Does one need really need boundaries between doctoral supervisor and supervisee when talking about mature learners? Drawing on reflection from her extensive experience, the author believes it is critical to maintain this divide. There is an increase in doctoral students, proliferation of doctoral programmes globally and practices which vary from…

This article reviews the literature on supervisory elements in distance postgraduate research programmes leading to a master's or doctoral degree. The authors first identify and review the main supervisory challenges from the perspectives of both supervisor and supervisee. This paves the path to investigate and categorise the strategies that have…

This article describes higher degree research supervisors' experiences of supervision as teaching. While research education is considered central to the higher degree research experience, comparatively little is known to date of the teaching lenses adopted by supervisors as they go about their supervision. We worked with 35 supervisors engaged in…

There are no universal, precise, or explicit criteria for completing a doctoral degree successfully. Researchers and practitioners have pointed out how difficult and time consuming the supervision of graduate student research can be. When students in doctoral programs complete their degrees via distance delivery, supervision of graduate students…

The purpose of the doctorate and the desirable outcomes of doctoral education are the focus of debates in the UK, the USA, Australia and other Organisation for Economic Development countries. Part of that reconceptualisation of the doctorate includes a growing international interest in university-industry research, which, as a consequence, has…