Launch of 2026 Taught Studentsurvey.ie and PGR Studentsurvey.ie 2025 Report

Posted: 10 November, 2025

• PGR StudentSurvey.ie 2025 Report Published
• Taught StudentSurvey.ie 2026 Launched

Postgraduate students in Ireland rate their higher education research experience as positive and feel they are developing strong research and other transferable skills.

This is according to the results of the 2025 PGR (Postgraduate Research) StudentSurvey.ie, which were released today at an event at Trinity College Dublin along with details of a new StudentSurvey.ie 2026 for taught students.

StudentSurvey.ie 2026

The new 2026 taught StudentSurvey.ie will present an extensively revised and improved survey instrument, that included input from a diverse group of stakeholders including Student Union representatives, HEI staff, state agencies and subject matter experts.

The redesigned survey reflects the significant shifts that have occurred in higher education since the survey was first piloted in 2013.

The changes to the survey include:

• Re-centring the student within the questionnaire and use of more accessible language;
• Substantial shortening of the length and completion time to support improving response rates to the survey;
• Adding questions that respond to the requirements of multiple stakeholders – student representatives, institutions, and national policy actors;
• Adding questions that shed light on barriers to student engagement, in the context of the consensus that engagement had diminished among the students, in particular following the Covid-19 pandemic and the impact of pandemic restrictions on student and campus life.

PGR StudentSurvey.ie 2025

The PGR StudentSurvey.ie 2025 National Report provided an evaluation of the 4,225 respondents to the 2025 postgraduate research survey.

The report shows that students have favourable views of the level and quality of supervision they receive, have a solid understanding of what is required of them, and feel they are developing strong research and other transferable skills.  Overall, they rate their higher education research experience as positive.

When looked at longitudinally, a continuation of steady improvements across several key engagement indicators are being reported by our survey’s respondents. Research students are receiving more supervision than ever before, more personalized development plans are being put in place, more advice on career options is available, and social isolation is continuing to drop from the heights of the pandemic era. Opportunities to spend time abroad have also shown a welcome increase over recent survey years.

Positive trends may still leave scope for more improvement. Our respondents have highlighted a few areas in need of continued work by all stakeholders to improve the postgraduate experience. There is an increasing dissatisfaction with research facilities coming through, and teaching and demonstration experience is neither universal nor seen as enhancing students’ research experience.

Certain types of students would benefit from greater focus in the coming years:  Part-time and Distance students and Level 9 (Masters Research students) in particular, need to be more integrated into the potential offerings and benefits of the higher education experience.

Sean O’Reilly, co-chair of the StudentSurvey.ie Steering Group and chair of the StudentSurvey.ie Review Working Group, said that all involved are very encouraged by the results of the PGR StudentSurvey.ie 2025 and the participation of large proportions of PGR students, where the overall experience of higher education has been rated as positive; and added that he expects to see a continuation of these positive trends in the future.

Speaking to the launch of the taught survey, Sean said:

“The revision and updating of the survey for students pursuing taught programmes is also a milestone achievement that will further allow us to listen to the feedback from the student body, by placing their perspectives centrally with a view to improving their educational experience,” he said.

The HEA’s Head of Performance Evaluation Valerie Harvey, welcomed the report and thanked the 4,225 students who gave their valuable time and insights in their participation of the 2025 PGR StudentSurvey.ie and whose views form the results in the report.

“This report enables higher education institutions to react to the feedback and comments of the student body. Collaboration between higher education institutions and students is key, as learners are well placed to identify their needs. We very much further welcome the launch of the 2026 Taught Student Survey, which will present an extensively revised and improved survey instrument that will improve our understanding of learners’ needs going forward.”

-ENDS-

For further press information:

Catherine Halloran, Higher Education Authority, challoran@hea.ie, 087-8218060

NOTES TO EDITOR

A national collaborative partnership has been in place to lead the development of the StudentSurvey.ie project and consists of state agencies, participating institutions and their representative bodies, and Aontas na Mac Léinn in Éirinn (AMLÉ). StudentSurvey.ie is co-sponsored by the Higher Education Authority (HEA), the Irish Universities Association (IUA), the Technological Universities Association (TUA) and AMLÉ. The national steering group, the StudentSurvey.ie Steering Group, is supported by specific working groups to consider particular issues.

Taught StudentSurvey.ie and PGR StudentSurvey.ie are designed to help understand student engagement, namely the amount of time and effort that students put into meaningful and purposeful educational activities, and the extent to which institutions provide such opportunities and encourage students to engage with them. The data, collected every two years, reflects students’ self-reported perceptions of their experiences.

StudentSurvey.ie, for undergraduate and taught postgraduate students is relaunching in 2026, following an extensive redesign process over the last two years.

Since 2024, a Review Working Group has been in place with the goal of redesigning the survey questionnaire. The terms of reference of the Group included responding to the survey’s perceived length, complexity and relevance to the contemporary student body, and ensuring the survey data analysis and dissemination responds to the needs of the cross-section of higher education stakeholders, including higher education institutions, AMLÉ, and policy makers.

StudentSurvey.ie will run on a biennial cycle from this point forward, running in 2026, 2028 and so on.

The survey for postgraduate research students (Masters Research and Doctorate) PGR StudentSurvey.ie opens every second (odd-numbered) year during February – March for a three-week fieldwork period that is also specific to each institution. This survey was first run in 2018 and is now on a biennial survey cycle, with this reporting focussing on the results of 2025.

To view the PGR Student Survey report in full, please visit www.studentsurvey.ie.