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YOU ARE IN » Home page > News and information main menu > Graduate Market Trends > In brief (Autumn 08)

In brief (Autumn 08)

• In brief
• Sex and Power report Sep 2008
• Postgraduate Research Experience Survey (PRES)
• Counting what is measured or measuring what counts?
• Punching Our Weight

In brief

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Sex and Power report Sep 2008

At the current rate of progress it will take another 27 years to achieve equality in Civil Service top management, another 73 years (up from 65 years) to achieve an equal number of women directors of FTSE 100 companies and around 200 years –another 40 elections – to achieve an equal number of women in Parliament.

The newly created Equality and Human Rights Commission in its first year of producing the Sex and Power report underlines that the under-representation of women in positions of power and influence is not just a ‘women’s issue’. The Commission believes that while the absence of women from these powerful positions is important in itself, it is also an example of a wider failure which among other things prevents society in tapping into available talent. A snail’s progress...A snail could get from Land’s End to John O’Groats and halfway back again in the time it would take for equal numbers of women to reach the top of FTSE 100 companies. This year, in 12 of the 25 categories for which figures are available, there are fewer women holding top posts.

http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/Documents/EHRC/SexandPower/Sex_and_Power_2008.pdf

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Postgraduate Research Experience Survey (PRES)

The second national survey of postgraduate research students reveals that 82.5% of research students rated their experience as having met or exceeded their expectations.

The Postgraduate Research Experience Survey (PRES) is a service made available to all HE institutions across the UK which have postgraduate research students. PRES is designed to help institutions enhance the quality of postgraduate research degree provision by collecting feedback from current research students in a systematic and user-friendly way. This time 73 HEIs launched the survey and useful results collected in 72. In 2007 58 HEIs took part in PRES.

PRES 2008 included a new question asking students what their motivations were in pursuing a research degree programme.

• 34.2% interest in subject

• 31.9% improving career prospects for an academic or research career

For students aged 25 or younger interest in subject was a more important motivation than improving their academic or research career. The relationship was even stronger for students aged 51 and over. For students aged between 31 and 40 improving their academic or research career was a more important motivation.

Experience

• 82.5% of research students rated their experience as having met or exceeded their expectations

• 95.7% of students rated supervisory support and guidance as the most important aspect of their research degree programme

This was followed by 91.3% in opportunities to develop a range of research skills, 90.1% access to appropriate facilities, 87.3% the research environment, 78.1% provision of guidance on institutional standards and expectations and 74.3% opportunities to develop a range of transferable skills.

Completion

• 67% of research students expected to complete their research degree programme more or less on schedule

Personal Factors

• 87% of students agreed that friends and family were supportive and where applicable 74% felt employers were supportive of their programmes

Half of students agreed that financing their research degree programme places a strain on the personal finance, whilst at the same time one in three disagreed with the statement.

http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/ourwork/research/surveys/pres

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Counting what is measured or measuring what counts?

League tables and their impact on higher education institutions in England

League tables and the individual indicators used to compile them appear to be having a significant influence on institutions’ actions and decision-making, although Higher Education Institutions themselves are reluctant to acknowledge this. League tables are being used by many institutions as key performance indicators and, in some cases, strategic targets. They are being used by some senior management teams and governing bodies as one of several drivers for internal change.

A report investigating league tables and their impact on higher education institutions (HEIs) in England finds that the influence of league tables is increasing both nationally and internationally, and cannot be ignored despite serious methodological limitations.

It presents findings from two strands of research:

• an analysis of five league tables selected for the study, their methodologies and the underlying data employed

• an investigation of how higher education institutions respond to league tables generally and the extent to which they influence institutional decision-making and actions.

There are a number of areas that would benefit from further research, in particular, into users’ perspectives, including:

• Prospective (including international) students’ use of league tables

• The use of new sources of information on higher education institutions, e.g. social networking internet sites and Unistats

• The influence of league tables on foreign governments, scholarship bodies, employers and individual academics.

http://www.hefce.ac.uk/pubs/hefce/2008/08_14/08_14.pdf

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Punching Our Weight

The Humanities and Social Sciences in Public Policy Making. A report from the British Academy

Government departments spent just under £1.6 billion in 2005/06 on research and

development to support policy and the delivery of services, relatively little goes to the

higher education sector. The reports findings show that a high proportion, often as much as 60%, of departmental research budgets is being allocated to short-term projects to meet current political and administrative demands.

The report looks at how policy makers can maximise the untapped potential of research in the humanities and social sciences. The Government is concerned that it is not leveraging the academic research base as effectively as it should be, and that it is missing key opportunities as a result.

The report addresses three questions set out at the start of the report:

• What do policy makers need?

• What do the humanities and social sciences offer policy makers?

• What are the challenges of providing better evidence for public policy making?

Other important issues included are:

• Short term political pressures often work against policy makers efforts to prepare for future uncertainties.

• How to bring policy makers and researchers together in a way that facilitates knowledge innovation and knowledge transfer.

• Findings show that sustained contacts between researchers and users, based on personal relationships and developed over time, are the most important determinants of policy impact.

http://www.britac.ac.uk/reports/wilson/index.cfm