Relations with Supervisor

Ultimate purpose is to help you grow in the exercise of your inde­pendent judgement.

There are, according to experienced postgraduate students, some useful strategies for developing an effective working relationship with a supervisor:

A. Keep in contact with your supervisor: agree on a schedule of regular meetings (particularly in the early stages of research), hand in summaries of work in progress, inform him of any ma­jor changes of plan or direction in your research. If you have more than one supervisor, make sure that you all meet from time to time in a joint discussion of progress. This can avoid problem letter, ensuring that you do not become a ping pong ball between two supervisors who find they cannot agree on a vital point of theory or methodology.

B. Work out a joint understanding with your supervisor, at an early stage in your programme, about his exact duties and areas of responsibility for Your progress and about run responsibilities in relation to him. For example, few supervisors will accept that it is their duty to edit a thesis for grammatical and stylistic weaknesses. If you know that well in advance, you have the opportunity to seek alternative assistance through private tutoring or help from an English language Adviser or fellow student. If your research is in a scientific field, it is also impor­tant to reach an agreement about authorship rights in the pub­lication of joint papers.

C. Request an official change of supervisor, through the Head of your Department, if your original supervisor is unsuitable; for example, if he is not an expert in the specific topic you finally settle upon, or because you and he clash in personality. Most universities have a system for changing supervisors if there are genuine reasons for the request.

D. Accept the view that the relationship between you and your supervisor is a `business' arrangement and that it need not extend to informal and personal contacts - though individual super­visors and students may develop such a relationship.

Sometimes these difficulties

others feel uncomfortable

responsibilities in relation

capable of independent