If there is one question that sums up the key issue at stake in Gitte Wichmann-Hansen’s study of PhD supervision, it would be this: “Would you recommend your principal supervisor to a future PhD student?”
“Three out of four PhD scholars answer ‘yes’, and the rest are equally divided between ‘don’t know’ and ‘no’. So the conclusion must be that the scholars are generally satisfied with the supervision they are given. Having said that, international studies as well as our own study of Health scholars show that one of the most important factors involved in successful PhD supervision is that the expectations of all parties are clearly identified. PhD scholars and supervisors need to agree about what they expect to get from each other – not only before the process starts, but also along the way,” she explains.

What is good supervision, anyway?

Gitte Wichmann-Hansen is an associate professor at the Centre for Teaching Development and Digital Media, and she will be publishing her findings on PhD supervision in the course of February. But at the PhD Day she was able to present a number of her main results. One of the things she has spotted is a clear difference in what researchers and PhD scholars regard as good supervision.
“The researchers are concerned about whether they are sufficiently specialised, whether they know all the tricks of the trade and that kind of thing. The scholars don’t focus on this much – they assume that their supervisors know all they need to know about the subject in question. What’s important for the scholars is that their supervisors have the time and motivation to supervise them all the way through the PhD process,” she says.

A GOOD SUPERVISION

According to PhD scholars, good supervision depends on:

• Setting aside enough time for supervision
• Having frequent meetings with their supervisor (once a day, or once a week)
• Mutual respect throughout the supervision process
• Introducing PhD scholars tonetworks (local, national andinternational)
• Agreeing on what people expect in terms of the workload involved

The whole of Gitte Wichmann-Hansen’s study will be available at tdm.au.dk at the end of February.