Supervisor and Doctoral Student Perspectives on Roles, Approaches and Type of Relationship: A Study at Kyambogo University | Chapter 8 | Language, Literature and Education: Research Updates Vol. 6

 

African universities are increasing enrolment in higher degrees, especially at doctoral level. Supervisors play an important role in guiding the doctoral candidate to become an independent professional researcher, able to adapt to various fields of research, whether in academia or industry. Kyambogo is one of the universities in Africa, found in Uganda, that is offering doctoral studies, though it is still fairly young. This study explored the perspectives of supervisors and doctoral students regarding their roles, approaches and type of relationship, as well as understanding how these relationships impact doctoral education at Kyambogo University. The study design was an exploratory survey using qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection. Online questionnaires and structured interviews were used as methods of data collection. Data was collected in two phases; Phase 1 was a face-to-face interview with the Heads of respective departments, and Phase 2 online survey which was emailed to 28 respondents. Findings revealed that the most important roles of the supervisors are constructive critics (87.5%) and providing guidance (75.0%). Adhering to ethics was ranked as the most important role (88.3%), followed by adhering to evaluation and follow-up, together with self-management and pacing and making use of consultation. The study confirms that the supervisors and doctoral students have a set of roles they play in the supervision process. However, the results also indicated that those who had gained full admission for doctoral study were very few. No single doctoral student had graduated since it was introduced. Low institutional capacity and lack of funding were key factors in this. The features of the supervision approaches are emphasised differently in each approach. The approaches form a continuum with different stages of development of the doctoral candidate. Each stage determines the type of supervision approach. Eight types of relationships occur in the supervision process, but at different frequencies. The finding also indicates that out of all the eight types of relationship, the “captive” and “con” relationships had not occurred at all. The study concluded that the roles and approaches can be affected by the type of relationship that exists between the supervisor and the doctoral candidate.

 

Author(s) Details

Jacob L. Oyugi
School of Management and Entrepreneurship, Kyambogo University, P.O Box 1, Kyambogo, Uganda.

 

Please see the book here:- https://doi.org/10.9734/bpi/lleru/v6/5498