STEM and research careers
Understanding the recruitment and selection of postgraduate research students (HEFCE, 2014)
01/01/2001
CRAC and Vitae, supported by the International Centre for Guidance Studies at the University of Derby, undertake research for HEFCE to build a picture, from an HE institutional perspective, of how postgraduate research (PGR) students in England, are recruited and selected, and their role in the HE research base.
This included:
- The processes used by English HEIs to recruit UK and international PGR students to their doctoral programmes, as well as perspectives on the demand for PGR study.
- How HEIs attempt to identify the ‘best' students aspiring to undertake postgraduate research and select them.
- What do HEIs seek in terms of candidates' prior learning, attainment or experience, and what are the barriers for prospective PGR students to overcome?
- How HEIs align the activity of their PGR students with their strategic research mission.
- The implications for the sustainability of postgraduate research provision and the role of its current funding arrangements.
