Graduate Students, Postgraduate Studies and Thesis Defense: Success/Failure Factors

Abstract

In this paper, the authors attempted to answer the question about the reasons for the unsatisfactory state of learning outcomes in graduate school. A multidimensional typology of graduate students was carried out (using the example of Dubna State University) using cluster analysis with preliminary factor analysis. The authors identified the key latent factors: interaction with the supervisor, sociocultural potential, organization of work on the thesis, career opportunities underlying the cluster model. Inside the graduate community, there are four internally homogeneous clusters: "Depressed", "Resource", "Disappointed", and "Random". It is shown that the most promising from the point of view of scientific "growth" and the defense of the thesis are graduate students of the second group-"resource". At the same time, the strongest motivational factors that act as a guarantor of the successful completion of postgraduate studies and defending a thesis are still the established interaction with the supervisor and interest in the research topicthe traditional "values" of any graduate student.