Recruiting Postgraduate Research Students

We recognise that the recruitment of PGR students is not primarily a matter of marketing. PGR recruitment goes hand in hand with research strategy. But there are marketing aspects to the recruitment of PGR students.

• This guide is also available as a PDF.

Deciding factors

Research by the National Postgraduate Committee indicates a hierarchy of factors influence the decision making process of PGR students:

1. Can I find a suitable supervisor for my area of interest?
2. How will I be supported by my supervisor and department?
3. What funding is available?
4. What academic facilities does the University offer PGR students?
5. What are the social aspects of being a PGR student at this University?

Our own enquiry data suggests two key initial sources of information on PGR study:

Research strategy matters more than marketing

PGR student recruitment is fundamentally about research strategy rather than marketing. Not only do the research interests have to match but recruitment is often tied to offering funding which is in turn tied to research grant activity.

Principal funding source for full-time PGR students

Financial Support and Incentives for Departments

A PGR student has two incentive areas within finance.

Firstly, any fee income and HEFCE income is included in the income used within the department's income and expenditure account. Therefore more students should lead to a higher contribution.

Secondly, in the non-pay formula there is an incentive part to reward PGR students. The amounts are per student FTE, and uncapped. The values are:

And of course, PGR students form an increasingly important element of national research assessments (such as the forthcoming REF).