Over the last 30 years higher education has seen a rise in new managerialism across all its activity, driven by neoliberal economic policy. Professional doctorates (PDs) have been part of this rise, increasing in number considerably and spawning a related interest in researching doctoral work. However, there have been few studies focused on how…

This article reflects on my use of Video Enhanced Reflective Practice (VERP), as a trainee educational psychologist (TEP), to further develop my interactions, level of attunement and confidence to express my psychological opinion with my placement supervisor, within the context of supervision. The project consisted of three cycles of VERP using…

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…

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,…

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…

This study considered the sources of facilitating experiences and strategies for thesis writing from doctoral students and graduates (N = 30). The sample was balanced between science and social science knowledge areas, with equal numbers of English as Second Language (ESL) participants in both groups. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were used…

International students make up an increasingly large proportion of the UK's student population. Whether studying at undergraduate, postgraduate taught or postgraduate research level, they require support just like home students. However, international students can often bring additional issues and complications for the staff who are supporting…

Supervision of doctoral students needs to be improved to increase completion rates, reduce attrition rates (estimated to be at 25% or more) and improve quality of research. The current literature review aimed to explore the contribution that technology can make to higher degree research supervision. The articles selected included empirical studies…

This paper looks at works of various authors on the supervision of doctoral students and their expectations. We aim through reading, experience and reflection to offer a logical framework that will aid in the better understanding of the process for those new to supervision. The two authors draw upon experience as new supervisors via the use of…

This article explores the institutional and individual struggles surrounding the submission for examination of a jointly authored doctoral dissertation at a U.K. civic university. Two of the article's authors (Gale and Wyatt) were the dissertation's authors, and Speedy, the article's third author, is their supervisor. Joint doctoral dissertations…

This article examines the stories of 24 social sciences doctoral students in three universities, one in Canada and two in the UK, who experienced challenging roads to completion. While their stories confirm earlier findings, they also provide insight into how students' agency and personal networks of relationships may be critical, both as…

This article has two main aims: to analyse relevant literature on the doctoral degree, and to assess whether recent funding changes in the UK have changed the nature of the PhD in the social sciences in a research-intensive and prestigious UK university. Data were collected at BlueSkies University where interviews with social sciences PhD…

Purpose: In this paper the authors seek to argue that doctoral supervision is one type of human resource development relationship in higher education (HE), and that this relationship may be close or distanced, and involve technical and social support. The paper aims to highlight the seldom-discussed aspects of power and emotion within doctoral…

The authors introduce a consistency-based approach to detecting examiner bias. On comparing intra-class correlation coefficients on transformed data for supervisor continuous performance and report marks (ICC1*) with those for supervisor continuous performance and second marker report marks (ICC2*), a highly significant difference was obtained…

This paper explores the challenges facing supervisors of international postgraduate students at the dissertation stage of the masters programme. The central problems of time pressure, language difficulties, a lack of critical analysis and a prevalence of personal problems among international students are discussed. This paper makes recommendations…