Perceived Roles of Assistant Supervisors in PhD Education - Views of PhD students and Assistant Supervisors

Abstract

This report presents a survey given to PhD students and supervisors at 6 different departments of Lund University, five of which from the faculty of engineering. The goal of the survey is to obtain a better understanding of the perceived roles of assistant supervisors, both from the student and from the supervisor perspective. The result shows that in general the PhD students expect more from the assistant supervisor than what they perceive that they get. At the same time, the assistant supervisors expect more of themselves than the students do, but they also perceive that these high expectations are fulfilled to a greater extent. We also note that students that have assistant supervisors outside their own department are in general more satisfied with their supervisors than others. Moreover, according to the survey, several students indicate that they would like more clarity concerning the role of the assistant supervisor.