Hi Missspacey.

To reply in a little more detail to your other questions.

This review is intended to ensure that HE in the UK in 10 to 15 years time has maintained its world class edge. To achieve this some forward thinking is required to identify potential challenges and what responses might be appropriate to them.

The idea behind using social media as a method of communicating is very much to try and reach out and engage with interested persons who might not otherwise get involved.

It is true that blog replies/forums perhaps will not reflect the full picture of problems. No single method of consultation will result in a full picture. Blog replies/forums such as these are a means of highlighting issues of concern which will be fed into the review along with other viewpoints.

A framework policy is the expected outcome of this ongoing debate. This framework policy will be consulted on in due course in more formalised, traditional ways. The dialogue which this blog/forum is a part of however represents an opportunity to provide your views and influence the formation of that framework policy. When it comes time to utilise more formalised avenues it will be on a nearly finalised framework.

http://hedebate.jiscinvolve.org/research-careers/

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Hi.



Sorry about that.



Links have changed.



Try this link: http://hedebate.jiscinvolve.org/research-careers/



Thanks for pointing that out.



Vincent

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Hi all.


I made a couple of postings on this site back in August about a review which is currently underway on higher education.


One of the issues being reviewed is 'research careers'.


Some of you replied at the time with some interesting comments so I thought I'd let you know about a report which has just been published on the issue as a part of the same review.


The report and its executive summary can be found at: http://hedebate.jiscinvolve.org/research-careers/


I'm interested in hearing what you think about the recommendations outlined in this report and whether or not they tally with your experience?


For example. Paragraph viii of the executive summary states "The review concludes that the current system is working reasonably well. Thus it does not propose a complete overhaul...".


I think that it is important that students like you who might be about to embark on a research career or are in the early stages of or are established in a research career should also have your views fed into the mix. Your views are as important as anyone else's.


You can let me know what your thoughts are on this either by replying to this post or by going to the blog we have running on this issue (also at the above link) and leaving a reply.


Thanks.


Vincent.

...
We are undertaking this exercise with a view to assessing what are the main challenges for the future in maintaining and improving the quality of student experiences in HEIs and to figuring out how to respond to those challenges.

The idea behind this posting is to ask you what your experience are and have been and to use your views to inform thinking in response.

I hope this helps clarify things?

Hi.

The questions have been set broadly so as not to limit scope of replies.

Where this is coming from is an understanding that the student experience and point of view has increasingly become a more prominent part of policy making (e.g. the National Student Survey and the Student Forum).

This has led to considering how higher education institutions (HEI) are responding to information from students about their educational and learning experience and needs.

This can be in relation to taught courses or to PdD’s where there is less teaching involved. It can also be about student engagement, student preparedness, flexible teaching, student expectations, etc. There is no set list.
...

Hi again.

I’d like to follow up on my post last week with a question on different but related topic.

One of the issues which views are being sought on is ‘teaching and the student experience’.

What are your views on how the countries higher education institutes are responding to your expectations and educational needs?

I’m interested in hearing what you think about this issue (either by replying to this post or by going to the blog we have running on this: http://hedebate.jiscinvolve.org/teaching-and-student-experience/).

Thanks.

Again. Useful input on this issue. Thank you. If I may develop a little what has been offered.

I suspect I am right in interpreting most of what has been posted here as referring to research in an academic setting (understandable given that this is a post-graduate form).

Can I ask whether research in a non-academic setting figures on your horizons?

Charitably funded research has been briefly mentioned. What about research in a business or industry environment.

Is this an option that you are able to consider as a route to a research career?

Thanks for these replies. They are both interesting and not altogether unsurprising in the issues that they raise.

Based on the replies would it be right to wonder whether existing incentives (e.g. stipends, salaries, access to grants, etc.) exert sufficient positive influence on graduate’s choices when it comes to research careers?

Judging by what has been posted I’m not sure they do. If they don’t then what do you think leads a typical student towards the career of a researcher (whether in a HE environment or for industry)?

Hi,

I’m doing some background research for DIUS (the Government department responsible for universities) which is working on a framework for higher education in the UK over next ten to fifteen years.

One of the issues being reviewed is research careers. There seems to be a perception that doctoral, post-doctoral and subsequent stages of typical research careers are increasingly seen as not that attractive to graduates compared to other possible careers.

Do you think this is generally true? Are research careers less attractive as, say careers in finance, banking, the media, etc.

I’m interested in hearing what postgraduate students think about this issue (either by replying to this post or by going to the blog we have running on the broader HE issue: http://hedebate.jiscinvolve.org/).

Thanks.