The Higher Education Academy’s (HEA) widely-adopted Postgraduate Taught Experience Survey (PTES) 2016 has gathered the most comprehensive feedback yet on the state of taught postgraduate education in the UK.
With responses from well over 82 000 postgraduates in 108 participating institutions the survey found that the overall state of taught postgraduate provision in the UK is good with 83% of respondents satisfied with the quality of their course. Students were very positive about their experience of teaching as 90% said staff were enthusiastic and 86% reported that the course had enhanced their academic ability. Positive trends were observed across most types of higher education provider (HEP) though students at research-focused institutions rated feedback and assessment less positively than those at teaching-focused HEPs. Levels of unmanageable workload remain a concern with negative movement overall and continuing significant negative trends for those taking PGCEs.
