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Promote the Postgraduate Research Experience Survey (PRES) to students

Find out more about PRES, how to promote it to your students and how to access and use the results.

The Postgraduate Research Experience Survey (PRES) is a confidential survey run by Advance HE and is open to postgraduate research students across the UK. It asks them about their programme experience so far.

When students can complete PRES

PRES is open in Semester 2 every two years.

The 2025 survey is open from Monday 3 March until 23:59 Wednesday 30 April 2025.

Doctoral students or professional doctorate students in their research phase are eligible to complete PRES if they:

  • did not enrol in January of the same year that PRES is running
  • are not in their first year of part-time study

Professional doctorate students

Previously, professional doctorate students were asked to take part in the Professional Doctorate Experience Survey (PDES). This was an internal survey created specifically for professional doctorate students, but it meant benchmarking results against the rest of the sector was not possible. To receive benchmarking data, PDES has been discontinued and professional doctorate students will now be eligible for existing sector-wide surveys.

Students in their research phase of study are eligible for PRES. Students in their taught phase are eligible for the Postgraduate Taught Experience Survey (PTES) instead.

Please note that DClinPsy students are eligible for PRES only.

You can see who is eligible by viewing the target population on the PRES SharePoint site.

Questions asked

PRES asks students a variety of questions about their doctoral student experience so far.

You can see the questions asked in PRES. They include:

  • supervision
  • on-campus and online resources
  • research culture and community
  • progress and assessment
  • responsibilities
  • support
  • research skills
  • professional development
  • two free-text comment questions

Constructive feedback

Students appreciate it when you provide detailed, useful and constructive feedback on their work to help them improve for next time. Similarly, receiving this type of feedback from students will help you better understand what changes could be made to improve your programme. Characteristics of constructive student feedback include:

  • honest
  • specific
  • respectful
  • solution-focused
  • includes the good and the bad
  • how to do better next time

Students' comments must be in line with the University's Dignity & Respect Policy and Procedure. We encourage you to report offensive or discriminatory comments to your Head of Department and the Student Engagement Team by emailing studentengagement@bath.ac.uk

How students can take part in PRES

PRES can be completed online or on a mobile device. It takes 10 to 15 minutes and is confidential.

Please direct your students to https://app.onlinesurveys.jisc.ac.uk/s/bathreg/pres-2025-bath or show them the QR code, which can be found on the PRES SharePoint. They will also receive emails from pres@bath.ac.uk

To access the survey, students will need to enter login credentials. These are:

  • their University username (without @bath.ac.uk) as the Respondent ID
  • their 9-digit student number, which can be found on their library card and SAMIS profile, as the Password

The 2025 survey is open from Monday 3 March until 23:59 on Wednesday 30 April 2025.

Promoting PRES to boost response rates

There are a variety of ways you can encourage your students to complete PRES.

The University's target PRES response rate for full-time students is 50%. Having a higher response rate means the results are more representative of your cohort and you can more confidently make decisions about if, and how, you make changes to enhance the student experience.

The University has best practice guidance and promotional resources to help you promote PRES to your students.

Highlight to students that they could win a first prize of £250 cash or second prize of £70 cash if they enter the prize draw by the survey closing date.

How responses are used and where to access the results

PRES results are discussed and used in several ways across the University.

You can view PRES results for the University and the rest of the sector by:

Responses are confidential to the Student Engagement Team but are anonymised before being released to the wider university. The anonymised responses will be discussed and used in Staff / Student Liaison Committees (SSLCs), departmental action plans and committee meetings.

Think about how to close the feedback loop with your students next academic year. This could involve:

  • telling incoming students about changes that were made as a result of the PRES feedback
  • familiarising Doctoral Reps with the data in the first SSLC of the academic year
  • checking in with students about how their experience is going and if any quick fixes could be made

Read about how the Doctoral College has used feedback from PRES 2023 to shape the current research experience.

Postgraduate Research Experience Survey (PRES)

PRES asks postgraduate research students studying in the UK about their experience so far at university.

PRES logo

Encourage your students to take part in PRES

Find out more

View information and resources to help you promote PRES

Contact us

For enquires and questions, please contact the Student Engagement Team.