Improving the research student experience: A tale of change within change

Annie Maddison WarrenAcademic Lead, CDS DTC3rd June 2016

Cranfield University?

• Postgraduate university• 4639 students (half FT/half PT)• 106 nationalities• c.800 research students• 1559 staff (305 academic, 93 professorial and 255 research)• 3 + 1 / 50

Specialist Themes

Aerospace Water

Environment & Agrifood

Leadership and Management

Manufacturing

Energy & Power

Transport Systems

Defence and Security

League Tables?

Unique facilities:• Crash Impact Centre • National Wind Tunnel Facility • Secure Site at Shrivenham• Airfield and Aircraft

Top 5 UK research- intensive university with Universities of Oxford, and Cambridge, Imperial College and University College London

Of our research is rated world leading or internationally excellent

81%

Mechanical, Aeronautical & Manufacturing Engineering:

4 in the UKRanked Top: 39 in the world

Cranfield Defence and Security?

• A School of the University, based at the Defence Academy of the UK at Shrivenham, Wiltshire

• 350 Staff• 149 FT and 1625 PT Taught Students• 70 FT and 80 PT Research Students • 5500 CPD Students • £30m Turnover

Setting the Scene…

The Environment

• Students graduating with debts of up to £50k

• An exclusively postgraduate university – inability to offset fees

• A lack of funding for PhDs• A shrinking postgraduate market

• Doctorates down 1% (2003-2012)• Employers uncertain about what skills a

research student can offer• Uncertainty about what good looks like in

the world of PhDs

An Opportunity…

Academic Lead of the DTC…?

CDS DTC

• A great boss• A team and regular meetings• From virtual to real…the rPod!• Cradle to grave• Interviews, induction and cohorts• Research skills and training programme

• Science and social sciences• PhD process• Part time students at a distance (global classroom and VLE)

• Welfare• Delivering qualified and employable researchers• Experience of teaching• Creating a research community• Defence and Security Doctoral Symposium• Academic Writing and Communication Fair

The rPod

The rPod

The VLE

e-Learning Capabilities

Global Classroom• High quality videoconferencing

capability for teaching, researchand collaboration

Can connect to any standards -based facility anywhere in the world

High definition cameras and projectors, state-of-the-art microphones and speakers

Real-time interaction between lecturer and students

Ability to provide courses and educational products worldwide

Global Classroom

DSDS15

Academic Writing and Communication Fair 2016

University Transformation

• Standardisation• Unification• Streamlining• QAA audit

Policy Transformation

• Government white paper on the future of Higher Education (HEI): Higher education: success as a knowledge economy – white paper (16 May)• The need for reform in the sector (last major legislative

reforms in 1992)• Access (social mobility), inflexible courses, unsatisfactory

provision, skills shortages, competitive market• HE Bill in October• Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF)

Lessons for Life

• For me, the essence of being an excellent university is the interaction between our staff, students and the environment in which we live and work.

Sir Peter GregsonVice-Chancellor

Cranfield University

Lessons for Life

• For me, the essence of being an excellent DTC is showing our students and staff that we care about them and are willing to invest in them as people, learners and researchers. Annie Maddison Warren

Academic Lead, CDS DTCCranfield University

Lessons for Change

• Vision• Passion• The right people in the right place at the right time• Top level support (and cover)• A brilliant team with a clear intent• Tapping into the zeitgeist!• Luck…