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The Postgraduate Taught Experience Survey (PTES) is run in association with AdvanceHE and the purpose of the survey is to provide institutions with useful information on the quality of the postgraduate taught experience.
Results from the survey are not published and do not inform national league tables, although some aggregated results are compiled for benchmarking purposes. Survey results are confidential to the institution and are designed to be used as part of overall quality enhancement information.
Results of the latest survey are available in the Data Section
Survey Information
The survey covers all aspects of the student experience under the following question categories:
- Teaching and Learning
- Engagement
- Community
- Assessment and Feedback
- Dissertation or Major Project (Masters students only)
- Endpoint Assessment (Apprentices only)
- Organisation and Management
- On-Campus Resources
- Online Learning Resources
- Support
- Skills Development
- Overall Satisfaction
Each section of the survey provides a number of statements to which students are invited to respond on a six point scale ranging from definitely agree to definitely disagree.
More information on PTES is available via the following guide:
The 2026 PTES survey will open in February 2026.
More information on the planned timetable of survey activity will be available later in the 25/26 academic year.
As PTES results are not published externally, there is no minimum threshold for results to be made available internally. However, programme teams are encouraged to aim for a minimum of 10 students and 50% of the eligible cohort in order to provide a representative picture of the student experience on the programme.
Where the class size is small (<10), qualitative comments may be redacted in the interests of preserving anonymity.
Throughout the survey period, staff are encouraged to allocate time in class for students to complete the survey. To assist with monitoring progress response rate reports are updated weekly during the survey period and will be issued to Programme Directors, School and Faculty Leadership.
Survey results are not published externally but are available internally to support Ulster's continuous quality enhancement cycle.
Quantitative results can be accessed by the Centre for Quality Enhancement Data Site. Qualitiative comments, where available will be shared with programme teams via Faculty and School Leadership.
