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General
Expectations
What
Supervisors Expect of
Postgraduates
As
a postgraduate student you will be assigned tied to a supervisor,
usually a member of the department in which you are registered.
Depending on the university you attend and your area of research,
you may find that a supervisory committee, rather than a single
academic, is appointed but in such cases you will still have one
member of the group assigned as your main supervisor.
The
relationship between the research student and the supervisor is,
obviously, extremely important. It can become the source of many
problems if there are misunderstandings or unclear expectations
on either side. While it is usually possible for you to change supervisors
if a breakdown in the relationship occurs, such a step is unusual
and may cause difficulty both for yourself and the department
- and may also delay the progress of your research.
It is, therefore, important that you understand clearly what supervisors
expect of their research students, and what you can expect from
your supervisor. This should help you to avoid some of the more
obvious pitfalls.
We
begin this chapter with an account of the general expectations o
f supervisors and then discuss some of the particular problems that
can arise for overseas students in meeting these expectations.Most
supervisors hold certain general expectations about the capacities
and previous training of their research students. They assume that
these students are:
- Very competent
in their academic work,
- Capable
of handling theory and concepts at an advanced level,
- Willing
to acquire new research skills and techniques, and
- Motivated
to work independently.
Let
us now look in more detail at what is expected of you as a postgraduate
student.
university
you attend
outstanding
undergraduate record |
