The Impact of Research Training and Research Codes of Practice on Submission of Doctoral Degrees: An Exploratory Cohort Study

Naidu

et al. 2015

Education + Training

Purpose -Despite the critical issues involving Middle East countries such as war and a drop in currency exchange rates, a large number of students leave their country to pursue a higher education abroad, every year. The purpose of this paper is to understand the difficulties that these students face while conducting their research in a foreign country and in doing so hopes to enhance a greater awareness of the kind of hindrances they face to complete their studies. Design/methodology/approach -The respondents of this qualitative study are PhD students from the Middle East who were studying in a public university in Southeast Asia. This university has recorded an increasing enrollment of international students, particularly from the Middle East in the last few years. Data were collected using a series of unstructured interviews that elicited information on critical incidents that characterized the kind of difficulties students had to face in their research. The data obtained was further analyzed using a qualitative software package -NVivo (QSR International, 10). Findings -Six main themes emerged from the content analysis of the interviews, which are the role of the supervisor, student characteristics, family commitments, financial problems, psychological and research barriers which provide a holistic picture of student perspectives on the factors that affect research progress. While these students might have faced difficulties that might have been cited in existing literature, this paper argues that the respondents have indicated experiencing psychological barriers that were not described in earlier studies, such as the state of mind they were in as a result of being worried for family members due to war or violence in their home countries, drop in currency exchange rates and difficulties in acquiring money due to international sanctions imposed against their countries. Originality/value -This study provides important insights on the factors that affect the progress of PhD students from the Middle East, while at the same time revealing a serious gap in supervisors' role which can contribute to the delay in the research progress of PhD students.

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An exploratory study of factors that affect the research progress of international PhD students from the Middle East

Naidu

et al. 2015

Education + Training

“…They are the result of the social environment and interpersonal relationships between students, supervisors and other academic staff, and, most interestingly, they are characterized by a particular microclimate (Louis, Holdsworth, Anderson, & Campbell, 2007). Most scholarly communities entail ecological niches in which the doctoral students learn the codes and practices of research (Humphrey, 2012). Whilst research on doctoral supervision is increasing (DiMino & Risler, 2012;Gatfield, 2005;Green & Bowden, 2012;Mainhard, van der Rijst, van Tartwijk, & Wubbels, 2009;Nordentoft, Thomsen, & Wichmann-Hansen, 2013), it could be argued that these studies may not reflect the features of the microclimate in ecological niches of doctoral education.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recently, a few studies have suggested that being a doctoral student, learning to conduct a research project, and becoming a researcher is a social affair (Green & Bowden, 2012;Humphrey, 2012;Kyvik & Olsen, 2013;Pyhältö & Keskinen, 2012). According to these studies, the ecological niches that are available for doctoral students influence the completion of the PhD project.…”

Section: Microclimate and The Ecological Niches Of Doctoral Educationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Doctoral Education in a Successful Ecological Niche: A Qualitative Exploratory Case Study of the Relationship between the Microclimate and Doctoral Students’ Learning to Become a Researcher

Christensen

Lund

2014

IJHE

Scholarly communities are dependent on and often measured by their ability to attract and develop doctoral students. Recent literature suggests that most scholarly communities entail ecological niches in which the doctoral students learn the codes and practices of research. In this article, we explore the microclimate in an ecological niche of doctoral education. Based on a theoretical definition of microclimate as the emotional atmosphere that ties group members together and affects their actions, we conducted a case study that aimed to describe the key features of the microclimate in a successful ecological niche of doctoral education, and the ways in which the microclimate support the doctoral students' learning. The methods we applied in the case study were based on short-term ethnographic fieldwork. The results reveal four key features of the emotional atmosphere in the microclimate: mutual appreciation, balancing seriousness and humor, desire, and ambition. These features constitute the shared emotionality that sets the scene for the microclimate, and affects and guides the doctoral students' daily practices. Furthermore, the results indicate that the microclimate supports successful doctoral education because it: 1) fleshes out the professional attitude that is necessary for becoming a successful researcher in the department, 2) shapes and adapts the doctoral students' desires to grasp and identify with the department's practices, and 3) provides the doctoral students with access to flow zones that drive their education. These results may suggest practical implications for fostering and cultivating successful ecological niches in medical education at doctoral level.

“…The PhD student's relationship with the faculty, particularly with his or her advisor, can determine success in the student's academic program as well as in the student's professional career. For example, studies show that positive student qualities (Ho et al, 2010), their commitment to research and writing research articles (Humphrey, Marshall, & Leonardo, 2012), involvement in academic conferences (Bolli, Agasisti, & Johnes, 2015), having good scientific discipline (Groenvynck, Vandevelde, & Van Rossem, 2013), and having good interpersonal working relationships with advisors (Ives & Rowley, 2005) can determine success in their academic program as well as in their professional career. Also, gender and language proficiency levels are sometimes ÜNİVERSİTEPARK Bülten | Bulletin • Volume 6 • Issue 1 • 2017 mentioned as reasons (Lebcir, Wells, & Bond, 2008;Rodwell & Neumann, 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Factors Influencing the Degree Progress of International PhD Students from Africa: An Exploratory Study

Soumana¹,

Uddin²

2017

unibulletin

In recent decades some countries of the Middle East have offered facilities to attract international students to pursue their higher education within their higher education institutions. The purpose of this study is to understand the difficulties faced by these students while conducting their studies abroad, and in doing so, to broaden the awareness of the challenges they face to complete their research. The participants of this qualitative study are international PhD students studying at a Middle Eastern public university. The university has reported increasing enrollment of international students, particularly from Africa in the last few years. Data were collected using a set of semi-structured interviews that drew out information on critical incidents that characterized the kind of difficulties students had faced in their studies. The data collected was further analyzed using a qualitative software package, NVivo (QSR International, 11). Six main themes came out from the content analysis of the interviews, which are the role of the adviser, student features, funding issues, family engagement, research and psychological obstacles which provide a holistic picture of student perspectives on the factors that influence degree progress. While these students might have faced difficulties mentioned in existing literature, this study argues that the participants have indicated experiencing psychological obstacles that were not described in earlier studies, such as the state of mind they were in as a result of being worried for family members due to war or violence in their home countries, and drop in currency exchange rates and difficulties in acquiring money due to international sanctions imposed against their countries. This study provides important thoughts on the factors that impact the degree progress of international PhD students from Africa, while at the same time revealing a serious gap in the advisers' role which can contribute to the problems experience during the study progress of doctoral students.