Meeting international postgraduate student needs: a programme based model for learning and teaching support

International postgraduate students are important to the higher education sectors of many countries. They arrive from all over the world with diverse cultures and prior experiences. Such students present additional challenges in terms of programme-based learning and teaching support. This action research was undertaken at a large university business school in the North East of England over a three-year period (2007–2009), in order to better understand the characteristics of postgraduate business and management students. It was found student cohort prior learning experiences and needs covered a wide spectrum. The data collected were used to inform the design and implementation of an induction and learning support programme that would accommodate geographically diverse postgraduate students and improve their engagement in learning. This led to the development of the ‘PG Learning Model’.