UniMelb Graduate Students Association

Supporting graduate students and researchers 

The Project

Conversation Co was engaged to support the University of Melbourne Graduate Students Association (GSA) to undertake an engagement with graduate researchers and students undertaking PhDs, Masters by research and postgraduate coursework students to understand their experiences at university. The aim of the program was to understand what is working well for students and what needs to be improved to support better postgraduate programs, improve research supervision, increase advocacy for student support and achieve better outcomes for students. The engagement project also sought to highlight the advocacy work of GSA and encourage students to use this valuable research to support them in their studies. 

For this project, we used a mixed-methods methodology: 

  • Quantitative data through online surveys. 

  • Qualitative data through student workshops, interviews and in-person pop-up events to explore the story behind the data.

Outcomes

  • We heard from just under 500 of domestic and international graduate students from a diverse range of faculties and study programs

  • Students outlined opportunities for: developing improved feedback systems for students surrounding supervisors and course structure, creating a formal induction to PhD candidature that is faculty specific and supportive of regional and international students, alongside other ideas for program improvement and increased support for students 

  • Findings from this engagement were used alongside other research to support GSA’s advocacy with the University of Melbourne.

Reflections and Key Learnings

  • This project was an excellent opportunity to work within a peer-led advocacy environment. 

  • Providing facilitated workshops or group conversations with multidisciplinary stakeholders can give depth to data and lead to creative problem solving.

Challenges

  • Getting representation of PhD students across different faculties of study as many students study off-campus and across Victoria. 

  • Engaging with supervisors with busy time schedules and differing levels of interest in the project.

Keys to Success

  • Nearly all our pop-ups were linked with existing events, this was a great way to ensure an audience. We had access to a large number of community members

  • Providing incentives for students participating in workshops added value for them and respected their workloads and time commitments. 

  • Engaging with a diverse range of domestic and international students across different faculties and study programs added vigour to discussions and highlighted the context specific needs for support.