Learning and Teaching Committee

 

Subject:        Postgraduate Taught Experience Survey

 

Origin:           Claire Atkins, Programme Quality and Teaching Partnerships

 

Introduction

 

The University will be participating in the Postgraduate Taught Experience Survey (PTES) in 2012. The purpose of this paper is to provided Learning and Teaching Committee with a briefing for the PTES 2012 and to disseminate the results of the PTES 2011.

PTES Timeline

The survey will run from Monday 2^nd April until Friday 1^st June 2012 at Loughborough University (LU) and will be open throughout the Easter vacation period.

The University is responsible for contact with all eligible students to invite participation in the survey. Emails will be sent out from the Programme Quality and Teaching Partnerships (PQTP) Office w/c 2^nd April encouraging students to complete the survey and providing students with a personalised login and password to access the survey. A reminder email will be sent in late April/early May.

PTES 2011 results

A full breakdown of LU results is included at annex 1.

Headline figures

LU achieved a response rate of 11% (309 responses from a target list of 2820) in 2011 compared to 10.4% in 2010. The 2011 national response rate was 17.8%.

The reputation of the institution (as a whole or in a particular subject area) or individual department are the main motivations for students taking their particular programme.

92.8% of respondents rated the overall experience of their course as either meeting or exceeding their expectations.

92.2% of respondents rated the quality of learning and teaching on their programme as either meeting or exceeding their expectations.

83.3% of respondents rated their experience of the assessment and feedback on their programme as either meeting or exceeding their expectations.

88.1% of respondents rated their experience of the organisation and management of their programme as either meeting or exceeding their expectations.

94.5% of respondents rated their experience of the learning resources for their programme as either meeting or exceeding their expectations.

94.2% of respondents rated their experience of skills and personal development as either meeting or exceeding their expectations.

90.3% of respondents rated their experience of career and professional development as meeting or exceeding their expectations.

41.9% of respondents felt that the workload on their programme was higher or much higher than expected.

Section 11 relates to a student’s experience of Student Services (and its constituent departments). This is an institutional question added to the survey by LU. User rates were low amongst respondents but the section has been included in the 2012 survey to allow a comparison of results.

Action by Schools

 

Schools are asked to note the PTES timeline and are encouraged to promote the survey to their PGT students with a view to increasing response rates.