Students’ Perspective of Effective Supervision of Graduate Programmes in Ghana

Abstract

The study examined elements of effective supervision from Ghanaian graduate students’ perspective. One hundred and twenty-five graduate students of the Faculty of Science Education of the University of Education, Winneba, responded to two questionnaires. Descriptive statistics was used to describe the attributes of university supervisors of the graduate theses and Pearson chi-square test was employed to test students’ opinions on their supervisors, effective supervision and their relationships with six demographic factors. The results suggest that the three most important attributes of supervisors as perceived by graduate students were: supervisors should be friendly, approachable and flexible; knowledgeable and resourceful; and encourage students to work and plan independently. In addition, the results indicated that effective supervision means that supervisors are able to establish good and professional relationships with students; give support and guidance; and provide continuous motivation and inspiration. Using Pearson chi-square tests, it was found that there were no significant differences between attributes of supervisors and effective supervision based on programme, faculty, course structure, gender and semester. It is recommended that only senior and experienced faculty should be made to supervise graduate students. Also the quality of applicants should be one of the determining factors for admission to graduate programmes.