The Postgraduate Research Degree Student Experience was the second Learning from International Practice (LFIP) topic explored, which we refined to cover doctorate degrees only.

The overall purpose of this work was:

• to support those working on doctoral degrees, and to identify and share national practice to support the sector
• to establish useful resources, contacts and links for institutions, students associations and practitioners
• to enhance the experience of doctoral students.

A working group was setup to lead this project. The group consisted of staff and students from Scottish institutions, along with observers from the Scottish Funding Council (SFC), Higher Education Academy (HEA), Vitae, NUS Scotland and Universities Scotland. The project chair was Professor Dominic Houlihan, Vice-Principal Internationalisation, University of Aberdeen.