Graduate Study at Kent25th September 2014

Suzie MorrisGraduate School Administration Manager

Kent Graduate School

The Graduate School

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

• Doing a Master’s degree with the hope of going on to a PhD

• Doing a Master’s degree to improve your employment prospects

• Doing a Master’s degree only out of interest in the subject

• Are you newly graduated or a number of years from your first degree?

Postgraduate Education

• 588,720 PG students in the UK

• 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 46% of masters students and 41% of doctoral students

All Students – things you must do..

• Visit Rochester Castle.. historic dockyard…Bluewater …

• Pop down to Canterbury and see the sights as well as the ‘other’ Campus

• Buy a railcard and go 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

The Graduate School

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

SenateVice-Chancellor

Graduate School BoardDean of the Graduate School

Faculty BoardsDeans

Faculty Graduate Studies CommitteeFaculty Directors of Graduate Studies

School Graduate Studies CommitteeSchool Directors of Graduate Studies

Staff/Student Liaison Committees Course Directors and supervisors

Programme Approval Sub-Committee

Structure Diagram for Postgraduate Programmes

Student Involvement

Get involved…make your voice heard..

• Postgraduate Student Representatives – School, Faculty, University

• Staff Student Liaison Committees (SSLCs)

• Postgraduate Student Surveys e.g. PRES

• Kent Graduate Student Association

• The Graduate School www.kent.ac.uk/graduateschool

The GradPost

The GradPost Editorial Team

A newsletter created by Postgraduates for the Postgraduate community.

Contact: gradpost@kent.ac.uk

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

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 2014-15.

• 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.

• Examples of projects funded in 2013 Artscapes: Urban Art and the Public – a conference organised by PhD students in

Sociology, Architecture and History and Philosophy of Art “Shut Up and Write” – a project to encourage academic writing led by a PhD student

in Social Policy High Altitude Experience – a project to enable students to design and launch their

own payloads

• Deadline for applications is 28th November 2014

• Application forms and more details at www.kent.ac.uk/graduateschool/

Postgraduate Research Festival

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• 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

The Graduate School is running ‘Producing an Effective Research Poster’ workshops (9th December 2014, 24th February 2015 and 25th March 2015). For more information please contact skills@kent.ac.uk

Postgraduate Research Handbook

• Updated for 2014-15

• Everything you need to know about being a postgraduate researcher at Kent

including information on:

• Student Services

• Local community information

• Regulatory information

Students on Research Programmes – MPhil/PhD

• 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 Researcher Development workshop.

The Researcher Development Framework

A. Knowledge and intellectual abilities,

B. Personal effectiveness

C. Research governance and organisation

D. 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:

The Researcher Development Programme

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 2014/15 academic year will include the following:

• Kickstart your PhD: Guidance, Skills and the Researcher Development Assessment (first year PhD students)

• Writing skills workshops (one-to-one tutorials and writing retreats)

• Writing for journals and getting published

• Rapid reading

• Research Methods (including: SPSS, LaTeX, and Qualitative methods)

• Statistics

• Negotiation skills

• Library skills

• Leadership

• Presentation skills and Impact

• Time / Stress Management

• Networking

• Social Enterprise

Booking workshops

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

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.

Once Logged In

When you have logged in this is the first page that you will see.

To view all forthcoming workshops click here

The Workshop Screen

This screen details all forthcoming workshops in the next 30 days.

You can use the Search button to search for workshops by skills area of title, including those taking place beyond 30 days.

To book onto a workshop click on the title of the workshop. This will take you to the workshops full details screen.

Kickstart your PhD: Guidance, Skills and the Researcher Development Assessment Workshop

• Compulsory for all PhD students

• Medway workshop – Weds 22nd October (1pm -5pm)

• Workshop coverage: key resources for the PhD journey, responsibilities of a PG researcher and the supervisory relationship and researcher development opportunities.

• The workshop also helps you to reflect on and assess your current skills and introduces the Researcher Development Assessment (RDA)

• Once you have attended this workshop you will be prompted by the system to complete your RDA online.

• Work with your supervisor to complete the RDA and use this as a basis for planning your development

• First-year PhD students must attend this workshop AND complete an online assessment as part of the probation review

• How to complete my online RDA

• Login to online booking system

• Click on ‘My RDA’ or ‘view my RDA’

You will be taken through to the following screen.

Click on ‘New Assessment’

Once you have completed your RDA you will see this and will be able to view, email or save it.

Online 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.

1. Epigeum online courses2. The Good Viva Guide3. Viva Guidance 4. The Alternative Guide to Funding5. Blueberry Training – training podcasts on a variety of business skills

www.kent.ac.uk/graduateschool/skills/onlinetrg/index.html

Epigeum courses

Topics include:

• Ethics

• Research Methods

• Literature Review

• Intellectual Property

• Project Management

• Getting Published

• Selecting a Conference

• Presenting and Networking

• Career Planning

• Avoiding Plagiarism

• Entrepreneurial Resources

• Research Integrity

For access details contact: skills@kent.ac.uk

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

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/teaching/qa/codes/research/annexh.html

Annex K (Progression and Examination)www.kent.ac.uk/teaching/qa/codes/research/annexknew.htm

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 Researcher Development Workshop, completing a

Researcher Development Assessment and discussing this with your Supervisor (PhD only).

Supervisory Interaction

• You should have a meeting with your main supervisor at a minimum of once every four weeks for full-time students (and every eight weeks for part-time students)

• The “meeting” may be face to face or it may on occasion take the form of an email exchange or telephone conversation

• Following the “meeting”, you should complete a supervisory record form on the Student Data System (SDS) and once this has been completed it will be sent to your supervisor for agreement.

• The supervisory record template covers:

Progress made since the last “meeting” Areas discussed at the “meeting” Work agreed

• Only one supervisory record is required for the vacation period of July/August.

• The SDS will remind you when a supervisory record is due for completion.

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Progression Monitoring

Review Stages Timing

Induction review Within 6 weeks of registration (for both PT and FT research students)

Probation review At 10 months for FT research students and 12 months for PT research students

End of year reviews At the end of each year

Mid-year reviews (if necessary)

Mid-year reviews may be scheduled in cases where concerns are raised at an end of year review

Submission review 3 months prior to the minimum period of registration (e.g. 3 years for FT PhD and 5 years for PT PhD students)

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

Progression Monitoring on SDS

• Your review documentation will be recorded on the Student Data System (SDS).

• The SDS will provide dates by which the different reviews are due.

• It will be the responsibility of the Review Panel to complete the documentation on-line but once it is completed you will be able to view this on-line.

• Annex K (Progression and Examination) of the Code of Practice for Research Programmes of Study provides details of what needs to be prepared in advance of a review.

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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.

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

Contact Details

Professor Diane Houston (Dean of the Graduate School)

Cornwallis South East rm19

graddean@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 c.r.beeching@kent.ac.uk ext: 7838

• Dr Jo Collins, Postgraduate Development Advisor J.P.Collins@kent.ac.uk ext: 16133

• Carla Doolan, Postgraduate Development Coordinator skills@kent.ac.uk ext: 4896

• Joanna Addison, PA to the Dean and Graduate School Assistantgraddean@kent.ac.uk ext: 4785