Good Practice
As a result of the feedback obtained from the
Postgraduate Research Supervision Survey (PRSS), many examples of good
practices were discovered. The 1998 report on this is now available
online along with many other useful resources at the MRGS Handbooks
and Reports site.
The following text is an extract from this report.
"The process of identification and
dissemination of examples of best research training practice arising
from the second review...............at which representatives of the top
10 academic departments shared their ideas on effective
supervision. The ten academic units identified were:
Department
|
Total/aggregate% dissatisfaction supervision and rank
|
Total/aggregate % dissatisfaction department and rank
|
Overall rank
|
| Physics |
12.5 (5) |
45.3 (3) |
1 |
| Physiology |
18.2 (7) |
46.2 (4) |
2 |
| Institute of Reproduction and Development |
41.3 (21) |
24 (4) |
3 |
| Econometrics |
7.7 (2) |
67 (11) |
4 |
| Law |
12.5 (3) |
62.5 (10) |
=5 |
| Social Work |
25 (12) |
50 (7) |
=5 |
| Computer Science and Software Engineering |
32 (14) |
46.6 (6) |
7 |
| Asian Languages |
0 (1) |
84.4 (16) |
8 |
| Pharmacy |
22.6 (10) |
67.9 (12) |
9 |
| Mechanical Engineering |
61.6 (28) |
39.1 (2) |
10 |
Each
of the most highly ranked departments seem to share common characteristics:
-
while
varying in size each has a 'critical' mass of students to contribute to
the unit’s research ethos and environment
-
they
are generally 'settled' departments without serious internal problems
that could lower student morale
-
they
each have a strong departmental culture of caring for their students and
respecting them as valuable contributors to the unit’s research and
teaching culture- typically, although not invariably these academic
departments provide part-time assistant lectureship positions for their
students as well as accommodation within the department
-
Each
has a rich and regular seminar program and a consistent and thorough
approach to the review of postgraduate researchers' progress”.
|
