The 2016 Roundtable Debate: Postgraduate Student Engagement

The roundtable debate on postgraduate student engagement with professional development was held at Imperial College London on 27 October 2016. The roundtable debate brought together representatives from industry, learned societies and professional bodies, the Higher Education Academy (HEA), VITAE, the UK Council for Graduate Education (UKCGE), and higher education institutions. The full list of contributors is documented below.

The aim of this debate was to discuss student engagement with professional skills training during their postgraduate (PG) studies and how institutions can incentivise the provision to maximise the value to the PG student. To set the scene, Professor Ken Wann, Former Deputy Dean, University Graduate College, Cardiff University, gave a presentation highlighting why PG student engagement with professional development is important and how Cardiff University increased student and supervisor engagement. Following this introduction, contributors discussed the role of industry, professional bodies, institutions, PG students and supervisors.