The Research Supervisor's Expertise or Postgraduate Student Preparedness: Which Is the Real Concern?

Cohort Supervision: Towards a Sustainable Model for Distance Learning

“…The critical success factors relating to the supervisors include the following: a supervisor's own knowledge [26], availability and willingness to help [29], work load and the pressures of the academic environment [15,22], and the quality of feedback given in formal supervision meetings which require advance preparation [20]. The importance of feedback is also emphasised in [18] whereby, moreover, the harmony between (co)supervisors has an effect on the supervisor-supervisee relationship.…”

“…As far as the students are concerned, Marnewick and Nel mention crosscultural issues, barriers related to language differences, the lack of academic resources, unrealistic expectations by students, lack of academic scholarship in students, and the academic pressure experienced by supervisors, as important factors [15]. Also highlighted are barriers to communication with lecturers [21], which is exacerbated by students' level of language proficiency [22]. Furthermore, students' misunderstanding of the scope of postgraduate studies and their lack of critical thinking skills need to be considered [22].…”

“…Also highlighted are barriers to communication with lecturers [21], which is exacerbated by students' level of language proficiency [22]. Furthermore, students' misunderstanding of the scope of postgraduate studies and their lack of critical thinking skills need to be considered [22]. Manyike investigated ODL supervision and identified weaknesses in the following areas [14]: allocating postgraduate students to supervisors without consultation, meeting the needs of students who come to postgraduate studies underprepared by guiding them during the thesis-writing process, as well as the challenges inherent in an ODL model which relies primarily on written communication.…”

“…The increasing student numbers, in combination with students' lack of preparedness for postgraduate studies, put pressure on supervision capacity, because the increase in student numbers has not been met by a corresponding increase in the provision of experienced supervisors [3,5]. Given the risks and the impact of failed supervision, higher education institutions cannot afford to have novice supervisors follow a trial-and-error approach [22]. The need is not only to increase the number of supervisors but also to provide experiential supervision training.…”