The PhD viva: a space for academic development

This study examined the viva experiences of 87 social science PhD graduates from three Irish higher education institutions through a questionnaire that assessed outcome, preparation, conduct and post-viva. The majority were awarded their PhD with minor corrections, considered their viva as a summative assessment, and emphasised its purpose as authentication, examination and defence. Most felt well prepared yet few had experienced a ‘mock viva’ or viva workshop. Even those with minor corrections identified aspects of the viva for improvement. The study recommends that academic development programmes should incorporate assessment literacy for PhD students and supervisors and the need for evaluation of graduates’ viva experiences.     

Student satisfaction and perceptions of quality: testing the linkages for PhD students

Student satisfaction and the quality of education are of compelling interest to students, academic staff, policy-makers and higher education researchers internationally. There is a widespread belief in their ‘cause and effect’ relationship. This paper tests these beliefs and explores how the level of student satisfaction is linked with the perceived quality of PhD education. Using expectancy value theory as a framework and interview data from PhD students and their supervisors, this paper suggests that satisfaction is not necessarily perceived as an indicator of quality education. Levels of student satisfaction can be influenced by students’ expectations prior to their study and their preconceived beliefs regarding the value of a PhD education. Concern is raised that an overemphasis on student satisfaction may pose a threat to the quality of PhD programmes, making it increasingly difficult for universities to retain their integrity and reducing the intellectual challenges that PhD students need to experience.     

A new approach to evaluating the well-being of PhD research students

This study describes the development of an assessment to evaluate the well-being of PhD researchers using a clinically approved methodology that places the perceptions and experiences of the subject population at the heart of its construction. It identifies and assesses the range and relative importance of seven distinct dimensions which are shown to impact adversely on the perceived well-being of student researchers across all stages of their studies. According to the findings, the well-being of doctoral students comprises needs relating to development, facilities, home and health, research, social, supervisor and university. The instrument was found to demonstrate good content validity and internal reliability. Its use offers new insights into the experiences of early career researchers and may inform efforts to better support them. This, in turn, may have a positive impact upon retention levels and future career choices for this research population.     

Empowering students by enhancing their employability skills

Recognising the importance of graduates being equipped with appropriate employability skills alongside their subject-specific skills, we have had transferable skills training embedded throughout our degree programmes for 30 years. More recently, a specific employability skills module for final-year honours students has been created. This module consists of a programme of activities supporting employability skills, which was delivered to final-year undergraduate students from 2012 to 2015. A key feature in the development and delivery of these activities was the involvement of external experts. Detailed questionnaires have captured student perceptions and thematic analysis has revealed key themes. The module has been perceived to be highly useful, resulting in significant increases in students’ confidence across key areas of employability skills. Furthermore, students may hold skewed perceptions of the relevance of generic employability skills to their chosen career path. This fact should be considered when delivering employability skills programmes.     

职业技能大赛对高职学生英语导游服务技能培养的创新

近年来,职业技能大赛在各级高职院校当中开展的如火如荼,通过参加职业技能大赛英语导游组的比赛,结合我国旅游业的现状,笔者深深觉得,在日常教学过程中,非常有必要创新高职学生英语导游服务的技能训练。     

The potential skills contribution of international students to South Africa

Abstract

There has been a significant increase in the number of international students, especially in those from other African countries, at South African universities over the last ten years. This has elicited some research, notably from Ramphele, Crush and McDonald (1999); Hall (2004); and Snowball and Antrobus (2005; 2006). However, none of these scholars considered the possibility of exploiting the skills potential of international students in South Africa, especially at a time when the country faces skills shortages. The authors conducted a survey at six higher education institutions (HEIs) in 2008, which sought to determine the skills profiles of international students in South Africa. It was found that the majority of international students are registered in disciplines where skills shortages exist, that a significant number of these students are young and that many would like to remain and work in South Africa. Labour policy makers in South Africa seem to be unaware of this, hence policy is ill-adapted to derive economic benefits from international students.     

Expectations and experiences of off-campus PhD students in Australia

This study describes research examining the expectations and experiences of PhD students undertaking a PhD in off-campus research institutes and hospitals that are affiliated with an Australian research-intensive university. Much of our knowledge of the expectations and experiences of PhD students in Australia stem from those that undertake research training in the classical university structure and that progress towards research training directly from their undergraduate studies. However, increasing numbers of research higher degree students are based in off-campus research institutions, which are becoming increasingly fertile training grounds for research higher degree students in the sector. While participants’ experiences and expectations were largely consistent with our current understanding of the Australian PhD experience, many reported a perceived lack of support programmes. Workload and time commitments, pressure to produce results and their off-campus location potentially conspire to reduce access to on-campus support services offered by the university. Opportunities therefore exist for student advisors, service providers and university leaders to increase accessibility to academic development programmes and pastoral care, including both online and off-campus provision as appropriate, to enhance the PhD experience for this growing cohort of students.     

Management,skills and creativity: the purpose and value of instrumental reasoning in education discourse

Reason is a heterogeneous word with many meanings and functions. Instrumental reasoning is the ‘useful but blind’ variant that, for Horkheimer, presupposes ‘the adequacy of procedures for purposes more or less taken for granted and supposedly self-explanatory’. The paper argues that the root of instrumental reasoning is to be found in Hume and Weber and suggests that the problems associated with portraying reason as ‘inert’ or ‘formal’ underpin many areas of education policy today. A scrutiny of discourses on managerialism, skills and creativity suggests that they are not only bound by instrumental reasoning but tied to unacknowledged purposes associated with what Marcuse called ‘capitalist rationality’. The paper concludes by reflecting upon Habermas’ notion of substantive reasoning that offers education a way forward.     

The effectiveness of the TEACCH approach in supporting the development of communication skills for learners with severe intellectual disabilities

This research focused on whether a TEACCH‐based approach could be effective in helping to develop the communication skills of older learners with Severe Intellectual Disabilities, to enhance their ability to communicate, to enhance their abilities to live independent lives, and to take part in discussions about their future. A TEACCH based approach was implemented in a class in a special school, attended by six students, aged over 16, all of whom had Severe Intellectual Disabilities. Using a pre‐post quasi‐experimental design P‐Scale data and IEP targets were used as measures of progress for communication skills. These were supplemented by regular researcher observations of the communication skills of the students. Staff were also asked to regularly measure the frequency and effectiveness of communication skills. Parents were also interviewed. P‐scale and IEP targets indicated some progress being made across the two years. The results from research and staff observation were more striking however, indicating the development of frequent and effective communication skills across the two years. Importantly, these communications were occurring spontaneously, rather than being the result of conversations initiated by staff. Parents had noticed changes in their children's communication, but remained concerned about their prospects for the future. This research showed that a TEACCH‐based method can be effective in developing communication skills in learners with Severe Intellectual Disabilities. The extent of the effectiveness remains unclear however, as the school‐based methods for assessing progress for these learners (mainly p‐scales) remain problematic.     

International mobility of PhD students since the 1990s and its effect on China: a cross-national analysis

ABSTRACT

Of all the levels of education, doctoral education is the most internationalised. By selecting one key indicator (the proportion of international students among a country’s doctorate recipients), the article presents an analysis of PhD students’ international mobility. After the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War in the early 1990s, many barriers to the international mobility of PhD students were removed, leading to an even larger flow of students. From 2000 to 2012, the international mobility of PhD students reached a new peak, with a significant increase in the percentage going to Japan, France, Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom and Australia. Nowadays, China has become the largest source of international doctoral students. In that process, a number of excellent students go abroad to study for foreign doctoral degrees. On one hand, the loss of excellent students is harmful to China’s PhD training system, but on the other hand, it is a great opportunity for China to change brain drain into brain gain by making full use of the knowledge diaspora scattered around the world.     

Assessing the quality of PhD dissertations. A survey of external committee members

This article reports on a study of the quality assessment of doctoral dissertations, and asks whether examiner characteristics influence assessment of research quality in PhD dissertations. Utilising a multi-dimensional concept of quality of PhD dissertations, we look at differences in assessment of research quality, and particularly test whether prior relationship to supervisor, examiners’ assessment experience and the regional affiliation of examiners influence assessment, also controlling for academic fields and type of higher education institutions. The data are drawn from a survey to foreign members of thesis evaluation committees that served in the year 2010 at the Norwegian universities. The sample consisted of 1159 foreign committee members, representing a response rate of 79%. The results indicate that the regional affiliation and previous experience of committee members influence quality assessment significantly, but that the relationship to supervisor(s) was of little importance.     

篮球普修课中培养学生教学技能实验研究

采用分组教学实验法、数理统计法等研究方法对贵阳学院2008级体育教育专业两个班共121名学生进行教学实验,并对数据进行分析研究。认为在篮球普修教学中,实施分组小班教学实习完全具有可行性,且学生积极性高,完成质量较好;在篮球普修课的十周技术教学实习结束后,学生整体教学能力提高明显;虽然实验班每次课减少30分钟左右的技、战术学习时间,但对期末考试成绩分析表明,其学生在理论知识掌握与技、战术掌握方面与对照班差异不具显著性。     

从课程设置看美国免疫学博士的专业知识结构

世界各国的博士学位标准对知识都有明确的要求,要求博士学位获得者具备一定的专业知识结构。那么什么样的知识结构才算是合理的呢？本文通过考察美国5所大学免疫学博士的课程设置,发现美国免疫学博士课程体系为博士生提供了坚实、宽广和精深的专业知识结构。借鉴美国经验,我国博士课程设置应以聚焦专业知识为培养目标,优化硕士生基础课程,增设跨学科课程,实行实验室轮转,建立学术实践活动制度。     

Modelling research: a collaborative approach to helping PhD students develop higher-level research skills

A high proportion of PhD candidates in science and engineering fail to complete their degrees. This paper reports the results of a series of workshops where experienced researchers and supervisors were brought together with PhD students to discuss and develop a model of the PhD process. The objective was to help students develop a more rounded and thoughtful approach to their work. The impact of the workshops was assessed by carrying out structured interviews and coding the results to determine the impact on participant perceptions. The analysis suggests that the approach is effective in helping participants to clarify their thinking about the research process in which they are engaged. A proportion of participants appear to have moved from a tactical to a more strategic approach to their research. The study involved students in a postgraduate university but has implications for training of all research students in applied disciplines.     

Getting good at small talk: student-directed learning of social conversation skills

For students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), learning social skills is an intricate but essential task to facilitate social inclusion and participation. Limited research is available on social skills interventions for adolescents with ASD and intellectual disabilities (ID). This article presents a case study that illustrates how the Self-Determined Learning Model of Instruction was used to improve self-chosen social conversation skills in a Norwegian 14-year old student with ASD and mild ID. This case study illustrates that, also for students with ASD and ID, giving them the opportunity to set personally relevant goals may improve their autonomous motivation, thereby increasing the likelihood of goal attainment.     

博士生创新品质培养

创新品质是博士生培养的根本.博士生的培养是建立在科学研究的基础之上的,本文通过分析科学研究的内在规律,指出了学校、导师、学生作为统一的整体,需要在博士培养过程中尊重科学研究规律,各负其责,形成利于创新型科技人才成长的环境.具体结合科学研究的内在需求.有针对性的分析了学校在学术氛围、科研条件、科学管理等方面的责任,导师在学术品德、学术指导、学术交往等方面的责任,学生在责任感、创新意识、自身知识结构等方面的责任.     

Facilitating experiential learning of study skills in sports students

In recent years the student population in the UK has grown considerably, and students are entering higher education with a more diverse range of qualifications and skills. This is particularly the case in post‐1992 universities with a widening participation agenda, as these institutions have a larger share of students from non‐traditional backgrounds. Universities therefore need to consider ways in which they can encourage achievement and success amongst a diverse population of students, many of whom enter higher education without the skills needed to study effectively. Within this article the authors consider the use of experiential learning tasks to facilitate the development of study skills, as it has been suggested that such tasks aid student learning and the acquisition of skills.

The authors outline a Level 1 module, delivered to a large cohort of students at a post‐1992 university in the United Kingdom, and designed to facilitate the development of study skills in a way that is consistent with Kolb’s experiential learning cycle. Their small‐scale and provisional examination of the first iteration of this module suggests that they have produced an initiative that encourages student engagement and facilitates learning in each of the four stages of Kolb’s cycle. However, wider investigation is required to ascertain the effectiveness of the initiative in allowing student access to some of the key aims of higher education.     

Assessment procedures of Norwegian PhD theses as viewed by examiners from the USA,the UK and Sweden

This article focuses on the assessment procedures of Norwegian PhD theses as viewed by external members of evaluation committees from three countries with different examination systems; the USA, the UK and Sweden. Their viewpoints give useful information not only on the pros and cons with the Norwegian system, but also on the strengths and weaknesses of their own national assessment systems. Various procedures of the four national PhD assessment systems are compared: the composition of the evaluation committee, the status of the thesis as published work, the pre-examination assessment, and the examination and defence.     

Stimulation of thinking skills in high school students

The objective of this research was to examine the effects of the instruction method “thinking actively in an academic context (TAAC)” on thinking skills, creativity, self‐regulation and academic achievement. The design was pre‐test–intervention–post‐test with control group. The sample included 46 participants (aged 16 to 18 years), 24 experimental and 22 controls. Before and after application of the method, six instruments were used to measure thinking skills and academic achievement. The method, divided into eight stages, was followed in each didactic unit during an academic course. The method allows teaching the thinking skills, the creativity and the self‐regulation simultaneously with the syllabus content. The results showed that greater changes were obtained with the new method of instruction in all the dependent variables. Relevant scientific and educational implications are drawn from the study.