Post Graduate Students’ Experiences with Research Supervisors

Wadesango, Newman; Machingambi, Severino

doi:10.1080/09766634.2011.11885545

Cited by 32 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 8 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…The bright side of co-supervision, however, is that a student's research is enriched by diverse input from more than one supervisor, and if the main supervisor leaves the institution, the other supervisor can take over which ensures continuity in the student's work. Wadesango and Machingambi (2011) concur that more supervisors mean a wider range of opinions, which adds value to the research process.…”

Section: Educational and Research Experiencementioning

confidence: 83%

“…In a study conducted by Wadesango and Machingambi (2011), delayed and infrequent feedback from the supervisor was cited by 15% of the postgraduate students as taking a huge toll on their progress towards completing their thesis as well as on the quality of the research. Studies across the world reveal that more frequent supervisor meetings or interaction are associated with students' perceptions of a more supportive research environment (Lubbe, Worrel and Klopper 2005;Brew and Peseta 2004;Caffarella and Barnett 2000).…”

Section: Educational and Research Experiencementioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Reflections on the Supervision of Postgraduate Research: The Studentsâ€™ Voices in an Open Distance Learning (ODL) Context

Maphalala

Mpofu

2018

Progressio

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Since the dawn of democracy in 1994 there has been a proliferation of postgraduate programmes aimed at responding to the social, economic and political needs of the country. This has led to an increase in the number of students enrolling for postgraduate programmes in South Africa. Some students successfully complete their studies, while others eventually drop out without attaining their chosen qualifications owing to various factors they encounter on their research journey. This study sought to determine postgraduate students’ experiences in terms of the educational and research experience at Unisa; the support services and funding; quality of access to facilities; and initiation into the community of researchers. Theoretically, the study was underpinned by ergonomics theory. To answer the research questions, the study followed a concurrent mixed method design. The study’s participants were 78 postgraduate students at Unisa who had volunteered to be part of the study. A self-constructed questionnaire and semi-structured interviews were used to collect data. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics while qualitative data used inductive thematic analysis. The findings indicate that students have a variety of experiences, both negative and positive, in their postgraduate studies.

show abstract

Section: Educational and Research Experiencementioning

confidence: 83%

Section: Educational and Research Experiencementioning

confidence: 99%

Reflections on the Supervision of Postgraduate Research: The Studentsâ€™ Voices in an Open Distance Learning (ODL) Context

Maphalala

Mpofu

2018

Progressio

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Similarly, Essa (2011) and Clerehan et al (2012) found that many postgraduate students felt that the lecturers were distant, inaccessible, unapproachable and abrupt and this seemed to be the case whether the students stayed in the same or a different province than where the institution was situated. Frischer and Larsson (2000) and Wadesango and Machingambi (2011) concur with the importance of support by explaining that the supervisorsupervisee relationship is central to progress and completion.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Challenges experienced by postgraduate nursing students at a South African university

Havenga

Sengane

2018

Health SA Gesondheid

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background: The increase in nurses enrolling in postgraduate programmes as well as the need to improve their completion requires academics to establish environments conducive for postgraduate studies. The challenges experienced during postgraduate studies have to be identified to establish conducive environments. Objective: The objective of this study was to explore and describe the challenges experienced by postgraduate nursing students enrolled in postgraduate coursework and research programmes at a South African university. Methods: An exploratory, descriptive and qualitative design was used. The study was contextual in nature. Purposive sampling was used. Fifteen honours, master’s and doctoral students participated in the study. Data were analysed through qualitative content analysis and measures to ensure trustworthiness, and ethical implementation of the study were implemented. Results: Three themes with categories were identified, namely personal challenges (i.e. finances, employment, family and accommodation), academic and institutional challenges (i.e. workload and time constraints, contact sessions, subject information and assessment) and research-related challenges (i.e. information literacy, supervisory relationship and supervisory structure and process). Conclusion: Institutional support addressing personal, academic and research-related challenges should be provided to enhance student experiences and completion.

show abstract

“…Co-supervision is poorly covered in the literature 12,13 and is usually dealt with in general studies of supervisory practices. In many cases, reference to co-supervision is peppered with conflicting phrases such as 'co-supervision [is] believed to bring great benefit to both students and supervisors' 14 and 'the idea of co-supervision tends to present more problems and challenges than solutions in graduate research supervision' 15 with little to support either assertion 16,17 . For this reason, there is much need to explore both the supervisor and postgraduate experience of co-supervision to unpack and clarify cosupervision roles.…”

Section: South African Understanding Of Co-supervisionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Such sentiments are reflected in other disciplines too. 12,15,24,32 Indeed, Grossman et al 50 recommend that independent supervision can only be satisfactorily accomplished once the supervisor has authored or co-authored four accredited research publications. Thus, the experienced supervisor should encourage and assist the novice in developing an independent research and publishing career during the novice co-supervision experience, where postgraduate research training can occur in tandem with novice research mentoring.…”

Section: Mentoring Of Novice Supervisorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Co-supervision in postgraduate training: Ensuring the right hand knows what the left hand is doing

Grossman

Crowther

2015

S. Afr. J. Sci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

South Africa is experiencing a steep rise in postgraduate candidature and a backlog in research training and supervision. Co-supervision is a means to address such challenges. This study investigated how co-supervision could effectively and efficiently be implemented within a Faculty of Health Sciences. Supervisors and postgraduates brainstormed co-supervisory practice to identify: (1) the reasons for co-supervision, (2) what co-supervisors should discuss to facilitate their interactions and (3) how best to initiate the novice supervisor into supervisory practice. Co-supervisors are formally appointed for different reasons and all co-supervisory activities should be directed towards meeting the purpose of that appointment. Points to consider in facilitating a co-supervisor memorandum of understanding and novice supervisor training were discussed. Our findings provide suggestions to develop accountable co-supervisory practices, enhance novice supervisor training and to design discipline-specific best practice policy at institutional level to enable a common understanding of co-supervisory roles and responsibilities. Threats to effective co-supervision identified were the implications of co-supervision in staff promotion, inequitable workload recognition and no official acknowledgement of informal supervisory activities. Unless these issues are addressed, the full potential of co-supervision will remain unrealised. Supervision pedagogy and research teaching is a sophisticated skill worthy of professionalisation.

show abstract

Post Graduate Students’ Experiences with Research Supervisors

Cited by 32 publications

References 8 publications

Reflections on the Supervision of Postgraduate Research: The Studentsâ€™ Voices in an Open Distance Learning (ODL) Context

Reflections on the Supervision of Postgraduate Research: The Studentsâ€™ Voices in an Open Distance Learning (ODL) Context

Challenges experienced by postgraduate nursing students at a South African university

Co-supervision in postgraduate training: Ensuring the right hand knows what the left hand is doing

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About