You are here Postgraduate Renewal > About

About the Postgraduate Renewal Programme

The Postgraduate Renewal Programme was established to deliver the ambition of the College Strategic Plan to fundamentally renew postgraduate education in Trinity. The changing landscape of graduate education and research is highlighted in Trinity’s Strategic Plan (2020-2025), where five of the nine cross-cutting goals incorporate renewal of postgraduate education:

Goal 2: We will support a transformative student experience

2.3. Fundamentally re-evaluate the student experience for both postgraduate taught and postgraduate research students and ensure that their bespoke needs are met.

Goal 3: We will practice next generation teaching and learning

3.4. Meet the changing student profile, within the lifetime of this Strategic Plan, by instituting a major and systemic renewal of all facets of postgraduate education.

3.5. Develop a suite of new postgraduate taught modules and courses across schools and faculties.

3.6. Fundamentally renew our structured PhD programme.

Goal 4: We will stand up for research, its quality and impact

4.5. Institute a major and systemic renewal of all aspects of doctoral education in Trinity to ensure the distinctive character of that education as a holistic concept in which doctoral students receive a diversity of cutting-edge skills training to complement their research.

View our Programme Principles

The renewal process will be shared and collaborative and the overall outcome will be an enhanced experience for all.
The process will be driven by the needs and priorities of key stakeholders.
The renewal will be respectful of the diversity, inclusivity and the bespoke needs of individual disciplines.
Programme management will be reflexive, responsive, flexible and aligned with the Trinity structure and principles for project management.
The Programme will be evidence informed in all aspects of the renewal process.
The Programme will be student centred, innovative and respectful of Trinity’s traditions and cultures.
Progress will be monitored and measured against clear targets, timelines, and deliverables with clear lines of ownership and responsibility.

Pre-Consultation Stage

In the Pre-Consultation stage, the Programme Team completed desk-based reviews of a range of documentation, logged issues and traffic through the Graduate Studies Office, and reviewed outputs from some discussions with students and Postgraduate Directors of Teaching & Learning. Over three weeks from mid-November 2021, 22 focus group discussions took place with academic and professional staff, and postgraduate students across the three Faculties, to review the themes that should be incorporated into the wider, formal consultation process.

In June 2021, University Council gave its approval for the Postgraduate Renewal Programme to move to the consultation and design implementation stages.

Consultation Stage

The Consultation Stage involved wide-scale engagement with members of the College community and other external stakeholders. The College community was invited to take part in surveys, focus groups, and/or interviews, to ensure that all stakeholders have an opportunity to contribute to shaping the direction of the programme for renewal.

Data collected from this stage informed the design of the implementation plan. Outcomes from the consultation and its implications for the implementation were presented to Council in May 2022 when the following was approved:

Proposed incremental approach to programme delivery over three horizons. Horizon 1 focuses on Clarifying and Simplifying some of our core activities. In Horizon 2 we aim to Enhance those activities, with a view to Transforming how we do our business in Horizon 3.
Further engagement with community on developing a vision for postgraduate education at Trinity.
Proposed Work Programme for Horizon 1.

Horizon 1

The Programme Team is now moving into addressing some of the key priorities for development that the community identified during the consultation stage. These include how we support postgraduate research students at all stages of the assessment process, from annual progress reports through to the viva voce examination; how we build a sense of belonging for adjunct staff; the requirements for English language competence that will position our students, taught and research, for success; and the university’s strategic work on building awareness and support for academic integrity in all our activities.

We are still building our vision for postgraduate education in Trinity, so join us in ongoing consultation opportunities!