Doctoral ‘orphans’: nurturing and supporting the success of postgraduates who have lost their supervisors

Much research into doctoral student-supervisor relations focuses on developing positive interactions. For many students, however, the research experience can be troubled by breakdowns in communication and even the loss of the supervisor(s), turning the student into a doctoral ‘orphan’ and impacting on their academic identity and ability and confidence in producing a sound doctoral-level contribution to knowledge. Our work with a range of UK- and internationally-based doctoral students looks specifically at reasons for supervisor loss and/or absence and the students' experience of being doctoral ‘orphans’ in terms of identity, confidence and progress. In focusing on those who achieve successful completion, it suggests the need for institutional and community support and highlights the development of effective strategies leading to ownership, empowerment and emotional resilience.     

Doctoral studies as an initiatory trial: expected and taken-for-granted practices that impede PhD students’ progress

ABSTRACT

Intellectual abilities alone are not sufficient to successfully progress through doctoral studies. Research indicates that modes of training and the context and conditions in which doctoral studies take place also have a significant impact on the process. However, few studies examine how taken-for-granted and self-evident practices in academia likely impede students’ progress. To address this gap, a qualitative inquiry was conducted according to an instrumental case study design. Six human and social sciences faculties at a Canadian university were selected to define the case. In addition to analysing institutional documents pertaining to doctoral studies in this specific context, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 36 PhD students, 14 thesis supervisors and five academic administrators. Based on Giddens’ theory of structuration, the analysis revealed an enduring perception of doctoral studies as an ‘initiatory trial’ that affects both the formal and tacit organisation of the process, and consequently its underlying challenges.     

Ongoing Doctoral Study Process to Live by: A Narrative Inquiry into the Doctoral Identity Construction Experiences—A Chinese Case

The study employs a narrative inquiry approach to probe a Chinese doctoral student’s identity construction experiences fraught with interruption and transformation. The longitudinal narratives gathered through participant entries in Evernote, a face-to-face life story interview, and researcher memos, have enabled a dynamic configuration of the intellectual, social, emotional, and spiritual dimensions characterizing doctoral identity development. Using identity-trajectory as an analytical lens, the study highlights how individual agency is embodied and exercised in institutional, relational, and personal spaces where doctoral identity is formed and contested. Findings are episodically ordered as: beginning doctoral study with great expectations; conceptualizing the nature of becoming a doctoral student; forces that are disruptive to the development of the doctoral-researcher identity; the ongoing process of being mediated by socialization into an extended research community, socio- professional support, and agentic reflexivity over time. The study argues for using narrative inquiry to speak of and express the subtleties and continuities of doctoral students’ experiences. It also provides practical implications for action by supervisors and students in doctoral programs respectively.     

参与学术创业对工科博士生教育的影响探析

在知识经济时代,越来越多的工科博士生参与大学的学术创业活动,作为科研训练的一种重要方式,学术创业对工科博士教育产生了重要影响。基于对16名工科博士生深度访谈材料的扎根分析,本研究发现,参与学术创业,促进了工科博士生科研能力的提升,非学术技能的习得,广阔的学术观和多元职业观的形成。为回应学术创业对工科博士教育的影响,建议培养单位形成多元培养观,优选和拓展学术创业项目,提升工科博士生的科研能力和学术创业能力。     

“Publish SCI papers or no degree”: practices of Chinese doctoral supervisors in response to the publication pressure on science students

Publishing English papers in journals listed in Science Citation Index (SCI) has become a requirement for degree conferment for doctoral science students at many universities in China. The publication requirement engenders high pressure for doctoral students and their supervisors and shapes the politics of the relationship between the two parties. This is illustrated in the present paper which reports a study conducted at a prestigious university in east China. Focusing on the case of a research group in biochemistry led by an expert writer (the supervisor), the study aimed to find out, from the supervisor's perspective, what revising papers for the students means to him, and what the students learn as a result of their papers being revised. It is shown that the students depend on the supervisor to meet the publication requirement, and the supervisor believes an average student cannot write a publishable paper. The paper discusses the disempowering effect of the publication requirement, and concludes that there is a role for a course on academic English writing, and that the focus on “publishing SCI papers or no degree” should be shifted at the policy level and long-term planning should go into the training of EAP-qualified language professionals.     

‘Untold’ doctoral stories: can we move beyond cultural narratives of neglect?

This article examines the stories of 24 social sciences doctoral students in three universities, one in Canada and two in the UK, who experienced challenging roads to completion. While their stories confirm earlier findings, they also provide insight into how students' agency and personal networks of relationships may be critical, both as resources and constraints. We argue that these ‘untold stories’ of student agency coupled with supervisor narratives of students ‘not measuring up’ can contribute to a culture of institutional neglect. Pedagogies emphasizing an ethic of care and relational rather than regulatory practices are essential if these conditions are to change.     

博士生知识焦虑的多维透视及其消解策略

作为知识社会重要的劳动主体,博士生受知识引发的现实性变革影响而压力倍增,逐渐暴露出由知识引发的焦虑问题。从心理学来看,博士生知识焦虑表现为以无助感为特质的情绪症候,消解之策在于博士生自我调控和外部干预两个方面;从现象学来看,其导源于博士生消极的学术体验,主要表现为由知识建构中自我效能感降低和师生关系紧张所诱发的学术倦怠,对此应加强研究生教育的系统性,建立科学机制以保证师生间的良性互动;从生命哲学而言,知识焦虑表现为博士生对学术生命的存在困惑,因应之道在于关注博士生的生存状态、尊重其学术生命的独特性和完整性,满足博士生潜能发挥与自我实现的内在需求。     

以学术为业还是以市场为业——博士生职业选择的变化、原因及启示

传统而言,博士生毕业后继续从事学术工作。但是这一现象正在发生改变,博士毕业生开始谋求非学术职业,其中理工科的比例更高。这一变化的首要原因是社会对知识和人力资本的强烈需求,博士生能力提升项目与市场化的求职意愿也推动更多毕业生进入工商业界。我国博士生教育的可能走向是实行博士生教育分流机制:亲学院派保持博士生培养传统,亲市场派满足社会需求。同时,改革博士生培养方案与扩招应用型理工科博士生也是两大趋势。     

PBL模式下非英语专业博士生国际学术交流意识的培养

考察基于问题的学习(PBL)对非英语专业博士生国际学术交流意识的影响。前期对40名博士生导师和2008级60名非英语专业博士生进行的问卷调查结果显示:非英语专业博士生英语应用能力和"可迁移技能"差,缺乏真实的学习环境与教学语料,不利于其培养国际学术交流意识。教学实验前后针对2009级59名学生有关程序性和元认知性知识的问卷数据对比分析发现:PBL教学有助于学生获取这两方面的知识;在对英文摘要与信件写作文本进行双样本T检验分析中未见其在促进学生获得陈述性知识方面具优势。此外,采用Ant Conc软件对2009和2010级共60名接受PBL教学的学生有关课程感受的描述性写作文本进行主题词提取,总体反映出PBL教学对博士生国际学术交流意识的培养具有积极作用。