Enhancing the PG student experience

Our suite of professional development programmes provide training on key attributes which are of value to a range of employers, such as multicultural team working, critical thinking, problem solving and entrepreneurial skills. 

Our professional development programmes are designed in collaboration with Student Programme Partners and offered through multi-mode delivery, enabling access and the freedom for students to choose when and how they engage with their professional development.

Students attending Graduate School workshops, have opportunity to connect with peers from across all academic Departments and from a range of backgrounds and cultures.   Our Global Fellows Programmes, delivered with our partners at TUM, NTU, Tokyo Tech and AIMS-Rwanda, provide further opportunity for students to work in multicultural teams and develop global team working skills.

All our training is free to Imperial College postgraduates, and Departments can arrange for the Graduate School to deliver training to their cohorts of students.

Cornerstone, our dedicated professional development programme for Research Degree Supervisors, which focuses on supporting a healthy and productive research culture.

The aim of Cornerstone is to deliver the College’s mandatory training for new research degree supervisors, as well as refresher training for existing supervisors.  Cornerstone was designed in partnership with supervisors, students and experts from across College.

Through its flexible and customised workshops, and its dedicated website, Cornerstone brings together supervisors to share information, resources, best practice and discuss supervisory challenges within and across Departments.   Cornerstone also aims to ensure supervisors are properly resourced and able to confidently sign post their students to sources of support.

Our mental health and wellbeing support activities complement provision offered elsewhere in College and are designed to offer students choice and options when they are facing challenges.

We offer dedicated 1-2-1 support for students who have specific professional development needs as well as a Postgraduate Coaching programme,  delivered by our team of trained coaches.

We recognise that one cause of anxiety and worry for research students and their supervisors occurs when there is a breakdown in their supervisory partnership.  The Graduate School’s research degree mediation programme is available to help students and supervisors who are experiencing challenges, to find resolution.

Whilst the College has a range of support available to PGRs with respect to supervisory challenges, this is not all in one place and can be difficult to find.  With that in mind, we have brought together, in one single website, information to support research students experiencing supervisory challenges.  The website offers practical tools and tips as well as clearly signposting to staff who can help and support.

Our Professional Effectiveness Programme offers students training on academic resilience, developing assertiveness, enhancing wellbeing and a workshop delivered in partnership with EDIC on mental health awareness.

Through our collaboration with the Student Counselling and Mental Health Service has resulted in new training for research supervisors on supporting the mental health and wellbeing of their students.

Finally, it is essential that Senior Tutors (PGRs) have access to current College guidance, policies and procedures so that they can provide pastoral care and welfare advice to research students.  To take this forward, we have revived the Senior Tutor PGR network, so that these colleagues have access to a community of support and opportunity to share best practice.

The Activate Mentoring Programme offers recipients of the Presidential Scholarships for Black students and Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic PhD students, mentorship from dedicated and trained mentors, who are staff, PhD students and alumni of the College.  From 2024/25 Activate will be extended to recipients of the College’s new Master’s Scholarships for disabled students.

We offer a suite of College-wide events, available to all postgraduate students across the College, which deliver opportunity for students to showcase their research, to network and to collaborate.

Our postgraduate community fund provides grants for students to deliver events, activities and social events to enhance their experience.

Our team is dedicated to ensuring that postgraduates are given equal consideration when new strategies, policies and procedures are being developed by the College.  We work closely with the Students’ Union to lead and participate in College-wide projects which impact our community.

The Graduate School also leads the development of the College’s PRES Action Plan, ensuring continuity between survey results and ensuring actions being developed feed into the wider work of the College.

Whilst there is opportunity for students to engage with the College’s Careers Service and alumni, through our dedicated networking events and workshops, we recognise that this is an area which could be enhanced. Our aim over the coming years is to work with students and our colleagues in Alumni Relations and the Careers Service to explore ways in which to strengthen provision in this area and support for students who are considering non-academic career pathways.

Master’s students have indicated that they would welcome enhancements to be made to their programme of professional development and to the way in which we communicate our provision to them. With that in mind, we will review our Master’s programme and resources, consulting with our academic colleagues, students and incorporating best practice across the sector. 

The Graduate School is one of the only institutions in the UK to offer the Membership Accreditation and Recognition Scheme (MARS). MARS provides opportunity for postgraduate students to achieve Registered Scientist Status, full Membership or Chartered Status of the Royal Society of Biology, Royal Society of Chemistry or the Institute of Physics. To enable more students to have access to MARS, we will work with academic Departments to identify new professional bodies with whom we can work with to achieve this.

We will expand our offer of fully online and self-paced workshops to add flexibility and access to our education and work in partnership with the College’s Interdisciplinary Ed Tech Lab to develop a “Professional Skills Academy.”  The Academy will increase access to our online training for Imperial’s distance learners, part-timers and those who find it challenging to engage with professional development during traditional office hours.  The Academy will also provide access to our training for the external community, generating income for the Graduate School which will be re-invested for the benefit of students.

We will continue to celebrate our international Awards and seek further opportunity for international recognition of our provision.

As the College diversifies its student population, we recognise the need to provide additional support to research degree supervisors so that all communities of research students have an excellent experience. Aligning with the College’s mental health and wellbeing strategy, we will work with our colleagues in the EDIC, POD and Student Services, to improve signposting to existing resources as well as develop new training opportunities for research supervisors.

Whilst Cornerstone enables opportunity for supervisors to discuss their practice and share knowledge and approaches with peers across the institution, further opportunities should be introduced. With that in mind, we will work with our colleagues in the EDU to pilot new workshop(s) on supervisory practice as part of the Imperial Festival of Learning and Teaching. 

We will continue to work with colleagues in the Faculty of Medicine to deliver “Project Rescue.” Project Rescue is a new “academic community model” designed to be a supportive intervention for both students and their supervisors.  If the pilot is successful, we will work with the other Faculties to explore wider implementation.

We know from our research student community that many experience Imposter Syndrome and would like support in this area. We will work with our student community and experts in College to develop new training for research students on coping with Imposter Syndrome.

We will continue to embed the strategic goals of the College’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy, improving supervisors’ awareness and understanding of health and wellbeing challenges facing our students and the research community. A healthy research culture is of paramount importance to the College and to the Graduate School and will represent a key reference point for REF 2028, People, Culture and the Environment.

Following the pandemic there has been a decline in student engagement with in-person community activities and events. We will work with the Students’ Union to understand how we can improve our offering in this area and develop new activities to support a thriving postgraduate community across College.  Through the Imperial Experience Project, we will also develop new guidance for Departments and the Faculties on community development.

Imperial is a large organisation and we recognise that not all staff and students are aware of our provision and how we can support the student experience. To take this forward, we will develop a new communication strategy so that students and the wider College community understand our offer and can access our provision.

Importantly, as Imperial widens its community, there is an important role for the Graduate School in terms of providing “wrap around” support for under-represented groups, including postgraduates from disadvantaged backgrounds.  We recognise that this is an evolving area and we will continue to work with colleagues in Outreach and students across College to identify and learn how we can support these students.

From 2023/24, the Graduate School will lead the PGR sub-Group of the Imperial Experience Project, which is focusing on enhancing the wellbeing of PGRs and opportunities to strengthen the PGR community at College. We will ensure that deliverables being developed as part of this project support and align with the College’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy.

We will continue to be responsive to the needs of our postgraduate community and will work with College and the Union to take forward projects and initiatives which have a positive affect on enhancing the postgraduate student experience.