Learning of Research at Doctoral Level: Perceptions of International Doctoral Students at a South-Central Texas Private University

Aim/Purpose: This study aimed to explore the challenges faced by international doctoral students in Chinese universities and find out what international doctoral students perceive to be effective supervision. Background: As higher education internationalization is proliferating, there is a need for adjustment in every educational system. Despite the rise in the internationalization of higher education in China, very little research has been carried out on internalization at the doctoral level. Since research forms an essential part of doctoral programs, it is necessary to examine the challenges international students face as far as research supervision is concerned. Methodology: This study employed the exploratory case study research design adopting the qualitative research methodology. The study participants were 68 doctoral students from two comprehensive universities in China. A comprehensive university consists of diverse programs and students: for example, master’s programs, doctoral programs, undergraduate programs, and professional programs. Data were collected using a semi-structured interview guide. The qualitative data collected was analyzed thematically. Contribution: This study offers new insights into the research supervision of international doctoral students. This study suggests that every university hosting international students should pay attention to doctoral students’ research supervision and implement appropriate strategies such as those proposed in this study to allow international students to acquire new knowledge and skills as far as research is concerned. This study also proposed some strategies based on what doctoral students perceive to be effective supervision that universities can implement to improve research supervision. Findings: The study found that international doctoral students faced many challenges regarding research supervision. These challenges are language barriers, ineffective communication with supervisors, insufficient time to discuss with supervisors, cultural differences and adapting to a new environment, depression, and forcing students to change research topics. Moreover, this study found that the following strategies can be implemented to improve research supervision of international students: considering student’s research interests when assigning them to supervisors, the need for a specific time to meet with supervisors, providing or directing students where to get research materials, in-service training for research supervisors, and evaluating and modifying criteria for selecting supervisors. Recommendations for Practitioners: University administrators can establish informal research supervision learning communities that can enable supervisors from different universities to share cross-cultural supervision ideas and learn from one another. Moreover, it is necessary for supervisors to guide and direct students both in academics and social life to help them overcome depression; isolation, and adapt to a new environment. Recommendation for Researchers: This study was limited to two universities, and the participants were international doctoral students in English-taught programs. However, the situation may differ with international doctoral students in Chinese-taught programs. As a result, the researchers suggest that another study should be carried out focusing on international doctoral students in Chinese taught programs; their experiences may differ. Impact on Society: Doctoral students are significant contributors to the research productivity of an institution. It is, therefore, necessary to ensure that they acquire sustainable research skills to solve the complex problems affecting the education sector and society at large. Future Research: It is vital to explore international doctoral supervision in other disciplines as well as universities.

International student mobility, especially at doctoral level, is a largely under‐researched component of international migration. This is in stark contrast with the case of credit mobility where much research has been undertaken on Erasmus students. The aim of this paper is to remedy the situation by focusing on international doctoral students who chose to study at an elite higher education institution in the UK. By analysing the role of – local, national and international – schemes of funding in shaping individual mobility decisions, the author argues against the portrayal of international students as ‘rational decision makers’ in favour of a more contextualised approach to mapping the graduate student migratory phenomenon. By contrasting the ‘entry channels’ of students with their future plans – in terms of the nature of future career and geographic location – the author challenges the assumption that internationally mobile students are coming with the intention of settling down in their study destination. The study cannot uphold the view of international students as a ‘migratory elite’ either; although some postgraduate students are indeed from more privileged backgrounds, many individuals undertake international doctoral mobility with the explicit aim of capital accumulation. Last but not least, the paper strongly argues for abandoning the term ‘spontaneous mobility’ in student mobility research because a significant proportion of degree mobility does not occur spontaneously but is a result of organised schemes of funding. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

ABSTRACTInternationalisation 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 and the relations between supervisor and student. It describes and analyses the experiences of supervisors and students, and the concepts they used to articulate and reflect on them. Semi-formal interviews were conducted with six doctoral students and their supervisors. Analysis shows that, apart from formal supervision, informal enculturation through social and academic networks, the tongmen, plays an important role in supervision and in socialising the doctoral researchers into the community of practice. The study adds to the field a new case from a specific epistemological and intellectual tradition and challenges existing theories concerning methods and concepts of supervision.

For many international doctoral students, English is an additional language (EAL), and consequently, scholarly writing in English is a source of academic anxiety. Although international English as an additional language (IEAL) students often have professional experience in their field of study and have been academically successful, the shift in linguistic demand at the doctoral level is especially challenging. Learning to communicate as a member of the academic community requires the development of discipline specific knowledge, rhetorical conventions, and discourse registers which precisely communicate complex ideas in their nonnative language. Research evidence points to the importance of social support and feedback in international/EAL doctoral students' socialization into scholarly writing. This chapter outlines the implementation of a writing feedback group with four IEAL doctoral students and their developing scholarly habits of mind and academic writing skills.

Exploring the interplay of English academic reading and writing proficiency among international doctoral students

PurposeIn the context of falling demand for higher education and, in particular, doctoral studies, it is important to understand how to attract new students. The purpose of this paper is to present an analysis of the decision-making process the PhD students of Baltic universities followed when choosing whether to continue their education at doctoral level and in which institution to do it.Design/methodology/approachIt uses the data gathered in 2014 from all major Baltic universities providing access to higher education at doctoral level.FindingsAt macro-level, the three Baltic countries (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) are rather different in the supply of doctoral programmes and the level and dynamics of the popularity of doctoral-level studies in the population. Besides, strong country-specific effects on the goals students pursued when they enrolled in a doctoral programme and the information about the university or the programme they found useful are observed at micro-level. The main result is related to systematic differences in the perceptions students have about the benefits they will get from a doctoral degree across the current (at doctoral level) and previous (at Bachelor’s and Master’s levels) fields of study, as well as depending on labour-market experience and family and social circle.Practical implicationsThese findings suggest that Baltic higher education institutions should employ different marketing communication strategies when attracting new doctoral students, depending on the field of study and the country they operate in.Originality/valueThis is the first comprehensive study on the motivation of enrolment at doctoral level in the Baltic countries. It gives the management of Baltic universities a general picture of the motivation to get a PhD degree and factors affecting the choice of university, which can be readily incorporated into universities’ strategy.

IntroductionAcademic writing is a core element of a successful graduate program, especially at the doctoral level. Graduate students are expected to write in a scholarly manner for their thesis and scholarly publications. However, in some cases, limited or no specific training on academic writing is provided to them to do this effectively. As a result, many graduate students, especially those having English as an Additional Language (EAL), face significant challenges in scholarly writing. Further, faculty supervisors often feel burdened by reviewing and editing multiple drafts and find it difficult to help and support EAL students in the process of scientific writing. In this study, we explored academic writing challenges faced by EAL doctoral students and faculty supervisors at a research intensive post-secondary university in Canada.Methods and AnalysisWe conducted a sequential explanatory mixed-method study using an online survey and subsequent focus group discussions with EAL doctoral students (n = 114) and faculty supervisors (n = 31). A cross-sectional online survey was designed and disseminated to the potential study participants using internal communications systems of the university. The survey was designed using a digital software called Qualtrics™. Following the survey, four focus group discussions (FGDs) were held, two each with two groups of our participants with an aim to achieve data saturation. The FGD guide was informed by the preliminary findings of the survey data. Quantitative data was analyzed using Statistical Package of Social Sciences (SPSS) and qualitative data was managed and analyzed using NVivo.DiscussionThe study findings suggest that academic writing should be integrated into the formal training of doctoral graduate students from the beginning of the program. Both students and faculty members shared that discipline-specific training is required to ensure success in academic writing, which can be provided in the form of a formal course specifically designed for doctoral students wherein discipline-specific support is provided from faculty supervisors and editing support is provided from English language experts.Ethics and DisseminationThe general research ethics board of the university approved the study (#6024751). The findings are disseminated with relevant stakeholders at the university and beyond using scientific presentations and publications.

Academia is a stressful environment for students and professors alike. While pursuing a degree, students often experience emotional and psychological distress, which may affect their ability to balance their personal, financial, and professional lives. Similarly, faculty in higher education also experience undesired feelings and emotions such as burnout, stress, fear, insecurity, anxiety, depression, and burnout, connected to their job. The authors of this article engage in a collaborative autoethnography to explore the cultivation of calm and stillness as self-care practices that promote well-being at the doctoral level. In this article, we seek to answer the questions, What does engaging in the practice of cultivating calm and stillness at the doctoral level look like? and What are its implications for doctoral students and faculty? To do this, we first explain wholehearted living as the guiding framework of our inquiry, describe procedures in our method, followed by personal vignettes shedding light on our realities as students and faculty at the doctoral level. We conclude this piece with final thoughts on the lessons learned from our own experiences engaging in calm and stillness during and after writing this collaborative piece, and invite researchers to engage in autoethnographic works for further exploration.

While universities closed, implementing remote teaching and learning in response to COVID-19, this change significantly impacted the lives of graduate students, given their exposure to unique and diverse experiences. It thus has become essential to understand the possible differences in regard to the pandemic's impact on international and domestic students. The aim of this study was to explore the consequences of the challenges posed by COVID-19 on doctoral students' wellbeing in Russia. The study surveyed 4454 doctoral students across 249 Russian public universities. The challenges posed by COVID-19 negatively affected international doctoral students' learning experience (β= -0.269, p<0.001); students' satisfaction with supervision (β= -0.098, p<0.001); dissertation experience (β= -0.039, p<0.001); and doctoral program satisfaction (β= -0.034, p<0.001). Furthermore, the challenges posed by COVID-19 affected domestic doctoral students' learning experience (β=-0.368, p<0.001); students' satisfaction with supervision (β=-0.194, p<0.001) and doctoral program satisfaction (β=-0.034, p<0.001). However, the influence of the challenges posed by COVID-19 on communication frequency was relatively positive for both international (β=0.060, p<0.001) and domestic students (β=0.021, p<0.001), and dissertation experience (β=0.061, p<0.001) was also positive for only domestic students. Furthermore, controlled factors comprising field of study (β=-0.033, p<0.001); year of study (β=0.127, p<0.001); and university region (β=-0.056, p<0.001) influenced the effect of the challenges posed by COVID-19 on international doctoral students. The COVID-19 challenges had the greatest impact on the wellbeing of international students. Furthermore, both international and domestic students' communication frequency with their supervisors underwent a relatively positive impact (which implies no effect on both categories of students). Furthermore, the challenges posed by COVID-19 had no effect on domestic students' dissertation experiences. Finally, among the controlled variables, field of study, year of study, and university region were discovered to be significant factors in relation to the challenges posed by COVID-19 for international students.

Hungary is a member of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) and follows a three-cycle higher education system based on the Bologna Process. Raising the number of international and domestic PhD students improves the position of Hungarian universities in international competition for higher education. There are around ten thousand full-time doctoral students; nearly 32% are internationals in Hungary, according to the Central Statistical Office. A great number of higher education institutions develop doctoral programs to attract more domestic and international students, hence, it is significantly important to get to know about students’ motivation to enrol in doctoral study in Hungary. This study was conducted in 2023 and examined international and domestic students’ motivation using the two-factor model of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation proposed by the self-determination theory of human motivation. A questionnaire was administered to 100 international doctoral students, 45 males and 55 females, aged 25 to 45, and to 100 domestic doctoral students, 38 males and 62 females, aged 25 to 48 to explore the motivation to attend a Hungarian university. The results of the study show that the respondents endorsed more items on intrinsic motivation than on extrinsic motivation. There is a significant difference in motivation among domestic and international doctoral students at Hungarian universities. Domestic students demonstrate a higher level of motivation to get knowledge and a higher level of introjected regulation. International doctoral students show a higher level of amotivation compared to domestic students. The existing literature on international education is mostly focused on the skills and benefits students gain, but there has been limited research on doctoral students' motivation. At the same time, knowledge about international and domestic doctoral students' motivation can be used in program development which fits more to the motivational characteristics of doctoral students.

Assuring diversity of faculty in graduate school programs continues to be a focus of practice and research because of the need to ensure inclusion for all students seeking higher education. Women, individuals with disabilities, and individuals with other traditionally underrepresented cultural group identities are all underrepresented at the doctoral level in higher education, in tenure-track, full professor faculty positions, and in administrative leadership positions such as dean and president. This study is one of the first to document how doctoral program students with disabilities, who also have other traditionally underrepresented cultural group identities, experienced the successes and challenges of earning a doctoral degree. An intersectional framework was used to explore access and inclusion at the doctoral level in academia. Four major themes—defining personal cultural identities, navigating systems and situations, resources and motivation, and leveraging lived experience as a skill set for work in a chosen field—emerged from the data. Recommendations to increase access and inclusion are offered.

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Doctoral nursing students struggle with scholarly writing. While writing improvement strategies have been shared, few studies have used student self-assessment of evidenced-based knowledge, skills, and attitudes (KSAs) to aid with writing development. This study evaluated doctoral student self-assessment of the KSAs specific to writing at each level of nursing education and explored the association of student demographics with self-assessment results. A national sample of doctoral students completed an electronic, 35-item self-assessment. Self-assessment revealed the majority of KSAs expected at the BSN, MSN, and doctoral level were being used by Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) students. One doctoral level KSA did not meet the benchmark for DNP students. A positive association was noted between DNP students' self-assessment and age. Doctoral students reported using many of the KSAs for writing expected at each level of nursing education. Most student demographics did not appear to influence writing development. Self-assessment was an effective way to assess student writing development. Items not meeting the performance benchmark may illuminate the need for further writing development. Faculty recommendations for using self-assessment and facilitating writing development are offered.

This study aimed at exploring the most common content of Masters and Doctoral level research articles published by an internationally recognized public health sciences journal of a Thai academic institute. The objective was to assess the current status of public health research. A content analysis of 26. abstract s from 2009 to 2015 was classified into content, objective, research field, methodology, study population, statistics used and study area. The study revealed that 66% of submissions were Master's level contributors and 34% from Doctoral level. The top study content at Master's level was ‘health behaviors’, while ‘environmental health’ was popular at. The study objective at both levels was to identify cause and reasoning. Study populations were mostly conducted amongst adults. The majority of studies at Master's level used quantitative research methods while Doctoral level students used inferential statistics. The majority of articles were published in the ASEAN Citation Index database whilst a few were published in Scopus and the Web of Science databases. Topics relating to “alternative medicines’ and ‘environmental health’ were mostly published in Scopus. Further strategies regarding encouraging students to publish in Scopus and Web of Science and emphasis on encouraging in-depth health behavior and community health research conducted in aging should be addressed since these can provide preventive services and develop a viable public health field for the future.

Scholarly communities are dependent on and often measured by their ability to attract and develop doctoral students. Recent literature suggests that most scholarly communities entail ecological niches in which the doctoral students learn the codes and practices of research. In this article, we explore the microclimate in an ecological niche of doctoral education. Based on a theoretical definition of microclimate as the emotional atmosphere that ties group members together and affects their actions, we conducted a case study that aimed to describe the key features of the microclimate in a successful ecological niche of doctoral education, and the ways in which the microclimate support the doctoral students’ learning. The methods we applied in the case study were based on short-term ethnographic fieldwork. The results reveal four key features of the emotional atmosphere in the microclimate: mutual appreciation, balancing seriousness and humor, desire, and ambition. These features constitute the shared emotionality that sets the scene for the microclimate, and affects and guides the doctoral students’ daily practices. Furthermore, the results indicate that the microclimate supports successful doctoral education because it: 1) fleshes out the professional attitude that is necessary for becoming a successful researcher in the department, 2) shapes and adapts the doctoral students’ desires to grasp and identify with the department’s practices, and 3) provides the doctoral students with access to flow zones that drive their education. These results may suggest practical implications for fostering and cultivating successful ecological niches in medical education at doctoral level.