Background Tutors were appointed in the main hospitals of the Birmingham region in 1963 and were given honorary University status. Central administration of postgraduate education is in the hands of the Board of Graduate Studies of the Medical School, which deals with advertisement and finance, leaving detailed arrangements to local hospitals. Our own activities are conducted by a small subcomm...

Postgraduate research education is multi-faceted incorporating the teaching of a range of skills and study behaviours. A key skill for doctoral students is that of scholarly writing that Aitchison (2009) argues is often difficult to teach, with students unclear about the standards required for doctoral work. One benchmark of standards of academic literacy is published outputs, with Kamler (2008...

assessing learners' needs is an integral part of any curriculum and course design , namely english for specific purposes (esp), syllabus design, materials development, teaching methods and testing issues. critical approach to needs analysis, which is a relatively recent approach, acknowledges the rights of different stakeholders including teachers, students and administrators in the process of ...