TUGUME, Patience (Dr)

Supervision is defined as intensive, interpersonality focused one-to-one relationship between the supervisor and the student. It requires both students and supervisors to consciously engage each other within the spirit of professionalism, respect, collegiality and open mindedness. Doctoral students and their supervisors are often under intense pressure to complete their candidature on time and attract funding as well as raise the status of the University’s research profile respectively. Despite the requirement for timely programme completion, doctoral candidates are faced with many challenges like lack of funds, family and work commitments which may affect timely achievement of the doctorate. Doctoral supervision is the key to both quality and efficiency in research. A supervisor plays a vital role of modelling the student to become an expert in the area of specialisation. Attaining a doctorate is intellectually challenging making supervision of paramount importance. As the enrolment rates for doctorate degrees keep on increasing, supervisors have been blamed for unsatisfactory completion times and high dropout rates. However, supervision is a transition process that develops the student from a state of relative dependency to confident autonomy by the end of the doctoral journey. This can be achieved if the supervisor maintains a balance between giving adequate timely help and not interfering with the students’ thoughts. Inadequate supervision is a precursor for high doctoral student attrition rates resulting from student frustration especially if feedback is delayed. As outlined above, timely completion of a doctorate is dependent on the supervisor-supervisee relationship, capacity of the supervisor and supervisee, quality of supervision and supervisor and availability of other resources like funds and access to information technology.