Graduate Study at Kent20th September 2012

Diane HoustonKent 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

Students on Taught Courses – MA/MSc etc

• Enrol....get IT account… register for modules… pay fees!

• Find out who directs your programme of Study

• Find out when and where your lectures and seminars are

• Find out who the Director of Graduate Studies is for your School

• Acquaint yourself with your School’s support processes – tutor/student advisor etc

• Check deadlines and examination dates

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.

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

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

• 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: Grad-editors@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 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/

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

Global Skills Award

• Master’s degree students from all disciplines are invited to apply for a place on the Global Skills Award which can be taken alongside their Master’s degree programme.

• All postgraduates accepted onto the programme will complete an on-line career development and skills assessment.

• The programme will run from 5th November 2012 until 4th March 2013.

• Students will attend a lecture series on national and global issues and be able to select from a programme of workshops.

• The Award programme is designed to enhance global awareness and employability in a competitive job market.

• All those who successfully complete the programme will receive a Global Skills Award Certificate.

• The programme is free of charge.

What do I need to do to complete the award?

• Apply using the online booking system at https://bloom.kent.ac.uk closing date is 26th October 2012.

• Attend the Introduction Evening on 5th November 2012 in Woolf Lecture Theatre.

• Complete the career/personal development assessment via the online system before 23rd November 2012.

• Attend a minimum of 8 lectures from the lecture programme on offer – reflect on and provide feedback on all 8 lectures attended.

• Participate in a minimum of 6 workshops from the workshop programme.

• Complete a career/personal development assessment via the online system before 20th May 2013.

Postgraduate Research Handbook

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• New for 2012-13

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

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 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

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

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

To view all forthcoming workshops click here

https://www.tauri-tec.com/graduateschool/admin/pgr/rda/preview/4

You will be taken through to the following screen. Click on ‘New Assessment’

You will then be prompted to complete your Researcher Development Assessment.

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)

Contact Details

Professor Diane Houston

Cornwallis South East rm19

D.M.Houston@kent.ac.uk

Graduate School Staff

• Ann Tull, Graduate School Administration Manager S.M.Morris@kent.ac.uk ext: 3182

• Ros Beeching, Graduate School Coordinator graddean@kent.ac.uk ext: 7838

• Jo Collins, Postgraduate Development Coordinator skills@kent.ac.uk ext: 4785