This report investigates international taught postgraduate perspectives of personal development planning (PDP) and is part of the first of four phases of a cross-institutional project commissioned by the Scottish Higher Education Employability Network (SHEEN). The main objectives of this report are to: explore staffs’ current use of PDP with taught postgraduate students particularly international students collate staff views for developing a dedicated PDP resource for taught postgraduate students and draw attention to any sector-wide issues that may influence the development of a tailored taught postgraduate PDP resource.
Staff views on these issues were drawn from twenty-one semi-structured interviews from a representative sample of Scottish institutions were conducted and analysed. Most staff had a reasonable understanding of the meaning of PDP and all staff felt that PDP would be useful for their taught postgraduates at some level. Current PDP provision for taught postgraduates was highly varied across and between institutions and subject areas. Staff generally felt that PDP should be incorporated as fully as possible into the programme of study they also felt that PDP should be compulsory although opinions varied on whether it should be assessed.
International taught postgraduate students have a range of backgrounds so it is important that PDP at this level is tailored to suit their cultural and language needs. Development of such a flexible bank of resources will enable staff to provide PDP with more ease and confidence to help staff feel that they are providing a high quality learning experience.
