Studying a taught postgraduate course at Strathclyde? We want to hear from you!
The PTES is an annual survey, that UK Universities can opt into, devised to find out about the experience of postgraduates on taught courses.
We’re keen to make sure our postgraduate students have the best possible experience while studying at Strathclyde. To do that we need your feedback to let us know what you think we are doing well and what we can do better.
The survey is designed by Advance HE. If you're on a postgraduate taught programme, full or part time, distance learning or attending, you should be included in the survey. We need your help so we can continue to develop the courses, services and support we provide to our postgraduate taught students. Your views will make a difference!
If you’re thinking about taking part, these are the answers to some of the questions students often ask:
What is it?
The Postgraduate Taught Experience Survey (PTES) is a national survey of postgraduate taught students inviting them to comment on their course and experience. The questionnaire takes around 15 minutes to complete, includes tick box questions as well as the chance to comment via free text throughout the survey.
Why should I take part?
The PTES is your chance to tell us your thoughts about your course. The results help us compare how we are doing with other institutions, to make changes that will improve what we do in future and to keep doing the things that you value. This will help improve the experience of students like you in the future. We're also including a prize draw with a £300 Amazon voucher to be won!
What does it cover?
PTES concentrates on your course and includes:
- The experience of teaching and learning, including: staff, learning materials, working with other students, workload, and feeding back on experience;
- Engagement and course challenge;
- Assessment and feedback, including supervisor support for dissertation or major project;
- Organisation and management, including induction and involvement in course decisions;
- Resources and services, including learning resources and overall support;
- Skills development, including independent learning, research skills and career skills;
- Overall satisfaction and motivation for taking the programme and information provided by the institution to help course choice;
What happens to the results?
Your feedback is important. Over one hundred universities and colleges take part in the PTES every year. This means we can compare your experience against similar postgraduates at other institutions as well as compare your responses from that of previous years'. We use the findings to improve our courses and the learning experience for future students. See what difference student feedback makes!
How does the prize draw work?
Once the survey closes, a random number generator will be used to identify the winner within 2 weeks of the survey end. Note that members of the Student Survey Team and their immediate family are not eligible for the prize draw. The winning student will then be contacted via email and asked to identify the online retailer they'd like their voucher to be for (please note that no cash alternative will be given). The Student Survey Team will then send the voucher to the winner! Winners will be announced online (subject to winners consent).
Is it anonymous?
Your responses will be treated confidentially within the University, only Education Enhancement will have access to individual responses. The results from the survey will be presented in the form of aggregate statistical summaries at department/School level and course, where the number of respondents exceeds our publication threshold. Individuals should not be identifiable from their responses in any data disseminated from the Student Survey Team. Any free text comments from respondents which allow an individual to be identified will be redacted or removed prior to presentation.
Additionally, AdvanceHE and Jisc will be acting as data processors for the PTES survey, in order to collate the results from across the UK and provide the University with benchmarking data.
Please see the University's Privacy Notice for more information.
What do I need to do?
You will receive an email with a link to the questionnaire when the survey launches. Reminders will also be sent while the survey is open to those who haven't yet responded. Simply click on the link and complete the online form. You can also access the survey on Myplace.
Where can I find out more?
If you want to opt out, are unsure about anything to do with the survey, or have any difficulty contact the Student Surveys Team by email: student-surveys@strath.ac.uk