The PhD confirmation, or upgrade stage, is a key requirement and rite of passage for most doctoral students. Yet despite its significance and high-stakes nature, little attention has been paid to students' experiences of this stage of the PhD journey and how it influences the development of their researcher identity. Through semi-structured…

Internationalisation in higher education is now a worldwide phenomenon but there is little attention paid to internationalisation at doctoral level, although this phenomenon has grown exponentially in recent years. This study focuses on a university in China to examine how international doctoral students and their supervisors perceive supervision…

The COVID-19 outbreak has dramatically changed all spheres of humans and caused the interruption of educational settings around the globe. It necessitated the rapid transition of virtual supervision and online service delivery internationally. The present study constructed a model using equity theory and the D&M (DeLone and McLean) model to…

The Chinese government has been actively recruiting foreign-trained Chinese scholars to return to China since the Chinese brain drain began. Japan is among the most popular destinations for Chinese scholars seeking to receive doctoral training. This study explores the factors contributing to the stratification of Japanese-trained Chinese PhDs'…

This paper provides a reflection on the way changes taking place in doctoral education are being perceived and internalized by doctoral students. The Doctoral perceptions are analyzed through Ph.D. candidates' motivations to enroll in the program and to their levels of satisfaction with the supervision experience. Comparisons between national and…

Sharing the stories and experiences of Black and African American students is becoming ever more important here in the United States. Increasingly, scholars express the need for a methodological approach that centers the voices of Black students. With this critical autoethnography, I investigated Black students' determining factors for pursuing…

Purpose: Although the international education sector is one of the significant contributors to the Australian economy, international students continue to experience various forms of social inequalities. This paper aims to focus on overseas doctoral researchers (ODRs) -- candidates and graduates -- and capture their experiences.…

This study examines the language, academic, and socio-cultural concerns of 24 Vietnamese international students (PhD, master's and undergraduate) studying in universities in Sydney, Australia. Alongside the obvious linguistic concerns, the salient issues that emerge from this study draw attention to the struggles these students face to adapt to…

In this article, we introduce a time mapping methodology to chart the impact of transcultural and First Nations' histories, geographies and cultural knowledges on doctoral education. Drawing upon a 'Southern', postcolonial-decolonial theoretical framing and extending textual life history methodologies, we argue that time mapping is a visual…

This article draws from a mixed-method study of 111 Indonesian doctoral students' experiences in Australia during the COVID-19 pandemic. Qualitative data from follow-up interviews conducted throughout 2020 offer insights into doctoral students' enforced online supervision experiences. Beyond the inevitable challenges, in-depth interviews reveal…

The article examines the experiences of Chinese PhD students doing research in China Studies as well as the experiences of their supervisors who supervise their research in Australian universities. By conducting semi-structured interviews with both PhD students and their supervisors, we aim to understand the expectations, concerns and challenges…

Doctoral education is based on a pedagogical model of apprenticeship where the expert, the more experienced academic, advises or mentors the student. Scholars have recognized the challenges of doctoral supervision due to the intense and individualized nature of the relationship. Based on the author's personal experiences as a doctoral student and…

The aim of this systematic literature review was to ascertain the best practice available to provide high-quality online support to students during their thesis stage of an Online Doctorate in Higher Education programme. The review process involved a synthesis of available research literature to arrive a comprehensive and trustworthy picture. For…

This article explores some implications of plurilingualism and translingual practice for teaching and learning in higher education. Research in this area tends to focus on the undergraduate experience whereas our focus is on doctoral supervision, a less-discussed but rich site for studying plurilingual and translingual practice. We consider…

This study addresses the issue of international education through a human development lens. Using a group of Chinese doctoral students in Australia as a case study, it adopts volunteer-employed photography (VEP) to tease out the negative and positive forces that influence students' developmental trajectories during their doctoral education.…