Building research supervision and training across Australian universities |
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Approach and design of project
Scoping exercise (2007- 2009)
The scoping exercise addressed the following:
- information from those responsible for research education about training needs of supervisors;
- identification of existing training provisions in each university and the resources they utilise
- information from supervisors about the kinds of development opportunities they would like and that they would realistically utilise.
The methodology of the scoping exercise included a meeting of key academics who have been involved in development of supervision pedagogy and/or who have been working on projects related to supervision will occur. The purpose of the symposium was to identify best current supervision practices and future directions for supervision pedagogy. The symposium provided the context where supervision pedagogy can be analysed in the broader context of future developments in research education.
The symposium was followed by the identification of existing supervision practices, the resources used, and the perceived needs in terms of supervision pedagogy in Australian and New Zealand universities. Information was sought using a survey of Australian and New Zealnad universities and interviews from those responsible for research education in Universities (eg Deans and Directors of Graduate Schools) as well as Associate Deans of Research at faculty levels. The identification of supervision practices from the perspective of representative groups of supervisors from diverse faculties in universities, and supervisors’ perceptions of current and future needs in terms of supervision pedagogy was also undertaken.
The dissemination of outcomes from the scoping stage of the project is via relevant conference presentation, reports and publications. This included a presentation of a paper at the Quality in Postgraduate research conference in 2010.