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Confirmation of candidature

This case study focuses on the Confirmation of Candidature process, which normally takes place twelve months into a fulltime doctoral candidature.

The scenario deals with a difficult case in connection with the oral seminar presentation which is required at the time of Confirmation of Candidature. Participants in a session using this case study role-play a meeting at which the student's fate is decided. Most people will not find the role-play aspect difficult to deal with because the situation and the character types are essentially familiar.

The exercise highlights the hidden agendas which supervisors and students bring to their interactions, and alerts supervisors to their role as guide with respect to the university's regulatory environment. It is also useful as an icebreaker for bringing together supervisors who may not already know each other and thus contributing to a process of collaborative reflection about the great variations that exist in approaches to supervision.

Case study
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Acknowledgement

This case study was originally developed by:
Rod Wissler, Queensland University of Technology