UKCGE develops UK Research Supervision Survey 2024 Reports for Institutions
The UK Council for Graduate Education’s UK Research Supervision Survey (UKRSS) went out to institutions nation-wide in Summer 2024, garnering 5,174 responses. Administered online between June 3 and July 16, 2024 and funded by Research SuperVision Project (RSVP) and Research England, the survey received valid responses from individuals involved in the supervision of doctoral candidates across 141 UK institutions.
Since the publication of the national report in September 2024, UKCGE has been working at producing institutional reports which provide a critical breakdown of anonymised data to higher education institutions with over 60 respondents to UKRSS 2024. UKCGE has delivered 13 detailed reports to institutions, and 34 summary reports. The summary reports feature an introduction to the institutional supervisory response, a snippet of the findings on institutional respondents’ satisfaction and challenges, and an analysis of the perceived value of supervision from the institutional perspective.
The full reports detail supervisory-candidate relationships, perceptions of supervisory role and satisfaction, participation in and perceptions of development and training, trends in research supervision, views on institutional provision of rewards and recognition, as well as an overview of supervisory experiences.
UKRSS Institutional reports can provide insights into the perceived health of research culture by supervisors in HEIs, demographics of supervisory population and perceived demographics of PGRs, and evidence on supervisory engagement, satisfaction, and confidence in supervisory abilities. These reports can be commissioned by institutions through UKCGE for £595.
At Glasgow, the full report has already proved useful! We analysed how the institutional responses mapped to our strategic aims for supervision, where they indicated more work needed, and where they gave us pause for thought about further consultation we’d like to do to find out the ‘why’, ‘how’ and ‘for whom’ behind the responses. We presented our reflections back to the Glasgow Supervisor Community ‘Co-leads’ (20 invested supervisors who support our development work) and this sparked a conversation about how to build on our successes and maintain our direction of travel. Several new projects emerged!Kay Guccione, Head of Research Culture & Researcher Development at University of Glasgow
“The University of Birmingham Doctoral School was delighted to commission a report from the UKCGE. We are currently reviewing our supervisor development programme and the insights provided by the report have been invaluable. In addition, as one of the REF 2029 PCE piloting institutions, we have also been able to use the data to inform our return and provide an accurate narrative around PGR supervision.”Professor Jessica Blair, Director of the University of Birmingham Doctoral School
This survey will be repeated in 2027, producing a national report, as well as the capacity to continue producing institutional reports for institutions with over 60 respondents. Please email ukcge@ukcge.ac.uk if you have any questions about the UKCGE’s UKRSS 2024 Reports or if your institution would like to commission a UKRSS 2024 report for £595.