Help promote the Postgraduate Taught Experience Survey to your students
04 Feb 2015
Professor Clive Agnew has made a video about the importance to the University of PTES, which is now open until 30 April 2015
Monday, 2 February saw the launch of both the National Student Survey NSS) for finalist undergraduates and the Postgraduate Taught Experience Survey (PTES), which gives our postgraduate taught students a chance to have their say about their experience of University life.
The University places particular emphasis on PTES because it is the main opportunity for us to learn from this community. PTES gives us an holistic picture of PGT study at the University, and complements the Unit Surveys. The survey also includes part-time and distance learners, giving us valuable information from these diverse groups.
Speaking in an updated video to promote PTES, Professor Clive Agnew, Vice-President for Teaching, Learning and Students, says: “We hear a lot about student experience, but it’s often focused on undergraduates. It’s really important that we have an opportunity to hear the postgraduate voice.”
First run in 2013, PTES has many benefits both at the Faculty level and for individual departments. However, with relatively low response rates of 27% in 2013 and 30% in 2014, Clive is keen for all staff to work together to increase the number of students engaging in the survey and make the information more representative and meaningful. “We really need to encourage students to complete the feedback, to improve that response rate,” he says.
Personal messages from staff to students can really help to improve response rates as we know people are more likely to respond to a message from someone they know or a name they recognise rather than a generic email.
Find out more about PTES, and how you can encourage your postgraduate taught students to take part in it, at:
There you’ll find a toolkit which provides more detailed information on the various aspects of PTES, including student eligibility criteria, methods for promotion of the surveys as well as a link to previous results.
The next in this session’s series of student experience surveys – the Postgraduate Research Experience Survey (PRES) - will be open from 2 March to 14 May.