Doctoral College

Highlights from 2023 Survey
  • 83.1% overall satisifaction (and ahead of the sector benchmark!)
  • Supervision best performing section with 89.5% satisfaction
  • 71% agree that the support for their health and wellbeing met their needs (8% above the Global benchmark!)
  • 63% of our PGRs agreed that the University of Exeter values their feedback (7% above the Russell Group benchmark!)
  • University Response Rate: 53%
HomeResearch and InnovationDoctoral CollegeSupportPGR Support and ServicesFeedbackPRES

Postgraduate Research Experience Survey (PRES)

What is PRES?

The Postgraduate Research Experience Survey  (PRES) is a national survey of postgraduate research students organised by the Advance HE (formally the Higher Education Academy - HEA): it's a chance for YOU to tell US what is and isn't working.

PRES 2023 is now closed. 

For every person who completed the survey, £1 will be donated to a charity of your choice. 

Why should I take part in PRES?

The Postgraduate Research Experience Survey (PRES) is a national survey co-ordinated by the Advance HE (formally the Higher Education Academy). Your responses are vital in helping us understand what we are doing well and what we can do better to improve the experiences of Research Postgraduate Students at the University of Exeter. We will use the results to identify areas where improvements could be made, both within the University of Exeter and nationally, to the experience of Research Postgraduate degree students. A high response rate will help us make the strongest possible case for changes as it enables us to demonstrate that a high proportion of our research community have spoken. PRES will ask you questions in the following areas:

  • Supervision
  • Resources
  • Research Culture
  • Progress and Assessment
  • Responsibilities
  • Support
  • Research Skills
  • Professional Development

How do I take part?

The survey is an online questionnaire and you should be able to complete it in 15 minutes or less. As a postgraduate research student, you will receive an email from the Dean of the Doctoral College inviting you to complete the survey; this email will include a unique URL link to the survey. Please note that all responses will be kept confidential and any identifying information will be removed by the survey team before the results of the survey are disseminated.

If you are unsure about anything to do with the survey, or haven’t received your survey URL link, please contact the Doctoral College at doctoral.college@exeter.ac.uk. Any students who do not complete the survey within the first couple of weeks may receive further reminders.

What happens to the results of PRES?

Following the close of the survey, the results are collated and analysed by the University's Policy and Planning, Business Intelligence team. We look at both the quantitative and qualitive date, this information is then used to help shape both the Doctoral College and Faculty PGR action plans. For feedback that relates to services outside of the department, we pass this feedback on and then work with them to effect change. For some examples of the work we have done in response to your feedback please visit our You Said, We Did webpage.