Training researchers represents a substantially deeply international activity for higher education, and yet the transition into independence, a critical aim of doctoral education, remains a challenge for both supervisors and doctoral students, especially those from different cultural backgrounds. Interactions between Chinese doctoral students and…

Prior research has established the importance of the supervisor-doctoral candidate relationship and highlighted the importance of mentoring practices for the successful completion of doctoral theses/dissertations in the online environment. This article presents the findings of a survey with faculty members who work as supervisors in online and…

Mentoring relationships between research supervisors and doctoral students play a key role in doctoral students' success. Self-determination theory assumes that the quality of these relationships can be defined in terms of fulfillment of students' basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Studies on how supervisors and…

High dropout rates, delay, and dissatisfaction among PhD students are common problems in doctoral education. Research shows that many different factors are associated with doctoral success, but these factors have not often been studied simultaneously. Moreover, characteristics of the PhD project are mostly neglected. In this study, we investigate…

Although the thesis is an integral part of the study programme, the way the guidance for this work is supervised can highly differ between supervisors. Writing the thesis is a complicated process requiring tailored guidance, that is often not feasible due to increasing numbers of students and need for efficiency. One possible solution is working…