How can we better support our postgraduate students?

Postgraduate students contribute significantly to the income of higher education institutions. They also plug skills gaps, typically entering the workplace with advanced competencies. The number of postgraduate students in the UK is growing, according to the Higher Education Statistics Agency. Given the value of these students to the UK higher education sector and the workplace, retaining them is key. However, compared with their more numerous undergraduate counterparts, the postgraduate student experience receives relatively little research attention and is comparatively poorly understood. In 2023, for the first time, the sector-wide Postgraduate Taught Experience Survey (PTES) introduced a community scale to measure how connected postgraduate students feel to a community within their institution and a wider sense of belonging. This resource provides strategies that can be used to help develop a stronger sense of community and belonging for postgraduate students.

Understand your cohort

Describing a typical taught postgraduate course cohort presents challenges. More so than undergraduate student cohorts, the demographics of postgraduate student cohorts are heavily influenced by external factors such as study visa rules, changes to student maintenance loans and wider economic issues that impact rising living costs. Striving to understand the nuances of each intake as early as possible in their postgraduate journey is key to being able to understand and respond to their specific needs and concerns. 

For example, at the University of East Anglia, a postgraduate pre-arrival survey identified concerns over the commute to campus. In response, our commuting student officer shared a video with advice on travel deals and commuting options that students hadn’t previously been aware of. 

Communicate clearly

Academic support came out as one of the weakest themes from the 2023 PTES survey with many comments highlighting communication with teaching staff as an area of weakness. Providing information about the expectations and the content of a module well in advance of a session can be particularly important for postgraduate students, many of whom need to work to make up for the shortfall in tuition loan payments. Many postgraduate students are not necessarily engaging in their studies to make friends but to develop themselves professionally. Ensuring that students know what they are expected to do, and when, allows them to plan work shifts, caring responsibilities and other life commitments around their studies. 

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Offer flexibility

Postgraduate courses are often a choice for those who are undertaking continuing professional development (CPD). This means that options for part-time study, alternative course start dates (that move away from September) and potentially remote learning variants can create a more inclusive programme offering that supports postgraduate students to better balance other life commitments around their studies. For postgraduate courses that are typically offered as one-year full-time programmes, consider whether students really do need to attend in person to be able to meet the learning outcomes of the course. 

Create social spaces

Postgraduate courses are relatively short compared with undergraduate programmes. These intense study periods can feel like high-stakes scenarios, resulting in students prioritising paid work and study opportunities over the classic social opportunities of joining clubs and societies. Organising informal social opportunities across postgraduate cohorts helps connect students with their peers, can remove the pressure of having to organise or commit to attending a peer-led event and can help connect students to academic staff. Examples of activities we have seen success with include short field trips, nature walks on campus and drop-in social and support sessions. As with all student groups, the offer of snacks and ice-breaker activities (eg, card games, short team quizzes etc) seem to encourage attendance.

Postgraduate students’ sense of belonging and community are frequently overlooked in the higher education sector. Since most postgraduate students will have experienced higher education before and are more likely to be mature than their undergraduate counterparts, it is important to avoid making assumptions that downplay their need for support. 

Ellen Bell is a lecturer in ecology and bioinformatics and Kelly Edmunds is an associate professor at the University of East Anglia.

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