Towards a developmental framework for postgraduate supervision

The quality of postgraduate supervision continues to be a critical factor in the retention and timely completion of postgraduate research students. Yet, there are few developmental frameworks for postgraduate supervision beyond those provided by consideration checklists or anecdotal case study. This paper draws together research from both the organisational and higher educational literature to posit a developmental framework for postgraduate supervision. The framework centres on three foci, the culture, structures and systems of postgraduate education at the departmental or school level. These three foci are crossed with two important outcome dimensions provided in a summary of postgraduate research by DETYA: institutional/environmental factors, and individual supervisory arrangements.
Thus, the paper proposes a framework for developing postgraduate supervision that is based on both organisational factors and outcome measures. The developmental aspects of this framework are demonstrated through examples drawn from the authors’ university. The framework can to be used to devise developmental policy and practice for postgraduate supervision following a thorough analysis of each university’s contextual features.