PGR StudentSurvey.ie has now had four iterations of fieldwork and each one has seen a steady rise in participations rates, resulting in a valuable dataset that offers insights into the engagement of Masters and PhD students with their respective institutions.

In this chapter, we will highlight some key findings from this year’s results and compare them to the data from 2021 to provide an overview of the evolving landscape of Post Graduate Research in Ireland.  

It should be remembered that significant public health restrictions were in place when 2021 fieldwork occurred and that this is not the case in 2023.

It is striking that positive responses (i.e., responses of ‘mostly agree’, ‘definitely agree’) to all four questions relating to Research Infrastructure and Facilities are higher than responses from 2021 results.

Notably, students report higher positive responses about a suitable work space (77.4% in 2023, 68.2% in 2021) and having access to specialist resources and facilities necessary for their research (72.6% in 2023, 61.9% in 2021).

The greatest increase of 14.4% for Research Infrastructure and Facilities was reported by students feeling they have adequate provisions of library facilities (including physical/ online resources) with 70.6% responding positively in 2023.

Results for questions relating to Supervision remain largely consistent when compared to results in 2021.

Students reported higher positive responses to all questions relating to Research Culture with a minor increase in their views that their department provides access to relevant seminar programmes (0.7%) and the research ambience stimulating their work (4.4%).

It is notable that students have reported greater opportunities to discuss their research with other research students (62.4% in 2023, 47.0% in 2021) and to become involved in the wider research community beyond their department (52.7% in 2023, 44.8% in 2021).

Students reported broadly similar results in 2023 and 2021 for questions relating to Progress and Assessment. However, it is worth noting a 3.8% decrease in positive responses to receiving an appropriate induction/ orientation to their research programme.

This may merit further exploration for any possible linkage, or lingering impacts of previous COVID-19 related disruption.

Similarly, when examining results for questions relating to Development Opportunities, there is an increase in positive feedback about taking part in a placement or internship (5.8%), attending (7.1%) and presenting (9.1%) at an academic research conference. It would appear that a larger number of face to face events have positively affected students’ experiences and opportunities.

There were some minor decreases in student feedback across questions relating to Research Skills with students reporting a slight decrease in positive responses to developing their ‘understanding of research integrity’ during their programme (86.6% in 2023, 88.1% in 2021).

Additionally, there was a similar size decrease in positive responses to development of their skills in critically analysing and evaluating findings (85.3% in 2023, 86.3% in 2021).

Similarly, students have indicated a slight decrease in positive responses to development of their skills in applying appropriate research methodologies, tools and techniques (86.0% in 2023, 87.4% in 2021).

These findings may suggest areas where there is room for further support and enhancement in research skills development.

In the context of the increasing and justified focus on students’ mental health and well-being, it is encouraging to note a higher percentage of students responding in a positive way to questions relating to Personal Outlook.

64.8% of students report they are satisfied with life nowadays (56.6% in 2021) and 62.0% are satisfied with life within their institutions nowadays (54.4% in 2021).

Of particular importance is a 8.6% increase in students reporting having someone in their institute they can talk to about their day to day problems. Having this kind of support structure in place within educational institutions is paramount for the well-being of students.

The results for questions relating to Responsibilities and Supports are broadly consistent with those from 2021.

The awareness of various student supports remains relatively low, with only 32.3% of respondents indicating awareness. This reflects a 4.3% decrease compared to the 2021 results.

This underlines the importance of ensuring that students are well-informed about the availability of support facilities, particularly in the context of their mental health and wellbeing.

Efforts to increase students’ knowledge of the supports already in place are crucial elements of student support. A slightly lower percentage of students in 2023 provided positive responses about knowing who to approach outside their supervisor if they are concerned about any academic aspect of their research (66.0% in 2023, 69.1% in 2021).

Within Overall Experience, there has been a noteworthy 4.7% increase in students expressing confidence that they will complete their research within the institutions’ expected timescale when compared to 2021.

Although there was a slight decrease of 2.1% for how students would evaluate their entire research experience, the proportion of positive responses remain high (72.9% in 2023, 74.9% in 2021). There was an increase of 6.2% in the proportion of students who have seriously considered withdrawing from their programme (i.e., a decreased percentage of students who have not seriously considered withdrawing).

A 9.3% increase of the proportion of students who answered these questions cited financial reasons as a key reason. This would appear to align with multiple known economic challenges facing students.

It is positive to note that students’ feedback on many aspects of their experience as postgraduate researchers has improved since 2021 when public health restrictions severely impacted higher education as well as wider society.

Care should be taken, however, to examine results in more detail in order to minimise any lingering impact of those disruptions and to continue to seek to enhance students’ experiences.