The focus of this paper is on student learning pathways--with particular reference to the factors motivating coursework master's students to seek entry to a doctoral programme--along with the implications for higher education policy and practice. It is argued nationally and internationally that although a number of challenges continue to…

Despite the increasing numbers of candidates embarking on higher degrees by research (HDRs, e.g., PhD, professional doctorate, practice-based doctorate), we still have limited knowledge about why they are choosing this path. What are the factors that motivate students to embark on research degrees? Given that many of those who succeed in…

This paper reports findings from Australian research into student, academic and administrative staff understandings of the role and efficacy of periodic progress reports designed to monitor the progress of higher-degree-by-research candidates. Major findings are that confusion of the purpose and ultimate audience of these reports is linked to less…

Universities increasingly expect students to publish during a PhD candidature because it benefits the candidate, supervisor, institution, and wider community. Here, we describe a method successfully used by early-career researchers including PhD candidates to undertake and publish literature reviews--a challenge for researchers new to a field. Our…

This article presents an analysis of rich data, gathered from interviews with 46 candidates and 38 supervisors from three Australian universities, about experiences of doctoral supervision in cross-cultural situations. Our analysis shows that many of the issues reported by international candidates are the same as those encountered by domestic…

The number of Indigenous Australians completing doctoral qualifications is disparately below their non-Indigenous contemporaries. Whilst there has been a steady increase in Indigenous completions in recent years, significant work remains to redress the imbalance. Supervision has been identified as a primary influencer of the likely success of…

This article begins the work of examining what kind of doctoral experiences positively influence researcher development, and what other attributes may contribute to a successful research career. It reports preliminary findings from the analysis of survey responses by a sample of successful mid-career researchers. Positive doctoral experiences and…

As part of a mixed-methods doctoral project, this study drew on an interview, bracketed by two surveys, with experienced Australian reviewers. It explored questions about the contributions of peer review, the need and possibility to improve it and the driving factors for reviewers to contribute voluntarily. The respondents emphasised the essential…

While the epistemological and ontological challenges faced by doctoral candidates are well documented, the same cannot be said of the emotional dimensions of the journey. This paper draws on Activity Theory in exploring the role of emotion in the longitudinal doctoral learning experiences of six international PhD candidates studying in Australia.…

This paper looks at ways in which methods used in literary analysis can contribute to higher education research. I start by describing a methodology commonly used in the analysis of literary texts, close reading or textual analysis, and outline how it can be utilised in conjunction with several theoretical approaches in the literary studies…

Contemporary changes to the doctorate mean student researchers are likely to be expected to write differently, write more and more often, and yet, despite a growing interest in doctoral education, we still know relatively little about the teaching and learning practices of students and supervisors vis-a-vis doctoral writing. This paper draws from…

This article examines the stories of 24 social sciences doctoral students in three universities, one in Canada and two in the UK, who experienced challenging roads to completion. While their stories confirm earlier findings, they also provide insight into how students' agency and personal networks of relationships may be critical, both as…

A great deal of literature in recent years has focused on the supervisory relationship, yet very little has been written about the nature or content of supervisory meetings, beyond commenting on the frequency and length of meetings. Through semi-structured interviews, informal discussions with colleagues and students, a critical review of…

This paper presents our theorizing about the complex nature of higher degree research supervision. The intent is to make a contribution to the current debates about higher education generally, and supervision of higher degree research students in particular. We add to the pedagogy of supervision by extending its scope to and beyond the supervisory…

The purpose of this paper is to discuss both the status of the PhD in South Africa and the feasibility of the country's aspiration to increase by fivefold the production of PhDs by 2025. Based on the first empirical studies on doctoral education in South Africa, it argues that in order to move towards this target, an expanded and coordinated…