PGR Annual Monitoring Review
AMR is the University’s primary monitoring exercise for PGR student progression. It is a confidential survey which is completed by every PGR student and their supervisory team and is used to ensure that students are progressing in their studies and to assess any issues they may be having. It is the opportunity for students and supervisors to think about progress and raise any concerns you feel may be affecting a student's work and/or progress.
AMR should not be the first time that concerns are raised to PGR Support, or communicated between students and supervsisors. If new concerns have emerged, it is important that they are reported to the relevant PGR Support Team outside of AMR as there may be several weeks between the submission of the report and action taken. If there are wellbeing concerns, please contact the PGR Education Wefare Team (EWT).
You are advised to read the TQA PGR Handbook, Chapter 7, AMR: Code of Good Practice which details the regulations around AMR.
AMR is compulsory for all registered students.
The AMR Process
The AMR cycle takes place over several months, although a lot of the work happens behind the scnenes and is completed by your PGR Support Team. The information below is a guide to some of the key events in the AMR cycle to help explain what you can expect and when once you have submitted your report.
You can download the AMR Timeline 2024 which shows the annual cycle.
AMR Launch
You will receive an email in December/January with some more information about the upcoming AMR cycle, which usually launches the following January. AMR launch takes place over a week, where all the reports are created and sent in MyPGR. Each Faculty will receive their reports on different days in the same week. All reports for students and supervisors in all Faculties are due on the same day.
2023/4 dates
- 29th & 30th January 2024: AMR reports are launched in MyPGR. Note that the reports will be sent throughout the day.
- 29th February 2024: AMR reports should be submitted by students and supervisors.
Completing the Report
You will be sent a link to your AMR which is completed in MyPGR. Your report will be available when you log into MyPGR. AMR should take 5-10 minutes to complete for students and supervisors. You will be asked the questions listed below, and you MUST complete the form in MyPGR. Most of the questions give the option for "yes", "yes, but I have some concerns" or "no". If you answer "yes, but I have some concerns" or "no" to any questions, you will be asked to provide further details.
Students and supervisors are strongly encouraged to discuss the AMR reports and/or their progress before they are submitted. Reports submitted by students cannot be viewed by their supervisory team. Supervisor reports cannot be viewed by their students, although the answrer to Q7 only will be shared with the student in the outcome email.
Students
- Are you satisfied with your academic progress?
- Please provide a brief summary of your achievements.
- Are you satisfied with the feedback on your progress that you have received from your supervisors? (please explain)
- Have you completed the Training Needs Analysis (TNA) with your supervisors for this current academic year?
- Have your identified training needs been met? (please explain)
- What action would you like to see as a result of the feedback you have raised?
- Is there anything else that you wish to raise, in confidence, that will not form part of the AMR process and will not be shared with your supervisors?
Supervisors
- What work has your student produced (since starting their programme or the last annual monitoring review)?
- Are you satisfied with this student’s academic progress? (please explain)
- Are there any obstacles likely to affect progress or delay timely submission or completion for this student? (please explain)
- Have you agreed a Training Needs Analysis (TNA) during the last 12 months?
- Have there been any problems with the provision of uptake of the agreed training? (please provide details)
- If you could make a recommendation to the annual monitoring panel with regard to this student, what would it be? (please specify the reasons for your recommendation)
- What positive feedback would you like to share with the student?* (This question will only appear if you have recommended a 'satisfactory' outcome).
Supervisors will not have access to see reports submitted by their students, and students will not have access to see their supervisors' reports.
*Question 7 from the supervisor's report will be shared in the outcome with the student.
After the closure date
No action is taken until the closure date, detailed in the table above. Students who have failed to submit their report by that date will be sent a progress check under the Unsatisfactory Student Progress & Engagement Procedures.
The PGR Support Teams will collate the reports and send to the Department AMR Committee, who will read each report ahead of the AMR Committee meeting. Note that members of the AMR Committee will not have access to see reports from students who they supervise - those reports will be reviewed by an independent committee.
Due to the number of reports that are submitted (a minimum of 3 per student), the AMR Committee usually meets 4-6 weeks after the report closure dates to ensure that they have had time to read through everything.
Outcomes
Once the AMR Committee have met, the PGR Support Team will start processing outcomes. The PGR Support Teams try to send the outcomes for all students as closely together as possible, but due to the volume of outcomes that are sent, there may be a window from when the first and last outcomes are sent in each Department. If you have concerns that you have not received an outcome by the date suggested in the AMR Flow Chart, you may contact your PGR Support Team to find out the status of your outcome.
Typical outcomes will include:
- Progress with no concerns
- Cause for Concern: Launch/escalation of Unsatisfactory Student Progress & Engagement Procedures
- Outcome held pending further information
Note for supervisors: Outcomes will be sent to students only. Any issues raised by supervisors will be noted by the AMR committee and the outcomes will reflect the feedback accordingly. PGR Support will follow up with supervisors individually where it is deemed necessary. In all circumstances, we encourage students to discuss their AMR outcomes with their supervisors, where they are comfortable and able to do so.
Students and supervisors who have raised other matters within their report (eg. questions about funding or training) will be directed to the AMR FAQs (please see below) in the first instsance as part of their outcome. The FAQs cover a range of topics so should address common issues. Where specific matters have been raised (eg. a matter specific to their project or supervision), students and/or will be contacted outside of AMR with further information. Supervisors will not be copied into any follow up emails to the student, and students will not be copied into follow-ups with the supervisors.
Whilst we will do our best to send the outcome and any follow-up at the same time, there may be delays in follow-ups being sent, simply due to the volume of outcomes that the PGR Support Team need to process.
Once the Outcomes have been sent, the PGR Support Team will review the responses from each Faculty and will populate the "You said, We did" pages with common themes that arise from the reports. Once the pages have been updated students and supervisors will be notified.
AMR Annual Evaluation
There is an annual review of AMR where feedback from students, supervisors, AMR Committees and PGR Support is collated to consider how the process can be made more effective and meaningful in the future. If you have any suggestions about how AMR can be improved, please do share your feedback with your PGR Support Team.
Frequently Asked Questions
Completing the AMR - Student Questions
Yes, completion of AMR is mandatory for the majority of our PGRs and is also part of the University regulations governing your research degree.
If you are currently interrupted, you will still be invited to complete the survey but this is not mandatory and you will not be chased. Students on or returning from a long-term interruption may be exempt from the AMR process and this is assessed on a case-by-case basis.
If you have recently had your final viva and are awaiting the outcome or award of your degree, AMR is optional for you.
Any students that commenced their studies any time after 01 November will not be included in the current AMR cycle.
The form will be available online via MyPGR. At the end of January, on the date specified above, you will receive an email with an individualised link to the report form. If you cannot find the email, please check your spam folder before letting us know. You should also be able to access your AMR report in MyPGR. Please see the Student MyPGR AMR Guide for more detailed guidance.
Your responses are entirely confidential and your responses will not be shared with your supervisors.
It should take no longer than around 10 minutes to complete your AMR form. The questions that you will be asked are detailed in the page above.
Your responses and your supervisors’ responses will be discussed by the Departmental AMR Committee. AMR Committees are fully objective and confidential and will therefore not include staff who are involved in your supervision. Normally, the Committee is comprised of the PGR Director (DDPGR) for your department, the Faculty Director of Postgraduate Research Students (FDPGR), and the PGR Support Officer/Manager for your Department. If your supervisor is a member of the Departmental AMR Committee, we will ensure that they do not see your form - your forms will be reviewed by a different Committee.
If the AMR panel decides that any action is needed based on your and your supervisors’ feedback, the appropriate action will be discussed and taken as required. We will aim to share the outcome and any follow-up with you no later than May.
When you start to complete your AMR form you will be asked to check if your details are correct, should you see any errors then you will have the option to select the ‘My Details are Incorrect’ button and to input the issue/s. An email will then be sent automatically to the correct PGR Support team. You can also contact your PGR Support team directly. Please note that if you are following an MPhil/PhD programme and you have not yet upgraded to PhD, your maximum programme duration will show as three years (pro-rata for part time). Subject to satisfactory upgrade, this will be automatically updated to show the full length of your programme.
No action is taken until the AMR closure date (detailed in the page above), after which, PGR support will compile and read every report from students and supervisors. The AMR Committee meetings will take place 4-6 weeks after the AMR Closure date, depending on panel availability and the number of students in each department. There will be a minimum of 3 reports per student, and some departments have 2-300 students, so it will take a while for the Committee to read through and make preliminary decisions for each student.
Some of the AMR Committee metings will take place at different times depending on Committee availability, so colleagues in different departments may receive outcomes at slightly different times.
We aim to send out the majority of AMR responses (via MyPGR) as soon as possible and no later than May.
AMR is not intended to address urgent concerns or support needs. Should you have any urgent concerns or need urgent support please contact the relevant PGR Support team or the PGR Education Welfare Advisor.
For urgent welfare support/emergencies please see the Wellbeing Services’ ‘Urgent Support’ webpage.
It is not possible to make decisions about AMR if there is information missing from the reports. The most common reasons that the outcome will be held are:
- Supervisor(s) have not submitted the report
- Something in a report from the student or supervisors may have caused a concern about progress or wellbeing which needs following up
- DDPGRs wish to meet with supervisors for clarification about something in the report
Completing the AMR - Supervisor Questions
Yes, completion of AMR is mandatory for lead and second supervisors of registered PGRs and is also part of the University regulations governing research degrees. AMR is optional for additional and external supervisors, but we encourage all supervisors to provide a brief report on their students to give a holistic overview of their progress.
Supervisors are still required to complete AMR for students who are currently interrupted. AMR may not be required for students on or returning from a long-term interruption and this is assessed on a case-by-case basis - the reports will be sent to those for whom a report is required.
AMR is optional for students who have recently had their final viva and are awaiting the outcome or award of their degree.
For any students that commenced their studies any time after 01 November, completion of the AMR is not mandatory, but we would encourage you to do so as a way to get feedback on your progress at an early stage.
The form will be available online via MyPGR. At the end of January, on the date specified above, you will receive an email with an individualised link to the report form. If you cannot find the email, please check your spam folder before letting us know. You should also be able to access your AMR report in MyPGR. Please see the MyPGR Supervisor Guide for more detailed guidance.
You will be asked several questions relating to each student’s progress in their studies. We want you to answer the survey independently (ie without discussion with anyone else), giving open and honest answers about each student under your supervision. It is important to document any issues that a student is having that may affect their ability to complete by their deadline. Recommendations for further action to be taken should be stated explicitly. If you have had little contact with your student, please indicate that.
AMR is not designed to address urgent issues, so if there is anything that is currently affecting your student's progress, it is important to report those issues to the relevant PGR Support team or the PGR Education Welfare Advisor as soon as possible so timely action may be taken.
Please be assured that the reports that you complete are confidential, with the exception of Q7 for lead supervisors*. The student student and co-supervisor/s will not have access to the reports that you submit. Similarly, your students’ and co-supervisors’ responses will not be shared with you.
*Question 7 for lead supervisors asks the lead supervisor to write a short statement of positive feedback to be shared with their student, when they have confirmed that the student is progressing well. This statement will be shared with the student in the outcome email. This is the only part of the form which be shared with students.
Should you find any anomalies or have any concerns regarding confidentiality while completing the online form, please take screenshots and report them to us the relevant PGR Support team as a matter of urgency, detailing every step you took to get there. The IT team can then take emergency action if needed in order to resolve any issues.
It should take no longer than around 10 minutes to complete your AMR form. The questions that you will be asked are detailed in the page above.
The content of your answers, along with student responses and a high-level overview of each student’s MyPGR record, will be discussed by the Departmental AMR Committee. AMR Committees are fully objective and confidential and will therefore include staff who are not involved in the student's supervision, normally, the PGR Director (DDPGR) for the department, the Faculty Director of Postgraduate Research Students (FDPGR), and the PGR Support Officer/Manager for your Department.
If you are a member of the AMR Committee, we will ensure that you do not assess your own student’s feedback. If any action is deemed appropriate, based on your and your student’s feedback, the appropriate action will be discussed and taken as required.
When you start to complete the AMR form you will be asked to check if your student’s details are correct. Should you see any errors, you will have the option to select the ‘My Details are Incorrect’ button and to input the issues. An email will then be sent automatically to the correct PGR Support team. You can also contact your PGR Support team directly.
Please note that if your student is following an MPhil/PhD programme and has not yet upgraded to PhD, the maximum programme duration will show as three years (pro-rata for part time). When the student successfully passes upgrade, this will automatically update to show the full length of the programme.
Supervisors will not receive outcome emails for individual students, but will be notified when the AMR cycle has closed.
No action is taken until the AMR closure date (detailed in the page above), after which, PGR support will compile and read every report from students and supervisors. The AMR Committee meetings will take place 4-6 weeks after the AMR Closure date, depending on panel availability and the number of students in each department. There will be a minimum of 3 reports per student, and some departments have 2-300 students, so it will take a while for the Committee to read through and make preliminiary decisions for each student.
We aim to send out the majority of AMR responses (via MyPGR) as soon as possible and no later than May.
Some of the AMR Committee metings will take place at different times depending on Committee availability, so colleagues in different departments may receive outcomes at slightly different times.
As AMR is a confidential process, supervisors are not copied into the outcomes sent to students. All feedback provided by supervisors is read and taken into consideration when deciding the outcome for students, and supervisors will be contacted outside of the AMR process to follow up on feedback that requires further action. Should you have any concerns, you are encouraged to contact relevant PGR Support team.
AMR is not intended to address urgent concerns or support needs. Should you have any urgent concerns or need urgent support please contact the relevant PGR Support team or the PGR Education Welfare Advisor.
For urgent welfare support/emergencies please see the Wellbeing Services’ ‘Urgent Support’ webpage.
Issues commonly raised through AMR
We realise that throughout the course of a degree, many circumstances may impact a student's wellbeing. Therefore we want to remind you of all the wellbeing support available to you should you need it.
Wellbeing - PGR Education Welfare Advisor
If you have any concerns about your mental health or wellbeing, you can speak to the PGR Education Welfare Advisor confidentially and they can give advice and signpost to further support.
Spectrum.Life
Spectrum.Life is a employee assistance programme which is also open to PGRs. They provide confidential telephone, video and live chat counselling service to help with things like stress, anxiety, depression, relationship issues, bereavement and more. It is easy to access through the online portal, is flexible and provides you with choice and clinically approved resources to help you to manage your health and wellbeing at work and at home.
This is a confidential service and information about who has used it, will not be fed back to the University.
A full list of all the wellbeing support available to PGRs can be found on the PGRs Health and Wellbeing webpage.
Please refer to the Doctoral College website for details of the portfolio requirements and procedures for upgrade.
Upgrade submission requirements vary depending on the Faculty and Department that you are in, and further details are available via the links below.
- Requirements for students based in the Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (HASS)
- Requirements for students based in the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences (HLS)
- Requirements for students based in the Faculty of Environment, Science and Economy (ESE)
Your upgrade deadline will be shown on your MyPGR – if you think this is incorrect for any reason please contact the relevant PGR Support team.
Please refer to the Submission, Examination and Completion pages at the Doctoral College website for information.
Your final submission deadline will be shown on your MyPGR – if you think this is incorrect for any reason please contact the relevant PGR Support team.
PGRs can request changes to their status through MyPGR. This includes the following changes:
- interruption of study
- mode of attendance (i.e., full-time to part-time or vice versa)
- continuation status
Further information about changing status, including requirements, can be found in the PGR Handbook.
We would encourage you to reach out to your supervisors in the first instance to arrange a meeting to discuss what input and guidance they may be able to provide.
It may be helpful to arrange a meeting with the full supervisory team in order to discuss how supervision will work eg which supervisor will provide input and guidance on certain aspects of your thesis; and to clarify expectations surrounding contact, regularity, response times etc.
This should be captured in the supervisory agreement form.
You are encouraged to discuss any concerns with your PGR Support Team and Pastoral Tutor (whose details you can find in MyPGR) if you remain dissatisfied with any element of your supervision after meeting with your supervisors, or if you do not receive a response from them.
The University has created the Success for All Fund which is available to help you if you are experiencing unexpected financial challenges affecting your ability to study. Details about other funding available to PGR students is detailed on the Doctoral College Funding website.
If you have questions about your tuition fees, please refer to the Student Finance webpages, and you may contact the Student Fees team directly through SID.
If you have a question about funding or a studentship administered or supported by the University of Exeter, please contact your PGR Support Team.
if you have a question about a Masters or Doctoral Loan administered through the Student Loans Company, please refer to the Doctoral College Student Loans pages.
We would like to direct you towards research training available via the Doctoral College Researcher Development Programme. There is training to suit every stage of your research degree, whether you are just starting out or preparing for submission and your viva. There may also be research training and development opportunities available via your department or Faculty, these will be advertised by email.
Insessional English language support is available via INTO.
Academic writing support is offered by the Researcher Development Programmewho offer a wide range of writing support for PGRs.
Academic writing support is also available from the Royal Literary Fellows – PGRs can book 1-2-1 sessions with the RLFs with queries and problems related to the practical aspects of writing.
Many of our students find it useful for their work to be proof-read prior to submission of their upgrade portfolio or their final thesis submission. You may be able to use funds from your research allowance to pay for a proof reader; check with thePGR Support team for your Faculty. The University has a copy editor register to help with your search (requires log-in). It is your responsibility to negotiate the terms of the proof reading service. You will need to pay for the proof-reader up front and claim back expenses through the research students allowance (if permitted by your Faculty). Please also ensure that you read throughthe University regulations governing the use of proof-reading services.
You may be able to request items using the Inter-Library Loans system if unavailable in the University library. Each department also has a dedicatedLibrary Liaison Officer who will be able to advise further if needed.
Wehave a dedicated PGR careers consultant – PGRs can book an appointment to discuss career options, get feedback on a job application or help with an interview.
In addition, the Doctoral College has put together a suite of web pages on career planning targeted at PGRs.
All PGRs are reminded of the need to maintain an up-to-date MyPGR contact diary of supervision meetings, even when on continuation status.
Study space for PGRs is managed within Faculties and Departments, and as such, you should contact your PGR Support Teamto discuss your individual circumstances.
You are also encouraged to refer to your Faculty PGR Handbook about the study space policy within your Faculty:
We would like to remind all our PGRs to ensure that your supervisory agreement is kept up to date and regularly reviewed, particularly as you move to new stages of your project or if there are any changes to supervision (such as a supervisor’s parental or research leave). It is important to maintain communication between supervisors about when work should be submitted to them and when you should expect feedback from them too, so that the whole team are working to the same understanding.
Please do also review and update your Training Needs Analysis annually to take account of any arising training needs as you move to new stages of your project.
You should maintain regular contact with supervisors and maintain an up to date record of your supervision meetings using your MyPGR contact diary.
It is important to ensure that your data collection can beadaptedif necessary,eg alternatives to in-person data collection, to ensure that your progress is not delayed should COVID restrictions change either in the UK or in the country where you plan to undertake research or fieldwork. You should ensure that you have a robust plan for the completion of your research/fieldworkif needed; discuss your data collection plans with your supervisors, who can advise about contingency planning should this become necessary.