Graduate Study at Kent 2012 Diane Houston Dean of the Graduate School

1. Graduate Study at Kent2012Diane HoustonDean of the Graduate School The Graduate School

2. Who are you? • A Kent graduate • A student who is new to Kent but who previously studied in the UK • A student who is new to the UK • A ‘home’ student • A ‘European’ student • An ‘international’ student • Are you newly graduated or a number of years from your first degree? • Why did you decide to do a PhD?

3. Postgraduate Education • Over 500,000 PG students in the UK • Only 10% of PG students are Doctoral students (doing research for a PhD) • Majority of students are on taught courses leading to Master’s Degree, or post graduate diploma or certificate • Education (18%) and business (22%) account for a significant enrolment in taught courses • Non UK students account for 50% of masters students and 44% of doctoral students

4. Postgraduate Community at Kent Four locations Three Faculties A huge range of subjects Over 2000 postgraduates Green campus, fantastic views, beautiful city, great community Excellent teaching, training, support and facilities Individual focus Graduate School

5. What you should have done and need to do ! • Enrol....get IT account… pay fees! • See your supervisor ..ways of working..teams • Check if there are any taught courses you need to attend • Check your access to office space/IT support • Find out when the School holds research seminars and make sure you attend • Find out who is the Director of Graduate Studies for your School • Have a look at the Researcher Development website and enrol for a skills review workshop

6. Things you must also do.. • Walk down the hill and climb the Westgate towers • Walk up the hill and explore Blean Woodland – one of the largest and most ancient woodlands in the South • Rent/borrow a bike and cycle to Whitstable on the Crab and Winkle Way • Buy a railcard and spend 55 minutes getting to London – some of the world’s best museums and galleries are on your doorstep and they are free! • Book well in advance and travel to Brussels and Paris on the Eurostar

7. The Graduate School Mission: to lead and champion the strategic development of provision for graduate education and research at the University of Kent.

8. Graduate School Strategy – Five Goals • To increase numbers of taught and research postgraduate students at Kent. • To enhance the academic experience and research environment for postgraduate students. • To develop a strong postgraduate community within the University. • To support the personal and career development of postgraduate students. • To introduce a strong system of governance for the management of graduate studies.

9. Structure Diagram for PG Programmes Senate Vice-Chancellor Graduate School Board Dean of the Graduate School Programme Approval Sub-Committee Faculty Boards Deans Faculty Graduate Studies Committee Faculty Directors of Graduate Studies School Graduate Studies Committee School Directors of Graduate Studies Staff/Student Liaison Committees Supervisor/Supervisory Team

10. Student Involvement Get involved…make your voice heard.. • Postgraduate Student Representatives • Staff Student Liaison Committees (SSLCs) • Postgraduate Student Surveys e.g. PRES • Graduate Student Association • The Graduate School www.kent.ac.uk/graduateschool

11. Postgraduate Research Handbook • New for 2012-13 • Everything you need to know about being a postgraduate researcher at Kent • including information on: • Student Services • Local community information • Regulatory information View, Master, Slide Master to change this text to the title of your presentation

12. The GradPost A newsletter created by Postgraduates for the Postgraduate community. The GradPost Editorial Team Information on Gradpost opportunities that will look great on your CV and enhance your postgraduate experience at Kent can be found on our website:www.kent.ac.uk/graduateschool/news/gradpost/html Contact: Grad-editors@kent.ac.uk

13. Postgraduate Experience Awards • Do you have a great idea for a Postgraduate event at Kent? • Apply for funding through the postgraduate experience awards and your idea could become a reality. • Applications for up to £1,500 are invited for the Graduate School postgraduate experience awards 2012-13. • Applications will be considered for funding to run events or projects with an interdisciplinary and/or external focus which will enhance the postgraduate experience at Kent. • Application forms and more details at www.kent.ac.uk/graduateschool/

14. Postgraduate Research Festival • Annual PG Research Festival takes place in June • Open to all postgraduate students • Students can present their work to a wider academic audience • Opportunity to network with academic staff and peers • Learn how to create and present an academic poster View, Master, Slide Master to change this text to the title of your presentation

15. The Researcher Development Programme

16. The Roberts Skills Report (2002) • In 2001, Sir Gareth Roberts was asked by the Government to undertake a review into the supply of science and engineering skills in the UK. The review was commissioned as part of the Government's productivity and innovation strategy. • He concluded that skills acquired by PhD graduates do not serve their long-term needs. Currently, PhDs do not prepare people adequately for careers in business or academia. In particular, there is insufficient access to training in interpersonal and communication skills, management and commercial awareness. SET for Success

17. The Researcher Development Framework Transferable skills are the skills which once developed give graduates a clear edge in the job market and make researchers more effective and efficient in their work. Knowledge and intellectual abilities, Personal effectiveness Research governance and organisation Engagement, Influence and Impact Following Sir Gareth Roberts’ review of higher education, the UK research councils (RCUK) issued a joint skills statement to all universities, identifying seven areas in which UK postgraduate and postdoctoral researchers should develop further skills while pursuing their research. Following wide consultation this statement has recently been updated and has evolved to become the Researcher Development Framework (RDF). All of our training falls under the four headings of the RDF:

18. The Researcher Development Programme is open to all postgraduate research students whether full-time or part-time (including Masters, MPhil or PhD) and for postdoctoral researchers. The range of workshops running during the 2012/13 academic year will include the following: First year Researcher Development Assessment Writing skills workshops (one-to-one tutorials and writing retreats) Writing for journals and getting published Rapid reading Team working Statistics Negotiation skills Library skills Leadership courses Communication and impact Time / Stress Management Social enterprise

19. Booking workshops Choose Online Booking System from the left hand menu. You will then be asked to enter your Kent user id and password, which will take you to the online booking system. Researchers will need to register with the Graduate School’s online workshop booking system before they can book places on our workshops. This can be accessed via the Graduate School website www.kent.ac.uk/graduateschool/skills

20. Once Logged In When you have logged in this is the first page that you will see. To view all forthcoming workshops click here

21. The Workshop Screen This screen details all forthcoming workshops in the next 30 days. You can use the Search button to search by Skills Area or title. If you wish to book onto a workshop click on the title of the workshop. You will then be taken through to the workshops details screen which provides all details about the workshop.

22. Researcher Development Assessment Workshop Compulsory for all PhD students Half-day workshops held throughout the autumn and spring terms (look out for monthly emails advertising workshop dates) Will introduce the Researcher Development Programme and help you to reflect on and assess your current skills Once you have attended a Researcher Development Assessment Workshop you will be prompted by the system to complete your RDA online. Work with your supervisor to complete the assessment and use this as the basis of your research training Must be completed as part of the Probation process

23. When you login via Bloom you will be taken to this page Click on ‘view my RDA’

24. You will be taken through to the following screen. Click on ‘New Assessment’ https://www.tauri-tec.com/graduateschool/admin/pgr/rda/preview/4 You will then be prompted to complete your Researcher Development Assessment.

25. Online training Epigeum online courses The Good Viva Guide Viva Guidance The Alternative Guide to Funding Blueberry Training The key advantage in using our online training is that you can access high quality training where ever you are and where you need it. Thousands of individuals regularly miss training because they cannot attend workshops either because they are part-time, distance-based, or because workshops do not deliver training when it is really needed.  Using our online workshops, you can access training  24 hours a day/365 days a year wherever you are - at home, at your desk, in the halls of residence, at the library or in the laboratory.

26. Epigeum courses Titles include: • Ethics • Research Methods • Literature Review • Intellectual Property • Project Management • Getting Published • Selecting a Conference, • Presenting and Networking • Career Planning • Avoiding Plagiarism • Entrepreneurial Resources

27. Progression through your research degree Key Contacts for Research Students: Your Main Supervisor Your Supervisory Team Your School Director of Graduate Studies (with responsibility for research programmes) Your Postgraduate Student Representative Postgraduate Administrator

28. Key Information for Research Students • School Postgraduate Student Handbook • University Regulations for Research Programmes of Study www.kent.ac.uk/uelt/quality/regulations/research/phdres.html • Code of Practice for the Quality Assurance for Research Programmes of Study in particular: • Annex H (Supervision) www.kent.ac.uk/uelt/quality/rescode2005/annexh.html • Annex K (Progression and Examination) www.kent.ac.uk/uelt/quality/rescode2005/annexknew.html • New Progression Monitoring Stages (introduced for the 2011/12 academic year)

29. Research Students’ Responsibilities • Annex H (Supervision) of the Code of Practice outlines the responsibilities of research students (see Section 5). • Responsibilities include: • Ensuring that you are familiar with University Regulations. • Preparing adequately for supervisory and progress review meetings. • Agreeing a clear programme of work with your supervisor. • Making records of supervisory meetings. • Contributing to the research environment of your academic school and the wider University community. • Seeking advice from your supervisors in an active manner and taking the initiative in raising problems or difficulties. • Attending a first-year skills review workshop, completing a skills audit and discussing this with your Supervisor (PhD only).

30. Supervisory Interaction • You should have a meeting with your main supervisor at a minimum of once every four weeks • The “meeting” may be face to face or it may take the form of an email exchange or telephone conversation • You should complete a supervisory record form following the “meeting” and send this to the supervisor for agreement. • There is a supervisory record template under Annex H (Supervision) at: www.kent.ac.uk/uelt/quality/rescode2005/index.html • The supervisory record template covers: • Progress made since the last “meeting” • Areas discussed at the “meeting” • Work agreed

31. Progression Monitoring Annex K (Progression and Examination) of the Code of Practice provides detailed information about the review stages and links to the review forms: www.kent.ac.uk/uelt/quality/rescode2005/annexknew.html

32. End of Year Reviews End of year reviews will require panels to make a more formal progression decision as follows: 1) That the researcher is making exemplary progress for the award for which (s)he is registered and should proceed with his/her registration or 2) That the researcher is making satisfactory progress for the award for which (s)he is registered and should proceed with his/her registration or 3) That there are concerns about the researcher’s progress but (s)he may proceed with his/her registration subject to a mid-year review during the next academic year or

33. End of Year Reviews Continued… If the Panel determines that the student has not made adequate progress and/or has not produced work of sufficient quality to enable him/her to complete their current research degree, it may make one of the following recommendations: 4) That the researcher transfer his/her registration to the award of Mphil (in the case of PhD students); 5) That the researcher transfer his/her registration to award of MA/MSc/LLM (in the case of MPhil/PhD students); 6) That the researcher should withdraw from the University.

34. Supervisory Issues • Supervisors and students are expected to treat one another with courtesy and discuss any problems at the earliest opportunity thus allowing any issues to be resolved quickly and effectively. • This is a rare occurrence but should there be a more serious breakdown in the main supervisor/student relationship, the matter should be brought to the attention of the School Director of Graduate Studies who will review the situation. • Concerns about supervision should be raised at the earliest opportunity – complaints about poor supervision will not be grounds for making an academic appeal at a later stage.

35. Initial Meeting with your Main Supervisor Ensure that you have a meeting set up with your Main Supervisor within the first two weeks of registration to discuss: • How your supervisory team-student relationship will work (e.g. preferred means of contact, feedback mechanisms and turnaround times) • Your meeting schedule • Your work plan • Any initial concerns • Skills training requirements • What you will be required to prepare for your induction review (six weeks after registration) • How progression monitoring will be handled within your academic school (i.e. any school specific requirements) • Facilities/resources

36. Additional sources of help and support • Student Learning Advisory Service • Careers Centre • UELT • Student’s Union • Graduate Student Association

37. The Student Learning Advisory Service (SLAS) Advice and guidance on study skills Typical topics we support: Extended essays, dissertation and reports The MPhil and PhD Effective reading and note-taking Time management and organisation The supervisory process Maths and stats Consult our wwwwww.kent.ac.uk/uelt/learning Contact us by e-maillearning@kent.ac.uk Call in and see us, 9-5 across the academic year. We are in the UELT building Ask for a 1:1 individual appointment Come to our free workshops http://www.kent.ac.uk/student/skills/canterbury/index.html

38. University of Kent Careers Advisory Service www.kent.ac.uk/careers/ quick queries (drop-in & email) one-to-one careers interviews careers library careers website job vacancy database free careers literature talks & presentations throughout the year help making job applications careers fair in November

39. Unit for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching – UELT Offers a programme of events open to all those who teach within the University: Academic Practice Forum: a chance to find out about, and discuss, things which matter to us in our academic work Professional development seminars Work in Progress seminars Day conferences

40. Getting to Grips with HE Teaching Free One day workshops for new postgraduates who are about to start teaching Autumn term Contact graddean@kent.ac.uk The Associate Teacher Education Programme (ATAP) Free Open to all postgraduates who teach for the University of Kent Nationally recognised Consists of two 15-credit modules: each module runs for 5 weeks on Friday mornings However…… it’s very popular! UELT - Training for teaching..

41. Contact Details Professor Diane Houston Cornwallis South East rm19 D.M.Houston@kent.ac.uk Graduate School Staff Suzie Morris, Graduate School Administration Manager S.M.Morris@kent.ac.uk ext: 3182 Ros Beeching, Graduate School Coordinator graddean@kent.ac.uk ext: 7838 Rhiannon Binns, Transferable Skills Training Coordinator skills@kent.ac.uk ext: 4785