Graduate School

Developing Research Students – why does the university have a Graduate School Development Programme (GSDP)? 

  1. Better support for students. To equip students with the support they need to complete their doctorate and go onto to be successful researchers. The GSDP not only provides new skills and knowledge, but allows students to meet and network with other research students as well as with the methodology and other experts who are tutors on the programme.

  2. Better support for supervisors.  Students do not need to depend on the supervisor to arrange all their training and development needs; instead they can call on the GSDP, other students and other experts to help them. Supervisors can record supervision meetings and actions taken through the Skillsforge package.

  3. So that students become more rounded researchers. Employers have long indicated that the PhD is too narrow and they need PhD students to be more flexible and have a wider range of transferrable and employability skills.

  4. We have to do it.  Recommendation 4.2 of the Roberts Postgraduate Education Report ‘Set for Success’, endorsed by the QAA and RCUK, stipulates that research students must undertake ‘at least two weeks’ dedicated training a year, principally in transferable skills’.

  5. Provides an approved and well structured training programme. The GSDP, like all other universities follow the structure of the Vitae’s researcher development framework (RDF), used to ensure broad based and relevant training for researchers.

  6. Prepares students for a range of future careers. Only 31% of graduating PhD students become lecturers or HE researchers – the rest mainly enter research careers in industry or other education related jobs (e.g. teaching).  Students should be prepared for a number of employability opportunities.

  7. To access Research Council PhD funding. To bid for any RCUK PhD studentship the institutions must demonstrate how they will fully embed researcher development into the normal processes in the research and training environment by managing and providing the 10 annual days (5 for PT students) of researcher development.

  8. Improved completion rates. Since formal research training has been introduced in the university, completion rates have increased markedly.  In addition to explicit training on registration requirments, students are more aware of the support available and are better prepared when issues arise.

  9. Managed training. The new Skillsforge software (www.port.ac.uk/skillsforge) not only lets students book GSDP events, it also functions as a researcher’s diary and portfolio and can produce reports on research training for annual reports and major reviews.  Additionally supervisors have access to the records of their students so they can check what is being done and when.

  10. It is the right thing to do.  PhD student’s training not just for the thesis – it’s for life.  It is in the supervisor’s best interests to prepare students (potential co-authors & potential co-applicants) as well as they can for the student’s future research career. A recent survey at the University of Plymouth found that 40% of all papers submitted for the RAE were co-authored with a PhD student.