At a time when taught Masters programmes are multiplying in order to meet the rapidly growing number of postgraduate students, it is important to assess the challenges facing English departments in maintaining the health and quality of their postgraduate provision. The event I organised at Edge Hill College of Higher Education (4 June 2004) with the support of the English Subject Centre was focussed on the provision in the new university sector, where areas of concern such as recruitment and retention are often particularly pressing. Delegates from a range of institutions were able to share good practice and consider future directions for development and expansion.
The event also aimed to address the changing needs of the typical applicant, who is now more likely to be either an overseas student or a mature student only able to study part-time. Speaking about the marked rise in students opting for additional qualifications to the undergraduate degree, Howard Green, chairman of the UK Council of Graduate Education, remarked in a recent Guardian interview that,‘A lot of the growth has been among people returning to education later in life. Among postgraduate students, some 25-30% are in mid-career, and more than 40% are studying part-time. For the universities, the challenge is to understand more about professional development and about new groups whose needs are different from the traditional academic community’. Catering for these new groups is clearly a priority, as is recognising the changing demands in the market for postgraduate qualifications. A presentation from the Arts and Humanities Research Board’s Postgraduate Division helped to identify aspects of the new funding system which particularly impacted on applicants to smaller or newer Higher Education Institutions. Of particular importance was the new availability of funding for part-time MA students and the need for institutions to offer a solid grounding in research training, to ensure that MA graduates stand a good chance of securing funding for PhDs.
Janet Speake, Associate Dean of Postgraduate Studies at Liverpool Hope, argued that interdisciplinary degrees were often more suited to the needs and resources of smaller institutions, though there were organisational challenges in deciding who paid for and owned such programmes. Her case study of the newly validated MA in Humanities, which also offers the possibility for specialization, led to a discussion amongst delegates about the advantages and disadvantages of such broad programmes. Some felt this to be a return to an out-dated system which was now being phased out in their institutions, whilst others saw it as a useful way to maximise recruitment. Her presentation also flagged up the success of shared Research Methods modules across programmes and disciplines; the fact that this point was later reiterated by some of the other speakers suggests that this approach is increasingly seen as a viable method of using resources.
The following panel on ‘Future Directions and Recent Developments’ addressed issues around collaboration, vocationalism, and e-learning. Managing joint MA programmes across institutions, as Manchester Metropolitan University and the University of Salford currently do, raised the same kind of administrative difficulties as interdisciplinary degrees, but was clearly resource-efficient, according to Angelica Michelis from MMU. Delegates shared their experiences of and concerns about on-line programmes and distance learning and their preferences for mixed-mode delivery. Many agreed with John Joughin, Course Leader of the new MA in Global Shakespeare at University of Central Lancashire, that elearning worked most effectively as a supplement to, rather than a substitute for, campus-based provision. In the wake of the Higher Education Funding Council for England’s acknowledgement of the recent failure of the e-university, the question of whether e-learning is actually ‘worth it’ in relation to its attractiveness to potential applicants is even more resonant.
Other speakers compared current provision with their own experiences of studying for MAs before the ‘audit culture’, focussing particularly on curriculum issues and the market for individual programmes. Robert Sheppard highlighted the different issues involved in postgraduate study in Creative Writing, an area of English Studies which unusually started off at MA level, and spoke about the importance of incorporating poetics into the MA in Writing Studies at Edge Hill. Richard Pearson described how the interdisciplinary MA in Nineteenth-Century Studies at University College,Worcester had become geared towards the part-time market. One strategy was to give students the option of completing the programme over 5 years, which generated discussion amongst delegates about the benefits of flexibility and its effect on completion rates.
The day’s discussions suggest that interdisciplinarity increasingly seems to be the way forward for new universities. In order to maximise recruitment, programmes should be made attractive to part-time and overseas students, often by evening delivery or flexibility surrounding deadlines. The jury was still out on e-learning, seen as a key element of future provision but not necessarily the best use of limited resources.
Note: some of the presentations from this event will shortly be available on the English Subject Centre website.
