Candidate experience

In this report, Dr Senthila Quirke and Dr Alex Standen present the findings of a survey regarding the support and development available to doctoral researchers who become Graduate Teaching Assistants (GTAs) in UK universities, and offer recommendations to improve their experiences.

The traditional examination format for PhD degrees in the UK is the chapter-based dissertation as the basis for oral examination. However pressures to publish prior to thesis submission and hence to allow incorporation of publications as well as other artefacts within the assessment paradigm are challenging this conventional approach.

This report is based on a survey conducted in March 2010 aimed at establishing an overview of current trends in practice among UK institutions with respect to addressing issues of confidentiality as they pertain to PhD theses in the UK

This review of the preparation of graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) was commissioned by the UKCGE because there have been many developments in the last ten years both in our understanding of academic practice and of the context in which doctoral researchers are working.

This report summarises the work and recommendations of the UK Council for Graduate Education’s Working Group on Research Training in the Healthcare Professions, which was established in 2001. The report was published in 2003

The report raises important challenges for those involved in research training, not least in its use of the terminology preparation for research and development in and during research.

The aim of this report is to describe the range of current practice employed to prepare postgraduate teaching assistants to teach