Joint Skills Statement

Joint Skills Statement of Skills Training Requirements

In 2001 the UK GRAD Programme in collaboration with the Research Councils and the HE sector developed the Joint Statement of Skills Training Requirements of Research Postgraduates. This set out a joint statement of the skills that postgraduate researchers funded by the Research Councils would be expected to develop during their research training. It is embedded in the QAA Code of practice for the assurance of academic quality and standards in higher education, Section 1: Postgraduate research programmes.

In 2010 Vitae created the Researcher Development Framework, an evolution of the joint skills statement, and the associated Researcher Development Statement. The Research Councils endorsed the Researcher Development Statement as setting out the knowledge, behaviours and attributes of effective and highly skilled researchers appropriate for a wide range of careers. The QAA have confirmed that the Researcher Development Statement will replace the Joint Skills Statement in the Code of practice for postgraduate research degrees.