Postgraduate Taught Experience Survey 2016 results: 80% student satisfaction rates recorded
15 September 2016
The Postgraduate Taught Experience Survey (PTES) was launched at °×С½ãÂÛ̳ for the first time this year.
Students were particularly positive about the teaching at
°×С½ãÂÛ̳, with 90% agreeing that 'Staff are enthusiastic about what they are
teaching' and 87% agreeing 'Staff are good at explaining things'.
There are very high satisfaction levels for some departments with 100% overall satisfaction for the Departments of Science, Technology, Engineering & Public Policy and Statistical Science and high scores for Chemical Engineering (97%) and Physics and Astronomy (96%).
As with the NSS results, feedback and marking criteria is
the biggest area of concern with only 58% of students agreeing 'feedback on my
work has been prompt'.
Initiatives for improvement
A number of initiatives are being rolled out to improve assessment, feedback and other key areas including:
- This year will see students work as consultants with postgraduate departments to improve assessment and feedback processes via the °×С½ãÂÛ̳ ChangeMakers scheme
- A comprehensive review of postgraduate taught education is currently underway and we are developing a number of recommendations for how we can improve delivery of postgraduate taught education at °×С½ãÂÛ̳, including improvements to assessment and feedback. We are seeking your feedback and thoughts through focus groups across the institution.
- We are trialling new ways of providing students with feedback eg piloting the tool which lets students see their feedback and grades more quickly and in one place.
Dr Clare Goudy, Director of Education Planning said, "°×С½ãÂÛ̳ is a
predominantly postgraduate institution and it is vital we understand more about
the postgraduate taught students' needs and expectations and what this means
for how we deliver education.
"It's great to see some departments have such high
satisfaction scores in the PTES but now we need to work together to ensure we
are delivering this level of experience across all departments. As a result of
our review of postgraduate taught education we've started to develop a number
of recommendations and will be seeking input from students later this year."
Departments will respond to the results of the Postgraduate Taught Survey by producing an action plan as part of the process. For more information about the Postgraduate Taught Review survey, you can view the headline results via
Sally Mackenzie, Head of Student Engagement, Office of the Vice-Provost (Education and Student Affairs)