Postgraduate Research Experience Survey (PRES) 2023

The Postgraduate Research Experience Survey (PRES) is the largest survey of its kind. In 2023, over 37,000 Postgraduate Researchers from 105 institutions took part. LJMU runs PRES every alternate year. The survey lets us know what LJMU PGRs think about their research degree programme, allows us to compare results with the sector, and to make changes to improve the PGR experience.

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LJMU PRES 2023: Overview

In 2023, 32% of LJMU PGRs took part PRES, 2% higher than the sector response rate of 30%.

75% of LJMU respondents agreed that “overall, I am satisfied with the experience of my research degree programme”.

Faculty scores for this question were: Business and Law 89%, Science 76%, Arts Professional and Social Studies 75%, Health 67%, Engineering and Technology 66%.

PRES asks PGRs about the following core themes:

Supervision
Resources
Research culture
Community
Progression and assessment
Responsibilities
Support
Research skills
Professional development

Strengths

LJMU scored above the sector average for community, support and resources.

LJMU PGRs were particularly positive about “opportunities to interact with other PGRs” within the community theme, with satisfaction 5% above the sector.
79% felt that “the support for academic skills meets my needs”, 4% above the sector.
Within the resources theme, on-campus access to library and IT resources were 1% and 2% higher than the sector satisfaction scores.
LJMU PGRs showed higher levels of engagement with development opportunities than the sector. For example, they were more likely than average to have: agreed a training plan, engaged with transferable skills training, presented at a conference, communicated research to a non-academic audience and engaged with non-academic partners.

Areas for improvement

The two core areas with the lowest satisfaction in 2023 were supervision and research skills. These were both in the lowest quarter, after ranking in the highest or second global quarter in earlier PRES years.

74% said that “my supervisor/s help me to identify training and development needs”, 4% lower than the sector average
LJMU was 3% lower than the sector for “I have regular contact with my supervisor/s, appropriate for my needs”
Within research skills, LJMU respondents were 4% less confident than the sector that “my understanding of ‘research integrity’ has developed during my programme”, and 2% less confident that “my skills in critically analysing and evaluating findings has developed”.

What happens to the results?

Following the release of institutional and benchmarking results, PGR Representatives took part in a consultation with the Doctoral Academy to examine and better understand the issues raised by the results. This exercise formed the basis of a university-wide action plan, which has been discussed and endorsed by Research Degrees Board, University Research and Knowledge Exchange Committee, Student Experience Committee, Academic Quality and Standards Committee and approved at Academic Board.

Further university-wide reviews of supervision and research skills were carried out in Autumn 2023. Actions arising are aligned to the supporting plans of the university mission and strategy 2030 and emphasise our commitment to the student experience and partnership working.

Faculties have access to detailed PRES data through Power BI, which allows for comparison between schools and over time. Faculty Research Degrees Committees are using the data to develop Faculty action plans.