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Postgraduate Taught Experience Survey

15 Apr 2013

The Postgraduate Taught Experience Survey (PTES) is now open – please encourage eligible students to complete it as soon as possible.

PTES logo - Be Heard

PTES is the opportunity for our postgraduate taught students to give their opinions on their experience at Manchester, including teaching, assessment and feedback, personal development and resources.

All eligible students will receive an email from the University inviting them to take part in the survey. The email will contain a unique access link for them to follow and complete the survey. They can also log into My Manchester to take the survey.

It is important that as many of our students as possible provide their feedback for the survey to generate reliable information. Results are used to inform improvements to the student experience for postgraduate taught students.

Institutional-level results are confidential, but PTES allows benchmarking through the creation of eight benchmarking groups, including one for the Russell Group. Participating institutions can compare their own performance with the average performance of the institutions in each group.

This is a key institutional survey – you are asked to please avoid other surveying with postgraduate taught students during this period.

How you can help to promote PTES to students

Please encourage eligible students to complete the survey as soon as possible after it opens and before 30 April. Remind them that their responses are anonymous and they should feel free to express their honest opinions.

Data will be made available internally to relevant staff, and will also be used to benchmark against other UK institutions.

You can view the survey questions and download an information sheet plus promotional materials and templates at:

When encouraging students to complete the survey, please bear in mind the following points:

  • If you use emails to promote PTES to your students, please only use targeted email lists for PGT students and do not bombard them;
  • Direct endorsement by academic staff (e.g. in lectures/seminars) is one of most effective ways to engage students;
  • Peer to peer communication and promotion (e.g. via student reps) can also be very effective;
  • Local incentives can help drive up response rates - for example, free pizza at lunchtime for all those who attend a cluster and complete the survey. You must ensure that any incentive you offer a) does not compromise the neutrality of the survey and b) is equally available to all eligible students. If you're not sure, please contact Jenny Wragge, Senior Student Experience Officer, at jenny.wragge@manchester.ac.uk or 52088 for advice.

If you have any questions about PTES, please contact: