AHRC’s Postgraduate Programme

Professor Lyn Pykett

The Higher Education Academy Event – The Future of the Taught MA in English

[date] 2008

The Postgraduate Programme

AHRC’s Strategic Aim 2:

“To promote and support world-class postgraduate training designed to equip graduates for research or other professional careers”

Postgraduate competition

• Doctoral Awards Schemegain a PhD or DPhil qualification

• Research Preparation Master’s Schemeadvanced study and research training as a

foundation for doctoral research

• Professional Preparation Master’s Schemedeveloping high-level skills and competencies for

professional work and practice

• Applicant’s aptitude, ability and preparedness for proposed study

• Referees’ reports on the applicant’s proposal and preparedness for PG study

• HEI information about

– Research training provision

– Applicant’s quality and proposed research

– Supervision arrangements

– Other support and resources provided

What is assessed?

2007 competition outcomes

Eligible applications

Awards taken up

Success rate%

PPM 1317 327 25%

RPM 1742 412 24%

Doctoral 2200 733 33%

Total 5259 1472 28%

2008 competition

• Final year of competition in its current format

• Cap on number of applications

• Guidance was published in December

New schemes

For studentships to commence in October 2009:

Block Grant Partnerships (BGPs)

AHRC Studentship Competition

Goals of the new system

• 2 competitions – equal status. Approx. 80/20 split

• Support strategy for producing world-class postgraduates

• High-quality research and training

• Health & sustainability of arts & humanities disciplines

• Opportunities for interdisciplinarity

• Encourage integration of PG programmes with research and knowledge transfer strategies

BGP competition

• HEIs with average of 8 or more offers eligible

• Awards = 5 years of studentship award allocations

• Doctoral, RPM and PPM studentships

• HEIs make awards to students – move away from AHRC assessment of individual proposals

BGP applications to include:

• HEI’s overall strategy for arts and humanities research PG strategy – how does this align with AHRC priorities?

• Numbers of studentships sought over each of the 5 years, by type and subject of study

• Evidence that the HEI is a good place for study in the relevant subject areas

AHRC Studentship Competition

• aims to provide funding for ‘pockets of excellence’

• open to HEIs who don’t hold a BGP

• Numbers of applications from each HEI will be capped to ensure a much higher success rate

Collaborative Research Training

• pump-priming to develop new or enhance existing research training provision

• departments in at least 2 HEIs

• provision of specialised, subject-specific research training

• £60,000 national scale bids

• £10,000 specialist training bids

• £2,000 student-led initiative

Partnerships - Collaborative Doctoral Awards

• analogous to CASE awards in science and engineering

• offering doctoral students the chance to conduct research in collaboration with a non-academic body

• supporting collaboration with partners beyond academic sector

• Annual comp – c. 150 projects current

• also offered in Strategic Research Programmes

International

• Library of Congress - Joint scheme with the ESRC

• National Institutes for the Humanities Japan (NIHU) – new for 2008

• Scholarship for an award holder to undertake research at the Library of Congress in Washington DC or NIHU

• Provide opportunity to access resources at these institutions and network with a range of international scholars

• Provides support for up to 2 doctoral students attached to an AHRC funded Research Grant

• Award holders treated in the same way as all other doctoral award holders

Project studentships