Session 4: National & Institutional Policies

When we supervise postgraduate students, we do so within specific national and institutional contexts. These contexts will enable certain practices while constraining others.

What are the key national and institutional documents that guide your standards and processes around postgraduate education? Post a message to the forum listing these documents and sharing key quotes from them. If you have access to particular national requirements or institutional policies, please share these on the forum too. Then see if you can use those documents to answer any of the following questions.

1. What distinguishes a Master’s level study from a Doctorate?
2. How is a Masters by coursework different from a full-thesis Master’s study? How does a Doctorate by coursework (if your legislation allows this) differ from a full-thesis Doctoral study?
3. What would constitute a ‘significant and original academic contribution’ in your field? Who determines what constitutes the ‘doctoralness’ of a study?
4. Why is peer-review a measure of quality and how is this implemented in the doctoral process?
5. The Doctorate can comprise discipline-based, multidisciplinary or applied research. Where does your expertise lie and how might you approach supervision in another kind of research?
6. One outcome of the Doctorate is meant to be the ability to supervise. To what extent did your own doctoral study prepare you for this role? Do you see it as part of your role as supervisor to prepare your students to be future supervisors?