should implement a separate Career’s Fair for postgraduate taught and research students. This event should incorporate further study information for postgraduate taught students as well as career opportunities for positions for both academic and non-academic career routes. The Careers Service should additionally hold at least one event on both the Egham and London campuses during the academic year.

6.4 Schools and departments should review their budgets and consider running smaller, coordinated careers events for postgraduate taught students throughout the academic year.

7.1 The University should conduct a full review at the end of the 2023-24 academic year which examines the experience of January postgraduate taught students who underwent the Model 2 timeline. This review should consider whether students received information about the different structure of the course before enrolment, and whether submitting the dissertation before undertaking a second term of teaching was positively received by students. During the policy inquiry the Students’ Union learned that there were January postgraduate taught students who thought their degree was condensed into nine months because the dissertation was due in the autumn, and they had no knowledge about the second term of teaching that was to occur in Term One of the 2023-24 academic year.