Abstract:
Postgraduate supervision and research training are core academic activities
for most higher education institutions. Worldwide, including in South Africa,
there is concern about the quality of postgraduate training in higher education
institutions, the length of time it takes postgraduate students to complete their
postgraduate studies, and the high percentage of students who terminate
their studies. Against the backdrop of these concerns, the quality of research
supervision is essential for the successful completion of studies. However,
ensuring the quality of the input dimension within South African postgraduate
supervision is complicated – the reasons being that the process is entangled
with issues of power, desire, and differences in relation to supervision
practices, along with rapid higher education transformation demanding more
quality and accountability, etc. Therefore it is recommended that the
supervision process be monitored for improvement purposes and to address
context-specific needs. This article reports on an improvement-oriented
investigation into the current supervision practices at the case study
university.
