Investigating the role of the assistant supervisor in PhD education

Abstract

Joint supervision of PhD students has gained in popularity in several countries and educational
systems. In Sweden it is mandatory to provide at least two supervisors for each PhD student
(HÖGSKOLEFÖRORDNINGEN 1993). This means that all PhD students are entitled to have one or more
assistant supervisors beside the main supervisor, who has the formal responsibility for the studies.
Within the PhD education, the roles and rights of the student and the main supervisor are fairly well
described. The role of the assistant supervisor is fussier. In a survey performed at the Faculty of
Engineering, Lund University, a main concern of both PhD students and assistant supervisors was the
lack of a formal description of this role (DICK et al. 2010). The assistant supervisors indicated that they
had difficulties knowing what was expected of them. Still, seven out of ten PhD students in the same
survey were satisfied or very satisfied with the support from their assistant supervisors. This implies
that joint supervision is in fact performed and serves an important purpose at the Faculty of
Engineering. With three out of ten PhD students being unsatisfied, there is also room for
improvement. One way towards improving the situation could be to provide a framework of the role
of assistant supervisor. Here we investigate the role of the assistant supervisor with the objective of
formulating such a framework.