PRES | Learning and Teaching @ Newcastle

NEW: A vision for education and skills at Newcastle University: Education for Life 2030+

PRES 17th March - 9th May 2025

What is PRES?

The Postgraduate Research Experience Survey (PRES) is a national survey conducted in the UK (and sometimes in other countries) to collect feedback from postgraduate research (PGR) students, such as those pursuing doctoral degrees (e.g., PhD, DPhil) or research-based master's degrees (e.g., MRes, MPhil). The survey focuses on various aspects of the research student experience, aiming to improve the quality of postgraduate education.

Why participate in PRES?

Provides national, institutional and subject/discipline benchmarking

Data from the Postgraduate Research Experience Survey (PRES) allows you to compare your institution’s postgraduate provision against others in the sector at a national, institution and discipline level. This information can be used to identify areas of strength, as well as to address how teaching may be changed to improve student outcomes and the appeal of programmes to prospective students.

We have designed and tested the Postgraduate Research Experience Survey (PRES) in conjunction with experts from across the higher education sector.

PRES allows you to:

gain valuable data to inform enhancements to the experience of postgraduate researchers
benchmark your provision against others, while your results remain confidential

What does the survey ask students about?

PRES has been developed in consultation with the sector and has been robustly tested across many disciplines, in several institutions and with students to ensure it produces valid results.

The survey focuses on students’ experiences of:

supervision
resources
research community
progress and assessment
skills and professional development
wellbeing

It also considers students’ motivations for taking their programme.

PRES results can be used to benchmark your institution’s postgraduate provision against others in the global higher education sector. Results can be broken down by discipline, gender, mode of study and domicile, helping you target enhancement where it is most needed. The results can be used to inform sector bodies and policymakers about the experience students can expect.

Results

Results will be shared after Advance HE have completed their analysis which is usually August/September.

How Results Are Shared

Results are shared with senior leaders for strategic review. Data is presented in detailed reports, including comparisons to sector benchmarks and the reports are made available through the Strategic Insights Portal and is placed in the School Shared Access folders.