Why We Really Need to be Talking – and Listening – to Prospective Masters Students Right Now

Talking to future postgraduate students is, without a doubt, one of the most interesting parts of my job. That's not exaggeration or LinkedIn window dressing*. It's simply true. Postgraduate study is interesting, by definition. It's about people pursuing the knowledge they really care about. I mean, some of them care about it so much that, if it doesn't exist, they go off and create it. Getting to talk to hundreds of prospective Masters and PhD students a year is a real privilege and a pleasure, whether it happens in a big hall on campus, or via a laptop in my kitchen (thanks, 2020).

It's also pretty useful for me professionally. My team manages and produces content that exists to inform and assist prospective postgraduate students. We need to know what they need to know and we can't simply make assumptions about those needs – or ignore the potential for them to change and evolve. Speaking of which...

*Hello to anyone reading this via LinkedIn.

Where we are and where we've been: a PG history lesson

Back in 2015 there were no student loans for Masters and PhDs in the UK, but there were such things as EU students (and they were often quite keen on those Masters and PhDs). It was also incredibly hard to find UK postgraduate funding as an international student, but plenty of people still tried. Skip ahead to the end of 2021 and postgraduate loans will increasingly be part of the furniture, EU students will just be international students, but international students will be eligible for UKRI funding and benefit from a new post-study work visa.

There are a few things that still need to be fixed, but we really are on the threshold of some huge changes for postgraduate study – and they're mostly positive. Even the uncertainty and disruption caused by the pandemic is at least making more people aware of the opportunities postgraduate study affords for CPD and retraining. We just need to make sure more people can afford it – but that's a different article.

But all of this makes it even more important to be listening to prospective students right now and in the future. Which is exactly what we're doing.

Last year we worked with our huge and highly engaged FindAPhD community to produce the first ever Future PhD Student Survey: examining exactly what prospective doctoral students really thought and felt about doing a PhD. This year we've also been tracking the immediate impact of coronavirus on 2020 postgraduate study plans.

In 2021, we're expanding this research to launch our first Future Masters Student Survey, harnessing our channels and communities to find out what really motivates, inspires, engages and concerns prospective Masters-level students. We'll be investigating exactly what it is different groups of people seek in a Masters, and, crucially, how they seek for it.

I'd welcome any comments or suggestions as we begin to scope out this research. Watch this space for further updates.

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