The Strengthening Postgraduate Supervision course combines discussions, case studies, research literature, video clips, and numerous other activities and information, both online and face-to-face, to help the new supervisor engage with the practice and process of postgraduate supervision in a reflective and informed way.
A number of national studies have indicated a need for better support of novice supervisors if postgraduate graduations are to increase. In response to this need, the ‘Strengthening Postgraduate Supervision’ programme provides an intensive and engaging 30 credit short course. The course provides the space for novice supervisors to come together with the focused intention of learning about supervision. It provides the opportunities for collegial support networks to be developed within your university and across the higher education sector.
The course is funded by the Dutch government through NUFFIC and is being offered 18 times between 2013 to 2015. Further funding from the DHET has allowed for 18 additional offerings. The course is run over a single semester, but the online community arising from this process is ongoing and the materials and discussions can be accessed for years to come.
The course is structured around four themes:
The first theme focuses on the relationship between the student and supervisor, the second theme is concerned with the supervisor’s own academic identity and the research community to which he or she belongs, the third theme looks at various approaches and models of supervision, including coaching and mentoring, and the final theme considers the supervision of each stage of the research project, including attending to institutional requirements.
The course is made of three phases:
View the Participant Guide
This course focuses on postgraduate supervision, be it the PhD, D.Ed, D.Tech, MA., MSc. M.Tech etc. It is designed for supervisors who have limited or no experience of supervising at this level. Participants should already have or be about to get their own doctoral qualification and therefore be qualified to supervise at this level.
If you would like your institution to be amongst those who benefit from NUFFIC and DHET funded roll out of this course, please contact your university’s research office. All requests for the ‘Strengthening Postgraduate Supervision’ course should be supported by the Research Office of your own institution to ensure there is no unnecessary duplication.
The Research Office of any public university in South Africa can make enquiries and bookings for this course by emailing: chertl-admin@ru.ac.za
The facilitators are Dutch and South African and bring a wealth of supervision experience to this course. The materials are of an extremely high standard and include interactive tasks along with accessible theoretical readings.
All course materials have been licensed under creative commons whereby institutions are welcome to use the materials for their own future staff development purposes.
See the Course Resources page to access the materials.
Funding from NUFFIC and the DHET supports this wonderful initiative and provides for 36 offerings from 2013 to 2016. The funding covers costs of the materials development, the online learning environment, the facilitation, the assessment, and all costs related to the travel and accommodation of the facilitators
The host institution is expected to provide the workshop venue and workshop refreshments. The host institution is responsible for advertising the course and recruiting staff to participate in the course.
Funding from NUFFIC and the DHET supports this wonderful initiative and provides for 36 offerings from 2013 to 2016. The funding covers costs of the materials development, the online learning environment, the facilitation, the assessment, and all costs related to the travel and accommodation of the facilitators
The host institution is expected to provide the workshop venue and workshop refreshments. The host institution is responsible for advertising the course and recruiting staff to participate in the course.