This European University Association (EUA)-Council for Doctoral Education (CDE) report presents the results of an extensive and unique study on the state of play of doctoral education in Europe. Offering findings gathered from more than 300 institutions across Europe, it provides an overview of the deep transformation that has taken place in…

Doctoral supervision is a complex set of intersecting relations, personal and familial, social and institutional. History figures there: wanted or not, ghosts from the past come back to haunt supervisor, student and thesis. This article explores a particular configuration that can occur in Aotearoa/New Zealand when Pakeha academics supervise Maori…

The aim of this paper is to map the pattern of awards for research degree supervision in institutions in Australia and the United Kingdom. In particular, it explores the scope of such awards, their objectives, the criteria for nomination, the evidence required to be submitted, the composition of award panels, the criteria for award, and the…

This paper takes up Bakhtin's dialogic perspective to explore the becoming of one Chinese international doctoral student's voices. We investigate how a single participant (from a wider study) assimilates the most transformative but "alien" voice of critical thinking in her supervision space by participating in dialogues with key speaking…

Doctoral supervisors aim for two goals. One is a strong thesis, timely in submission. The other is the fully fledged independent researcher who is able to write about research clearly within an epistemologically accepted framework. Feedback and feedforward on writing should address both goals. However, in many institutions, supervisors are under…

In this article, we examine our own doctoral supervisory dialogue as it has been institutionally interrupted due to Ahmad's application for asylum in the UK. As we find ourselves lacking the conditions of recognisability required for our actions to be institutionally understood (or made intelligible) as part of a doctoral supervisory relationship,…

This paper adopts a political economy perspective in understanding how the country context frames the development of higher education doctoral science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) programs. We argue that a country's commitment to research and development spending as a strategy to maintain its economic competitiveness creates…

Is oral feedback on thesis writing from supervisors and academic literacy advisors (ALA) based on writing criteria, such as the MASUS (Measuring the Academic Skills of University Students) criteria (Bonanno & Jones, 2007)? The study aimed to investigate the distribution of supervisory and ALA oral feedback in terms of the five MASUS Areas.…

PhD supervision is crucial for higher degree research students in western academic contexts. Despite an increasing body of literature regarding the international student-supervisor relationship, Thai students in Australian higher education are under-represented. This qualitative study aims to explore discursive practices that impact on Thai…

To gain an in-depth understanding of the causes of the often implicit misunderstandings between Western supervisors and their Chinese doctoral students, we examined my lived experiences as a Chinese international doctoral student under the supervision of my Australian supervisors. Our data revealed how misunderstandings arose and evolved from…

Studies on how students experience their PhD have been promoted in order to understand how this collective develops in their careers (research-oriented studies) and/or as an indicator to improve doctoral programmes (assessment-oriented). In the present review, 79 studies collecting data from questionnaires and scales were analyzed. Among the…

The aim of this study is to explore the learning experiences of students enrolled on a Doctorate in Education programme in Hong Kong. The main questions are as follows. How do EdD students position themselves as doctoral candidates? How do EdD students experience their education in terms of scholarly expertise and scholarly identity? How do EdD…

Colleague supervision is increasingly used in UK modern (post-92) universities to support the progress of academic staff to doctoral qualifications. Denicolo (2004) argues that it is a "role relationship that has been largely ignored or undervalued by administration" (p. 693) and colleague students and supervisors "felt more…

It goes without saying that the national development of every country greatly depends upon the development of higher education and research. Unfortunately, Pakistan is lagging behind in this area. This can be judged from the fact that since the creation of this country in 1947, Pakistani universities have produced very few PhDs. Therefore, at the…

The mastery of academic writing is essential in doctoral writing. Supervisory feedback provides opportunities for students to improve their writing. It is a communicative tool that can be categorised based on fundamental functions of speech: referential, directive, and expressive. This study provides some understanding of the impact that language…