PhD supervision: an exploratory study

Much of the extensive literature on the scholarship of teaching and learning is aimed at primary and secondary education compared with tertiary education. Within this last literature stream, the main focus is more on undergraduate studies then on the Masters level. Although PhD supervision is at the top of the academic teaching process and forms an important source for obtaining a pool of trained scientific researchers, it appears that it is also the education area about which the least is published. The aim of this paper is to contribute to the understanding of PhD education. Specific objectives were to describe a specific PhD programme and to analyse, from a supervisor perspective, the causes for struggles that PhD students have with the programme which affects supervision. The research focuses on a European PhD programme, covers 15 years of experience including 24 PhD students who have successfully completed the programme, six who have abandoned the programme, and nine who are currently enrolled in the programme.