Research students at Sussex have welcomed a new course that develops their personal skills.
All first-year DPhil students, as well as part-time students in their second year, were invited to attend the intensive three-day course in Bramber House. The response was positive and the courses were oversubscribed. A total of 100 postgraduates applied for two separate sessions (from 9-11 January and 18-20 January).
Each student spent the entire course as part of a ‘syndicate’, working with nine fellow postgraduates from different departments and supported by a tutor. The team of tutors was drawn from industry, government and academia.
In their feedback, a number of participants welcomed the opportunity to work with DPhil students from other disciplines. Ronan Palen, who is in the first year of an English doctorate, said: “It was really interesting to see that we face the same problems.”
Over three full days, the students in each group of 10 got to know each other as they took part in case studies, role play and other exercises to develop their transferable skills.
These included negotiating skills, decision-making, problem solving, team work and communications (such as giving presentations, networking, and explaining their research to a lay audience).
Many of the overseas students on the course were faced with the additional challenge of working in a foreign language.
Participants reported that they “gained a huge amount of practical ideas” and developed transferable skills that will be “applicable to a wide range of situations”.
The course was developed and run by external consultant Gill Pullan of the GPA Partnership. She said: “By the end the students were more self-confident, more aware of the skills that they already have, and more able to benefit from their research.”
“It is the most successful course I could ever have been involved in,” concluded one postgraduate.
The event was so successful that it will be repeated for the next cohort of new research students, in December 2008.
Gill is also working with staff at Sussex to develop a similar course for second-year DPhil students. This will focus on career skills (CVs, interviews, etc.) and will run at the end of this summer.