A good supervisor is a guide and mentor, not an encyclopedia or a self-help book. Many PhD students are not satisfied with their supervisor.
I would say that he should demonstrate the following:
1, Thorough knowledge of the subject concerned.
2. Sufficient time at her/his disposal.
3. willingness to guide on the topic concerned.
4. Publications in high impact factor journals so that s/he can inspire the student as a role model and command respect
5. Emotional intelligence so that can tolerate the limitations of the student.
6. Integrity and belief in fair dealing, and should not take the students for granted.
Dear Rolando
Without the help of a good supervisor experienced in the area, it is virtually impossible to do a proper search. Unless the person is a self-taught genius (how many they are?). Without an experienced advisor, the student will not receive the practical training required.
It is possible to evaluate the advisor using the social networking potential, beyond the scientific search engines Web of Science and Scopus:
Check if he has published articles on the topic that interests you and in which magazines, and see how many citations the articles that scientist have received.
The supervisor should be a professional who devotes attention to the academic training of students, giving them autonomy to think alone and be happy with their success. Should avoid one that puts on a pedestal, because it is generally not as good as they say, and his vanity harms everyone around. If possible, also talk to ex-oriented, in order to verify the quality of the guiding potential
Dear Rolando: I concur with what Debi said. Like to supplement them with the following:
1. Support the student through all stages of work both technically as well as personally. Many a times students get disheartened because of the work not going as planned when they need moral support.
2. Allow the student to take independent decisions about the research and then critique them so that the student can become a better independent researcher.
the points made are all very good, but it can be difficult for one person to embody all of this! this is why it can be helpful to have 2 (and at time 3) supervisors working with a student. This way, ideally you have one who is expert in the topic content and one expert in the methodology. Inevitably though, at times there is simply a poor connection between student and supervisor and this can make it difficult (and frustrating) for both parties. For this reason, the development of an initial Memorandum of Understanding, where both parties identify there expectations related to key aspects of the process is essential. Personally, I think it is important that the supervisors can also offer the emotional support and reassurrance that many students need, as most go through the stages of self doubt and despair at some point. But like all individuals, some supervisors find this easier than others!
Sandra: I am not sure the MOU is feasible as an instrument. However there should be tacit understanding to that effect. What is important is that the supervisor should have empathy towards the student which is most important. Practically most of the students go through despair at least once in the doctoral cycle. Multiple supervisors depends upon the understanding between the faculty. Many a times a senior faculty will be a figure head with junior faculty becoming a de facto supervisor providing all the support.
I will say a good Ph.D supervisor is the one who spend time with the student, not only at the Uni (office), but follow the student in the lab and in the field, help the student with appropriate journals, meet and discuss and communicate on a regular basis with the student. Most importantly who encourage and appreciate the student for his/her efforts and who understand student’s problem including personal. The supervisor should not be a threat to the student but be a friend! All of these will make a good Ph.D outcome in the long run.
I think one of the keys to being a good supervisor is being able to adjust to the needs of your students. Different students require different support. Additionally, Ph.D. supervisors need to provide support, autonomy, and guidance that fosters the student's research agenda instead of merely using the student as a tool to further their research. Too often students complete their Ph.D. as a parrot of the supervisor/advisor without the ability to articulate their own research plan.
Lots of good feedback here... I have a brilliant Supervisor so I can share his qualities (most of which have been listed here). I think the best thing he does is force me to think like a researcher! He has never TOLD me to do anything, he only asks guiding questions so that I articulate MY ideas clearly. He then summarizes them in a more scholarly way so that I learn the language. I should say, I am a fairly mature PhD student (25 years of working since my Bachelor Degree) who went into the PhD so I could learn what I wanted, how I wanted, and when I wanted. My Supervisor has let me take that journey. He has helped me focus when I needed to. He cheers me on when I do it right.
With RE: the despair piece. I think PhD students need to find other students studying a similar topic for real encouragement. I have done this and found it a HUGE help. We meet virtually once a month.
Flexibility, inspiration, fascination with what he or she is doing... all the rest should not be encapsulated into simplified schemes, because science is like art, begs for creative thinking, vision, and individual multi-level intelligence.
Atilla Szabo,
Your answer is perfect. One has to be a very well educated person and have a strong personality and something that is callaed a "charisma" -something spiritual in order to be supervisor and a gulde.
Dear Debi, Nageswara, Nelson, Sandra, Golam , William
Barb, Attila and Janina, thank you very much for the important contributions!!.
Agreed with all the researchers / scholars' comments. To me also want to include the following qualities of a PhD supervisor:
1) push his or her student to present at PhD colloquiums / conference proceedings in front of panel of professors & students whereby everyone can ask any question - the supervisor also physically presence in the colloquium / conference to assist the PhD student in case s/he is stucked (this is good exposure for the student to gain confidence, learn from the supervisor how to address tough questions, how to improve the student's thesis)
2) push the student write article (an extract of his or her PhD thesis), review, publish in journals & help the student analyze reviewers' critiques - this really help the student learn how to write academic article before graduating, learn how to improve / write better thesis & how to interpret & answer reviewers' critiques positively
3) rehearse rounds with the PhD student before viva exam & share tips on do's and don'ts - this strengthen the student confidence & help him or her to prepare better
Being well versed in many subject areas is one important attribute, but this is very scarce for many. What may be needed is the ability to motivate, and the ability to evaluate the student's work. The ability to direct and inspire through known facts to get the student to produce quality.
The supervisor should act as a motivator and a role model in every field- academic and even personal attributes.
S/He should crave to have the student better than him/ herself.
Should be understanding person with empathy.
Should be prepared to help the student in writing thesis/ papers and presentations.
Should prepare the student so that s/he becomes completely independent after the training period is over
This is a good question with many possible answers. In addition to the incisive, helpful answers already given, there is a short answer.
The short answer is: A supervisor should be a good llstener in addition to being a good researcher. In effect, a supervisor who is a good listener will give answers to a student's comments and questions that are apropos to the particular curiousites and interests of the student. Students with the glimmer of an idea benefit greatly from the subtleties of their idea brought to light by a supervisor, who typically has a broader and deeper view of where an idea fits.
Dear Debi,
Dear All,
Regarding the points in your list, some of them I do not support or consider to unnecessary.
Points 1, 5 and 6 are fine and important. Points 2 and 3 are unnecessary because s/he who has no time and willingness will not deal with students. Point 4 is only a formal attribute of professional merit that was already mentioned in point 1. As to the real respect, it has no connection to impact points. The respect should be result of a process based on experience, behaviour and personal history as well as the message of the publications of supervisor. I would add that teaching and research experience are advantageous. Generally, extrovert people are better supervisors.
Whatever I experienced from the last few years as supervisor and co - supervisor, I think when the thesis is assigned to the students. Most of the students are few know about the research methodology. They go under stress. So one role of the supervisor is that s/he should understand the problem of the student and empathize him to emerge from the distressed situation. Where excellent knowledge & skill of the supervisor is essential,it is more important, how s/he disseminate his/ her knowledge and skill for doing research and then writing the thesis / research project.
Dear colleague:
In my opinion are necessary many features:
1) A good pedagogic capacity for explaining to students in a clear way the main topics of the work.
2) Other aspect in the analytic capacity to develop correctly the structure of the research.
3) Finally empathy for giving a comfortable psychological environment that develop the creativity of the students.
However you can have good characteristics as director and do not obtain good results because the attitude of the students can be wrong. In my University many students are not really interested in the research. They are not motivated because this is a very long way that require high doses of motivation. Many students want to finish the studies and work out of the University and many Universities in Spain have not enough quality in international rankings. In fact, any Spanish University is between the first 100 of the Shanghai ranking. My institution even is absent of this ranking ;-). Recently I had extracted data of ResearchGate and I had registered that the 15% of professors produce the 95% of the research. In my case alone since 23 years ago... This must be considered by authorities but they are very worried with politics ;-) In my opinion the main causes of this low level of our Universities are the wrong educational programmes and the politicization of the Education. This decrease the level of exigence to students and professor. Universities are the perfect place where can obtain work friends and family ;-). In certain Departments you can observe even three generations of the same family (Upppsss). With this "environment of corruption" is very difficult to work in an altruistic manner, teach and research. However we follow because really we love the Science. Good luck. Regards.
If you are doing PhD in India only he should be able to manage the administration well.
As in India research focus comes later after you cross hurdle of people management.
I regret, if i have exaggerated the situation.
I strongly agree to what Debi S. Saini has put across. What i would add is related to finance. The PhD supervisor should have the ability to draw funds from all sort of corners to support the students research. the supervisors relationship with the student should be the same from the beginning till the end of the study period. These and many others would make one a good PhD supervisor.
I totally agree with all the aforementioned. However, I would also add something from my own experience. It would be beneficial if the supervisor also would guide his PhD on how to write a good paper and how to review one...
The supervisor should also support and encourage the PhD student to publish in related journals, attend relevant conferences, and should include him/her in any grant projects in order to expose the intended PhD to these aspects of academia. The latter are sometimes overlooked in lieu of the completing the dissertation, which unfortunately leaves the new PhD "wanting" accordingly.
Many thanks,
Debra
It is very important to mentor a graduate student so that s/he gets equipped to face the world in every aspect. Grant writing is one of them. Exposing them to peer review process is also very important. I am very happy to tell that once my graduate student leave s/he is fully equipped to handle all the academic (and personal too!) challenges.
Should be available all the time to attend to students research and other challenges that impact on his/her studies and halp the student to develop a certain level of resilience.
They know when to listen, when it’s time to be supportive, and when to allow space. They are compassionate.
Love! The supervisor need to imagine the student like a person that he love a lot, like a mother, a daughter, a good friend...
Yaah, i think the supervisor needs to be empathetic and highly engaged, able to work with vigour, dedication and absorption.
Yaah, i think the supervisor needs to be empathetic and highly engaged, able to work with vigour, dedication and absorption.
Honorable Sir, I am also suppressed PhD candidate from one supervisor. My supervisor enforced me to activities as i was doing. These activities were not suitable for me being a Muslim..
1. He should be considerate
2. Should have an ability to take the candidate away from any problems
3. Should understand the capabilities of the student to drive research.
4. Given the scope of research should be able to drive the research.
Dear Ronaldo Toledo, very interesting question. The PhD supervisor is expected to possess the following qualities:
1, Clear vision on how to steer the research work of the candidate.
2. Attitude and aptitude to guide the candidate towards the research objectives.
3. Good knowledge and skills of research.
4. Personality to inspire the candidate as the role model
5. Competency to simplify the sophisticated issue(s) facing the candidate's research process.
6. Emotional intelligence so that he can accommodate candidate's limitations and help him/her overcome them.
Wish you all the best
I agree it is very important. The supervisors should play facilitatory role and provide academic freedom
Yes. The PhD supervisor must have the ability to recreate an enabling and developmental mindset for his/her PhD students. His mentoring and advisor role should also be visible.
My experience was , my adviser not able to provide me guidance on what I suppose to read ..when I was totally don't know which topic I am able to excel . What he suppose to do was , must check his student academic background and interest . So that , he is able to provide guidance with a proper good match of research topic and approaches for the student to kick start their research .
Initially , I am very interest in learning organisation , and it should be using qualitative method to kick start my research , but he insist using quantitative method, and my paper end up a disaster after I spent about 6 months reading time.
As a new MBA graduate , we are no expose to research methodology , and we end up with just get some commercial management book ,and just read blindly.
Now, If I have the teaching opportunities , I will able to guide any new student , I will using my way !
Chin
Open University Malaysia
Dear all,
I have never been supervisor, but I would like to have the opportunity some day. I think I would follow some rules:
1. Only supervising (PhD thesis) if I am able to support financially the student during the stipulated three years.
2.Only supervising to the appropriate student. I.e. with the capacity of working 150% and with the enough capabilities for developing complex skills (e.g. for learning computer programming). This point could sound a little bit dictatorial, but I know many examples of collegues wich leave the research career after 20 years because they just realize that the academic world is not for them, beetter if you realize this before starting, true?
3. One year before starting the PhD, I would support a course/Master about basic statistics for 6 months full time and another big course about computer programming. Even if your knowledge area is something like Botany or History, these skills will allow you to have a more productive and sucessfull career.
I think that the next three points could be useful for a PhD in my area, but each knowledge discipline is different. Of course, if every experiment goes fine, but life is always unpredictable:
4. Then, the first year of PhD I would suggest to spend the whole year in reviewing bibliography on the topic and making a good library. The student should goes till the limit of the knowledge in his/her area. And of course making data collection follwing the supervisor´s experiment. I think that a student may be is not able to do a succesfull experimental desing, however he/she will develop this skill during the Thesis and shows them during the Postdoc.
5. The second year I would suggest to finish the data collection and doing the data analysis.
6. The third year I would spend in writing papers about the results. This is a good year for improving english skills and for a short stay abroad. The student should be productive enough for being able to follow in the academic world after the PhD. If he/she follows or not should be his/her decision but the supervisor's responsibility is training he/she properly for being able to follow.
7. Be strict with the student. Because after the PhD, life can be wild and he/she should be ready. But always be empathetic with the student. This is for every aspect of the life, treat to other people like you would like to be treated.
8. Support any training experience/conference usefull for the student.
9. Be 100% accessible for the student. The student should feel enough confidence for asking about any doubt. Maintain always a good relationship and a good environment in the working place.
10. Help to the student after the PhD to be autonomous. Gives him/her freedom but never close a door for him/her. If everything was fine during the PhD, you will have a good relationship forever.
I would follow these points. I have had very good luck with all my supervisors and this is more or less the treatment I got. I would like to do the same in the future.
How to be a good supervisor ? - ResearchGate. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/post/How_to_be_a_good_supervisor [accessed Dec 4, 2016].
He must give time to students, and show to them how to make a good scientific contribution.
The most important point to be supervising professor has an idea about the results that the student must be obtained so that he directed properly.
It is important to understand the student well. His/her motive, where he/she stands at the point of entry, level of self drive, fears, strength and capabilities. This enables you as a supervisor to get to know where and how to begin with the student. This is important because every student is different, and much as there could be certain standard operating procedures, an effective supervisor is one who uses customized approaches to suite the unique needs of the student.
Great supervisors invariably are those who can offer valuable academic, emotional and spiritual intelligence.
The good supervisor should:
• Help the PhD student in networking and finding collaboration partners
• Strive to keep the supervisor/student relation on a professional level
• Arrange scheduled meetings with the PhD student(s)
• Define the research frontline
• Teach the process of paper writing and publication
• Gradually give the PhD student more freedom
• Encourage senior PhD students to act as mentors to more junior colleagues
• Provide funding
• Help the student in establishing the future career
Collaration, availablity of funds and facilitation in article publication are the key features must be contained in an active and productive PhD supervisor.
I think a PhD supervisor should have these key qualities:
knowledgeable, cooperative, compassionate, flexible, supportive, inspirational, selfless, and have enough time for the supervisee.
According to me a real researcher is a 'self-made-man'. Such persons are self driven. They take only the help of the supervisor to find the truth or the solution.Never expect the direct solution from the supervisor.
Supervisors are Guides, journey has to be performed by the person who intends to do. Do not expect the Guides to carry you for the entire journey.
Unfortunately, these days, pursuing Ph.D has become a livelihood. People are unable to make the best use of free information resources available in the internet.
A graduate student should be able to demonstrate the following minimum attributes: (i) Scholarship of knowledge, (ii)critical thinking, (iii) problem solving, (iv)research skill, (v)usage of modern tools, (vi) collaborative and multidisciplinary work, (vii) communication, and (viii) research ethics. Such graduate students won't find it difficult to pursue their Ph.D. research.
Of course, research facilities and reasonable financial support to the scholar are also important for the deserving research candidates.
A question of 'what are the desirable qualities for Graduate Student to pursue research to obtain Ph.D.?' is equally important.
According to me a guide for a ph.d programme is a person with good knowledge in the field and can suggest the student ways to go ahead in times of virtually work comes to a halt without knowing what to do. The student in turn also has to put up his mettle to proceed forward inspite of a dead stop of the work taken up. The student has a greater role in thinking, information collection, self motivation apart from the above from the supervisor. Many institutions where great work is done, it is the student who strives hard to achieve success and the mentor happily accepts the success and motivates the student for furthering the work.
sense of mutual respect but chalenging the candidate so s/he can work hard
Knowledge of the topic. Skill required to accomplish research goals. Latest know how of how to publish in reputed journals.
Good contributions ! Please who take the final decision in PhD student - supervisor relationship? Can the PhD student know more than his/her supervisor? Is it possible for supervisor to also learn from PhD student....why boss- servant relationship style in some cases.?
Passion for research, Expertise in the field of research and guiding Ph.D Scholars,strong in collaborative research, good written scientific communication skills, Sparing time to guide students, Empathy towards the students, Mentoring students,
trust, empathy, commitment; things that they expect to see in students!
1. patience and excellent listening ability
2. Challenger which means one who pushes the scalar to work hard
3. good time management which means one who gives feedback on time
1. The PhD supervisor should be able to manage(manager) effectively and educate (teacher).
2. Consistency in necessary in guiding the student.
3. Should not "babysit" the student - emancipation is necessary
4. Has a positive regard of the student.
It is not all about the abilities of a graduate student to make him\her productive! the contribution between the student and the advisor can highly affect the performance in a positive or negative way. That should not be neglected!!!!
I think the law of reciprocity is the most important feature that should exist in this collaboration. Typically, an advisor expects to see a committed student with managerial skills who works hard and does his best to propose a high quality output. But what about the expectation that a student has from an advisor???? should he\she just provide financial support and leave the student alone on the way???? Here is where the mutual understanding and respect plays a significant role to enhance the group efficiency. Students also expect to work with a knowledgeable advisor who motivates (when needed) and support them emotionally, spiritually and technically. In my opinion, the advisor should be updated and keep track of the project's progress by involving in it not just observing like a third person without any comments to improve the performance! Indeed, the constructive criticism and appreciation should exist simultaneously to somehow convey the student in a right way.
" A TALENTED TEAM MIGHT SEEM LIKE A PERFECT FIT, WHICH CAN REACH TO THE DESIRED POTENTIAL, BUT THAT IS NOT ENOUGH AND IS ONLY ON PAPER. A TEAM WILL WIN WHEN THE MEMBERS ARE ABLE TO GEL WELL TOGETHER."
I think the most important is to have interest in the student's success. This should be backed up with being very open with the student. The major trouble of a PhD is being lost and confused. An involved and open student supervisor can help the student understand the road map and directions. This will allay the student's fears and keep him/her focused and motivated.
If this relationship doesn't exit, then anything is possible, including the possibility of the student to drop out.
''Interest in the students success'' is a big challenge in developing countries!!! Most time you hardly have direct assess to the supervisors....not always available.... recently, a friend graduate from a phD full time program after nine years.... ...what is the way out? Not everyone can afford to travel to uk, Canada, USA and other developed countries for this program.
Dear Ola, it's really sad that this is still happening today. But I think it's not about location, but the persons involved. In my University, RSU Port Harcourt, we graduate PhDs at record time. You can join us for a focused and supportive study. Cheers.
Absolute understanding of the theoretical starting levels that your pupil has.
There are previous answers with which I do not agree, but they sincerely present arguments that deserve respect and attention.
Patience and consistency. A supervisor must exhibit due diligence in searching and creating a PhD topic that ensures result within the specified duration. This is easily attainable only if the academic is diligent and consistent. Any PhD that do not experience failure and frustration at one stage or the other during the programme may struggle in post-doctoral era in research and publishing. The programme drills and drains and only an enduring spirit harvests a good thesis. That's why for the supervisor it is patience; whereas for the student it is endurance.
I have had so much reflections on the issue of failure and may successfully put up a convincing thesis on it. There's an existential goodness in failure for the determined as it illuminates the road that should have been taken in humility. Hence in my proposed thesis, failure is an acronym: Failure Always Initiates Lasting Utility Required for Endurance. Cast your mind back to past failures! Are they not the bedrock of your academic endowment today?
A supervisor should be provide a PhD topic with real-life application to solve problems. The student should be acquainted to the research area and also develop himself/herself to understanding the background of the study.
I agree with most of the authors of the responses. To me firstly, the supervisor should be genuinely interested in the research work of the doctoral student and must exhibit it by giving appropriate time to the student. Secondly, the supervisor should not kill the creativity and intellectual curiosity of the doctoral student.
Must have the zeal to pass through the strenuous process of fine-tuning the student to the desired level.
As a joke:
"The main thing is not to harm"
If we are to be serious then the doctoral supervisor must first of all be absorbed by his field of research in order to transmit this enthusiasm to the doctoral student.
The second moment I want to mention would be the collegial attitude, which seems closer to the doctoral student because the research is something other than master's or bachelor's studies.
Zahoor Paray , I would imagine in addition to dedication and humility, a PhD supervisor should have sufficient knowledge of the subject matter. That will not only help her students move steadily but inculcates knowledge in student for use as future supervisor. Computer scientists use the adage - garbage in, garbage out. In view of that, a supervisor should be knowledgeable and experienced.
I would think that a thorough grasp on the subject or domain is a must to be able to guide a PhD student. Also being interested in student's interest is definitely a plus. Asking a lot of questions gives students clarity on the subject. But again one can ask a lot of questions only if he/she has a detailed knowledge on the subject.
Should support in deciding the topic, give time for discussion, and understand the students' area of interest.
There must be a "connection" established between the student and the supervisor.
This requires the building a trusting relationship between the student and the
supervisor.
Being a coach, a mentor and a role model - all in one!
Inspiring and Respected in the field of the research.
I was superlucky to find mine - that was a life-changing experience!
Ali Rezaei, I want to believe that patience, to the supervisor's side matters. However, I still wonder to what extent they should be patient. Here in Uganda, there is a problem of students "disappearing" for months, and others for years!!
Reflecting from my own experience, apart from what most of the scholars have highlighted here, I believe that a PhD guide must know the proper use of carrot and stick model. He (must) be Genuinely tough at times, more importantly in the initial year or two. Once the student gets to know his/her PhD work, the guide should gradually get friendly to an extent that at the time of submission, they are more as friends and ”to be colleagues”.
This really worked in my case. Hope it does in many others too!
Prof Dr Rolando Serra Toledo
I had marvellous supervision. I'm so grateful, especially when I look back.
Now, if I'm writing (usually on ResearchGate) about my initial project (for which I conducted follow-ups alone), I write that 'we' carried out etc. because they took me from being very much a novice to achieving PhD.
I felt that there was such a jump to be taken from masters level to MPhil and then to PhD, while I seemed to progress from bachelors to masters quite easily.
But my supervisors pointed me in the right direction so many times when I was about to get lost, and spent hours either face-to-face or reading my work and annotating it.
So, I am and always was, so grateful for their help and support to me as an individual.
students are puzzle in terms of technicalities rather than knowledge on subject. those mentors who guides perfect way of technicalities rather abstract knowledge.
Dear Rolando,
I think time availability is crucial as well as his/her expertise in the field you plan to research.
Dear Rolando Serra Toledo ,
A doctoral advisor is an "oracle"!
He must be a good researcher, seriously committed to his research, deeply knowledgeable in his field and available to talk.
I've always seen it like this:
A scientific initiation advisor, has to lend a hand and guide student in research, teach all the details related to methods and processes of scientific investigation, this student is almost always in last years of his graduation. He will be the mentor's shadow.
A master's advisor should assist in choosing topic of research dissertation and provide strong guidance in bibliographic references and analysis of results. However, it is up to student to do research on his own and ask for help only if necessary, master's advisor must make student grow as a researcher, letting him turn and put him on right path whenever he needs to. In master's degree, student is very close to advisor to learn from examples.
A doctoral advisor should discuss topic of research thesis to choose a relevant and unprecedented subject in chosen area of knowledge. In this case, student is a beginning researcher and, as a researcher, he must already have necessary skills to guide and continue research, asking only for suggestions and small orientations from his advisor. The doctoral advisor is, in fact, an “oracle” in which he should be consulted whenever research is interrupted. It should be treated as a last resort after all individual attempts have failed.
Regards,
Prof. Wiltgen
a guide and mentor, not an encyclopedia or a self-help book trying to refine his supervisory skills
Success depends on the relationship or connectedness between Supervisor and Supervisee. A good relationship is the basis for a good performance and a way to promote collaboration and the success - student relationship.
If this works properly, it can be the seed for the successful completion
Hi,
here is my cynical view: the best supervisors are those that require PhD students for their own promotion, usually from associate to full professor.
Meliha
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