Postgraduate students’ experience of a jointly-taught, distance learning degree : the example of a Russell Group university

This paper reports the results of a primary data collection exercise conducted with postgraduate students enrolled at a large Russell Group university in the UK. The aim of this study was to gain insights of students’ experience of a jointly-taught, distance learning, part-time postgraduate programme. A mixed-methods approach involving an online survey and semi-structured interviews was adopted. The results show that students concentrated their perceptions on three main areas: the academic content of the programme, seen as current, interesting and relevant to the students’ professional lives; delivery processes, including the advantages of the flexibility and tailored approach but also the disadvantages of being exposed to different teaching styles and lack of face to face interaction; finally, the administrative and practical aspects, accounting for the majority of complaints and worries due to the discrepancies across the two schools responsible for the delivery of the programme. Differences in experience also emerged depending on gender and year of enrolment within the programme.