Abstract
BackgroundQuality of supervision is a major predictor for successful PhD projects. A survey showed that almost all PhD students in the Health Sciences in Denmark indicated that good supervision was important for the completion of their PhD study. Interestingly, approximately half of the students who withdrew from their program had experienced insufficient supervision. This led the Research Education Committee at the University of Copenhagen to recommend that supervisors further develop their supervision competence. The aim of this study was to explore PhD supervisors’ self-reported needs and wishes regarding the content of a new program in supervision, with a special focus on the supervision of PhD students in medical fields.MethodsA semi-structured interview guide was developed, and 20 PhD supervisors from the Graduate School of Health and Medical Sciences at the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences at the University of Copenhagen were interviewed. Empirical data were analysed using qualitative methods of analysis.ResultsOverall, the results indicated a general interest in improved competence and development of a new supervision programme. Those who were not interested argued that, due to their extensive experience with supervision, they had no need to participate in such a programme. The analysis revealed seven overall themes to be included in the course. The clinical context offers PhD supervisors additional challenges that include the following sub-themes: patient recruitment, writing the first article, agreements and scheduled appointments and two main groups of students, in addition to the main themes.ConclusionsThe PhD supervisors reported the clear need and desire for a competence enhancement programme targeting the supervision of PhD students at the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences. Supervision in the clinical context appeared to require additional competence.Trial registrationThe Scientific Ethical Committee for the Capital Region of Denmark. Number: H-3-2010-101, date: 2010.09.29.
Highlights
Quality of supervision is a major predictor for successful PhD projects
PhD supervisors have stated that the clinical setting offers some distinctive challenges, which differs from other settings due to patient treatment always being the first priority for supervisors in clinical departments
Four elements were specific to PhD supervisors in the clinical context: handling different groups of PhD students, problems with patient recruitment, writing the first article, and making sustainable agreements and scheduled appointments in a busy clinical setting
Summary
Quality of supervision is a major predictor for successful PhD projects. A survey showed that almost all PhD students in the Health Sciences in Denmark indicated that good supervision was important for the completion of their PhD study. Approximately half of the students who withdrew from their program had experienced insufficient supervision This led the Research Education Committee at the University of Copenhagen to recommend that supervisors further develop their supervision competence. Recent studies have shown that PhD supervisors desire a greater focus on the quality of PhD supervision [2,3,4, 6,7,8]. This is facilitated by the Bologna Process, which targets the development of tools to connect national education systems to facilitate the recognition of academic qualifications and exchanges among institutions [9]. One important principle was the role of supervision: “The crucial role of supervision and assessment: with respect to individual doctoral candidates, arrangements for supervision and assessment should be based on a transparent contractual framework of shared responsibilities between doctoral candidates, supervisors and the institution (and, where appropriate, including other partners)” [10]
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