Despite the importance of goals in educational theories, goals in master's thesis projects are rarely investigated. Therefore, this study explores how goals play a role in master's thesis supervision in terms of: defining the goals (up-component); locating where the student stands in relation to the goals (back-component); and how the student can…

Learning has been described by two conceptual metaphors: as individual acquisition of knowledge ("acquisition metaphor"), and as an enculturation into a subject community ("participation metaphor"). On the other hand, academics' conceptions of teaching are usually reported to vary between teacher and student orientation. In…

In this study, 28 university students from two different fields--the humanities and veterinary medicine--were interviewed. The aim was to explore the role of individual interest and future goals during the first two years of university study through retrospective interviews. The results showed that, while support from the learning environment was…

Drawing on the data from interviews with 32 international students, this qualitative study applies Weick's framework of organizational sensemaking to the analysis of international graduate students' socialization in the academic and student communities in a large US university. Methodologically, the analysis relies on a semiotic chain…

This study reports on experiences of doctoral students in educational administration at a time when the effectiveness of programs preparing practitioners and academics in this field are being questioned. Concerns related to how students in educational administration developed knowledge about research and identity as researchers were closely…

A motivational orientation framework for higher education has previously been derived from interviews with 36 undergraduate students in an elite university system. The framework consists of six interacting facets of motivation represented by continua labelled: compliance, individual goal setting, sense of belonging, interest, career and university…

A competitive higher education environment marked by increased accountability and quality assurance measures for doctoral study, including the structured training of doctoral supervisors, has highlighted the need to clearly articulate and delineate the work of supervising doctoral students. This article responds to this imperative by examining the…

Governments are aiming to expand the intake to higher education, so it is important to understand what motivates students to enter university and choose a particular programme. The aim of this study was to see whether a motivational orientation framework, developed to explain motivation to study, could also be applied to motivation to enrol in a…