Postgraduate Supervision: Comparing Student Perspectives from Malaysia and the United Kingdom

Postgraduate supervision is a much explored field and a subject of close scrutiny in the West but there is scant empirical research in Asia; particularly in Malaysia. It was against this uncharted background that the current study was conducted to compare and contrast postgraduate supervision practices from the perspectives of supervisees from both Malaysia and the United Kingdom. The study involved 66 postgraduate students from Malaysia and 33 postgraduates from the UK. Data were collected via a questionnaire and semi structured interviews. Findings indicated that there was a significant difference between Malaysian and the UK supervisees’ expectations of the roles and responsibilities of their supervisors. Supervisees from Malaysia looked for a ‘people’ oriented supervisor who was a motivator and confidence booster whilst respondents from the UK stressed the need for a supervisor to be an expert in their specific field of study. Respondents from Malaysia were also more dependent and had higher expectations of their supervisors when compared to their counterparts in the UK. With regards to supervisory practices, there was no significant difference between supervisory practices of supervisors in both countries. Since there exists two different world cultures of supervisors and the supervisees, it is pertinent to conduct in-depth studies involving both parties to help develop a comprehensive supervision model where students can be guided into professional research communities.