Advance HE's Postgraduate Research Experience Survey (PRES) is the largest of its kind in UK higher education. In 2023, more than 37,000 postgraduate research students from 105 higher education institutions took part in PRES, including four in Australia. The survey provides the opportunity for postgraduate research students to give feedback about their learning experience, supervision and research environment, informing activity to enhance their experience.
Some of the key findings from the 2023 survey are:
- Experience remains positive with nearly four out of five satisfied with their experience, even as overall satisfaction drops slightly from 80% to 79%.
- Researchers working mostly or completely online were less satisfied than those who worked mostly or completely in-person.
- The largest gaps in satisfaction between ethnicities focused around the opportunities provided for development activity -with Black students a lot less likely to have been offered (or taken up) teaching experience and other development opportunities.
- Researchers with a disability continued to be less satisfied with their overall experience.
- Among those considering leaving, cost of living is an increasingly important factor in how they view their challenges.
The 2023 Postgraduate Research Experience Survey report is available to all and can be downloaded below. For the first time, we have also created a summary report detailing the findings from Australian institutions. The report is also available below.
