In this article, Berthilde reflects on her PhD journey, highlighting the challenges she faced, particularly studying in English as a French speaker, and how a supportive supervisor helped her overcome them. She emphasizes the critical role of a supervisor in guiding students through their academic journey. Despite the isolation often felt during PhD studies, she argues that a dedicated supervisor and committed student can ensure successful and timely completion.
Introduction
Supervision is key in the successful and timely completion of the PhD studies. Literature across the world has shown that supervision plays a key role in progress and timely completion of PhD studies (Lee, 2008; Almusaed & Almssad, 2020). In this paper, I will use my role of a PhD graduate and a supervisor to share my views and experience on supervisor-student shared responsibilities in completion of PhD studies.
I started my PhD journey in 2014 from a purely administrative position in academic library with little experience in research and academic work beside the master’s dissertation. Coming from a French speaking background my PhD journey deemed to be a bit challenging as I was to conduct my research and write the thesis in English. The role of the supervisory team played a key role in the achievement of the PhD studies. I believe that my discussion is a source of inspiration to both PhD candidates and supervisors who will read my paper.
Role and qualities of the supervisor/supervisory team in PhD journey
PhD studies are joint projects between a student and a supervisor or supervisory team, and everyone has a role to play. The roles are complementary and dependent on one another. Even if literature shows that completion times as well as attrition rates vary across disciplines and fields of research (Mouton, 2011) and depend on the mode of enrolment either full-time or part-time (ASSAF 2010), supervision is proved to be a key factor influencing completion of PhD studies (Bair & Haworth, 2004; van Rooij, Fokkens-Bruinsma, & Jansen, 2021).
I did my PhD in the field of library and information science (LIS) at the Swedish School of library and Information Science where the quality check and expectations are high. As I was progressing, I realized that my academic writing skills were somehow substandard but the guidance, mentorship, and support of supervision uplifted them to the level of a doctorate I am today. When I was struggling to fit into the system, supervisors as well as the institutional setting provided a forum to settle and attain the required level of achievement. At institutional level, the presence of genuine social events such as celebrations on special occasions and cultural events contributed to my integration. Supervisors, shared lunches, and coffee breaks further contributed to my feelings of full integration into academia and the new social and academic environment. I remember the “Fika” (in Swedish or coffee in English) weekly organized Swedish traditional get-togethers to chat around a cupof coffee and snacks where it was possible to informally meet supervisors or any other senior researcher for insight, and tips for success. Writing camps, two to three-day-long sessions, gathering PhD students also opened up my mind and boosted my confidence through presentations, debates, and peer commenting, sharing of experiences, and discussing challenges. In such a forum, I noticed that it was not a matter of my background but rather the complexity and nature of the PhD journey which is naturally challenging per se as most of the fellows were all struggling to make progress even those who were seen to have a background in research.
Concerning qualities of a supervisor, as a mentor he/she has, among other things, to have skills and ability to facilitate integration of the students in the research community. My supervisory team guided me to research groups for peer learning.
The supervisor’s personal experience shaped me. I benefited a lot from my main supervisor’s long experience in supervision and I also replicate to my supervisees (where applicable) the techniques used by my supervisors to motivate me throughout my PhD training because they really worked. I managed -with the help and mentorship of supervisors- to overcome the difficulties of uncertainty, stress and loneliness to attain a level of a critical thinker in LIS.
There is a mutual benefit in the PhD journey: supervisors learn not only from the student’s context but also gain experience in supervisory tasks. As a novice in sthe upervisory tasks, I am confident to learn from supervision tasks within the supervisory team as we jointly navigate through confrontingthe complexity of research.
Technical expertise is very important. Even if both the student and the supervisor have shared roles in the completion of PhD studies, each of them has specific roles to play. In order to take command and lead the project, a supervisor should master the field of research which implies having knowledge and technical abilities (Orellana et al. (2016) to provide efficient scientific advice on a topic which is only possible when a supervisor has in-depth scientific expertise, systematic and specialized knowledge” in the field of research (Almusaed & Almssad (2020). However, given the discrepancies in the number of PhD candidates and senior researchers globally and in the developing world in particular it often happens that students are given supervisors outside their fields of research.
Key player for own development
The role of the student is crucial as the owner, manager, and initiator of his/her project. Involving the students in the process from the beginning is key for success as it helps nurturing the sense of sharing of mutually acceptable goals and plans. The choice of supervisor should be a task in which a student has a key role even if it is not always the case. In the latter scenario, the student should learn to cope as he/she is the main actor in his/her academic development. In all cases, a supervisor should play a first-hand role in accepting and committing her/himself to undertake the supervision task of managing the PhD project from the start until the completion. Otherwise, if neither part has played a role in choosing/assessing whether the project is doable or interesting in relation to one’s research interests or availability (in relation to the workload and leveraging between various responsibilities of the supervisor there will be difficulties in accomplishing the tasks.
Some colleagues failed to finish their PhD studies because they changed supervisors in the course of their PhD studies. This situation has negatively affected their progress and they failed to complete their studies thus for more than ten years of studies.
A PhD candidate has responsibilities for his/ her own progress and making things work by prompting and speeding up the progress. I used strategies such as sending emails to recall their attention, asking questions on seminars and or conferences to attend, ideas, research groups to join, or other academic forums, address the supervisor’s comments, and submitting back to them ahead of time. Obviously, this has not always worked the way I have wished, due to supervisors’ heavy workloads, but in some instances, my tactic worked. In both cases, I was feeling that I had accomplished my duty, which was a sort of relief to me. There is a need to be proactive and provoke supervisors.
The student being the initiator of the PhD project (by the fact that he/she enrolled voluntarily in the PhD studies) has a central role in the supervision task. The student is the knowledge creator, besides the willingness and the interest in the research topic, and the expected outcomes which is becoming a doctorate, the student has to have management skills. When I started, I barely had the time management skills to organize to meet the deadlines, but seeking advice, guidance, and mentorship from supervisors I managed to make it, especially since supervisors were comprehensive and eager to support met.
Good relationships helped me to reduce uncertainty and loneliness as well as overcome stress and confusion. From my experience, when a student submits a work in progress to supervisors, no matter how short or unfinished it is – here my experience cannot be generalized because supervisors’ personal characteristics may come into force- but the supervisor will (or at least should) in most cases be able to provide comments that help the student to move forward. The bottom line is that a student should strive to submit well-structured and finished work to supervisors in order to get constructive and workable comments. But this tactic can help a student to overcome a stuck situation.
The willingness and commitment of the student are key to a successful learning process and completion. Supervisors are busy people given the nature of their work, teaching, research, pand roject managers, and may delay or even forget to provide feedback to their supervisees. Students should be active make expectations very explicit and negotiate the roles at the very beginning. From both sides, supervisors are informed of what the student expects from them and vice versa.
Conclusion
Qualities, attitudes and expertise of the supervisors are very key in mentoring, supervising, guiding and caring for the student in order to meet the outcome of a PhD journey. The skills and willingness of the PhD candidate are at the forefront of the success of PhD journey. Brief, student-supervisor relationship is a key factor in completion of PhD studies.
Berthilde Uwamwezi
Ph.D. in Library and Information Science, University of Rwanda
References
Academy of Science of South Africa. (2010). The PhD study: An evidence-based study on how to meet the demands for high-level skills in an emerging economy.
Almusaed, A., & Almssad, A. (2020). The role of the supervisor on developing PhD students’ skills. In Proceedings of International Conference on Humanities, Social and Education Sciences (Vol. 25).
Bair, C.R., Haworth, J.G. (2004). Doctoral Student Attrition and Persistence: A Meta-Synthesis of Research. In: Smart, J.C. (eds) Higher Education: Handbook of Theory and Research. Higher Education: Handbook of Theory and Research, vol 19. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-2456-8_11
Lee, A. (2008). How are doctoral students supervised? Concepts of doctoral research supervision. Studies in Higher education, 33(3), 267-281
