Dear all,
I am interested if you have any views from the perspective of a particular
subject dsicipline about what are the beneficial effects of studying your
chosen subject. I am partcularly interested in these benefits when study is
at postgraduate level. Your views will feed into a presentation at this
year's SRHE annual conference.
This is not aimed just at postgraduates: former postgraduates are just as
good if not better in the sense that you have the perspective of the
duration since your studies. The questionnaire also asks about
sub-/pre-H.E. levels, if you have any views on them too.
Please reply to:
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Thank you,
Martin Gough
Welcome to the Subject Matters Questionnaire
Thank you for visiting the Subject Matters conference and for opening this
questionnaire page.
If you are interested in responding, you are going to copy the whole of this
document into a new document created by you in the “Subject Matters”
conference - please see the instructions in the START HERE! welcome
document:
THE SUBJECT QUESTIONNAIRE
The Centre for Research on the Wider Benefits of Learning
welcomes your views on-line about how much and in what ways your subject
discipline has wider benefits. Whilst our report for HEFCE on the relative
benefits for graduates is based on statistical analysis, the results are not
broken down by subject (yet) and so we would not expect you to know answers
on a strictly quantitative basis. However, we do appreciate that you will
be able to offer conceptual arguments for how beneficial your discipline
might be. It would be hard to determine an obvious objective scale so feel
free to make judgements by comparison with other disciplines in answering
the questions which you choose to answer below. Treat the questions as
openly as you wish: we are interested in anecdotal claims as much as
anything else. Do not feel obliged to answer every question while treating
them as discrete: you may present your response as one continuous statement,
if you wish, for instance.
Your subject (your HE Dept, or the main subject in which you have qualified)
:.........
Your name and institution (optional).........
1. Would you say that taking your subject fosters general transferable
skills in individuals. What are those skills, e.g. organisational
qualities, caring skills, etc.?
- as a result of undergraduate study?...
- through postgraduate study?...
- at pre-/sub-degree levels?...
2. Our report for HEFCE found that graduates tend to:
(a) perceive themselves as in better physical health
(b) are at less risk from depression
(c) suffer fewer accidents and assaults
Please comment on how your subject contributes to these states of affairs.
- as a result of undergraduate study?...
- through postgraduate study?...
- at pre-/sub-degree levels?...
3. Our report for HEFCE found that that graduate parents report fewer
educational problems among their children. Would you say that your subject
contributes particularly to making parenting a more manageable process?
(This includes assisting the parent in the primary care role to complete the
transition out of the role of primary carer.)
- as a result of undergraduate study?...
- through postgraduate study?...
- at pre-/sub-degree levels?...
4. Would you say that taking your subject fosters a particular wish or
tendency to participate in civil society? For example:
(a) to vote more often
(b) to be members of or actively involved in community and voluntary
associations
(c) to be more egalitarian or tolerant in their political and social
attitudes
(d) how does your subject shape the identity of the individuals?
- as a result of undergraduate study?...
- through postgraduate study?...
- at pre-/sub-degree levels?...
5. Any other points?
We invite you to judge whether your subject area contributes particularly
strongly or not at all to any of these effects, or any other criteria under
the headings:
Family, Parenting and Home Life generally
Health (physical & mental)
Leisure & Lifestyle
Life in the Third Age
Friendships
Citizenship & Participation
Crime
Work Environment - not forgetting employability and career prospects!
General Wellbeing and Quality of Life - not forgetting individual earning
potential nor contribution to the strength of the Economy!
Thank you for your time in completing this.
More information about our invitation to get involved is on the website of
The Centre for Research on the Wider Benefits of Learning
http://www.learningbenefits.net
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