Centre for African Wetlands (near “N” Block), UG - Legon
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Thesis Research Supervision Workshop

The UG School of Graduate Studies and the UG-Carnegie Next Generation of Academics for Africa project organized a one-day multidisciplinary thesis supervision workshop for graduate supervisors on Thursday 9th October, 2014 at the Center for African Wetlands, University of Ghana.

The workshop Chaired by Prof. Kwadwo Ofori, Dean of the School of Graduate Studies brought together supervisors from the various colleges and schools with the aim of sharing problems and strategies in graduate supervision to improve the quality of research work being done at the post graduate level. Also speaking at the workshop were Prof. Samuel Kwame Offei and Prof. Kofi Agyekum.

 

Prof. Ofori who made a presentation on the roles and responsibilities of students remarked that the quality of graduate work depended on the quality of supervision. He acknowledged that supervisors had a huge task when it came to supervising student research. He said current students were often prone to disregarding some of the courtesies and guidelines required in student-supervisor relations but this should not affect a cordial relationship between supervisors and students. He asked supervisors to show some empathy when dealing with students since some of them had genuine difficulties. He said it was important for supervisors to record comments in order to guide students in making revisions.

Prof. Kwame Offei in his presentation on the roles and responsibilities of the supervisor remarked that the figures for graduate studies from the University of Ghana were improving but needed a further boost. He said some supervisors were too rigid and made students uncertain about their work. On the other hand he also contended that some other supervisors did not pay much attention to student’s thesis leaving students on their own. He said that the relationship between a student and a supervisor was a professional one that should be guided by a contract and signed by both parties to ensure timely delivery of theses.

Prof. Kofi Agyekum made a presentation on experience sharing. He began by saying that given the chance a good student with a good supervisor will produce good work and vice versa. He raised the issue of joint supervision, which he said, sometimes made work rather complicated for the student.

"Academics have different philosophies that often come into play even when collaborating on a project. Often students may get caught in the middle of an intellectual struggle and suffer conflicts of loyalty", he said. He said it was important for supervisors and students to have shared goals. Every supervisor in his opinion is a manager and supervision was about mentorship. Supervisors must be innovative, resource oriented, focused and dependable. They should know their strengths and weaknesses. According to him, in some instances supervisors tend to be the problem rather than offer a way out of a problem.

In the afternoon participants broke out into groups in order to have a more personal and focused discussion. The various groups later made presentations from notes taken. Some of the issues that came up included student graduate accommodation which one participant said often became a burden for supervisors. A participant raised the issue of project funding. He said often students stated that they were self- funding their studies only to realize later that the needed resources were more than they cold afford. A participant also raised the issue of workload compensation which he felt could be improved.

In closing, Prof. Yaa Ntiamaoa-Baidu the UG-CNGAA director thanked participants for making time for the fruitful brainstorming session, noting that the organizers were amazed at turnout of over 80 participants. She said the outcomes from the sessions would be collated and used as a policy guide and to develop a thesis supervision manual.