Strengthening supervision of doctoral students

An ETH doctorate is a mark of superior performance: Therefore, much is expected of doctoral students, both academically and in terms of their personal and time commitment. But to make a success of a doctorate, students also need good supervision from professors.

In autumn 2017 AVETH, the association of non-faculty scientific staff, conducted a survey of ETH’s roughly 4,100 doctoral students, of whom 37 percent participated. The results show that a majority of those surveyed are generally satisfied with their research supervisor. However, almost a third of respondents complained that their supervisor neglected the mentoring side of their responsibilities. This manifested in professors offering too little face time or showing too little engagement with the subject matter. Almost a quarter of survey respondents went so far as to say that their supervisor had abused their position of authority

A good time for solutions

“The findings of the AVETH survey have given the ETH Executive Board valuable pointers,” says Rector Sarah Springman. “First off, I am pleased to learn that the majority of our doctoral students are satisfied with the supervision they are receiving. As we all know, academic life can sometimes be tough, and young researchers must learn how to cope with pressure,” says Springman. “But to achieve outstanding work, it is just as important that we treat each other constructively and with respect, and that we make a point of nurturing our doctoral students. To this end, we are treating the inadequacies respondents have reported as a very serious matter.”

Springman adds that ETH is currently looking in detail at the situation of its doctoral students, so the survey has come at a good time. “In November 2017 we set up a working group to do more to establish and promote a strong culture of motivational leadership in education and research.” Moreover, the topic was dealt with in all the Executive Board’s talks with departments this spring. The doctorate working group’s initial results and first round of proposed measures were discussed at length during the Conference of the Heads of Departments on 8 May.

Specific ideas already proposed

Antonio Togni, Vice-Rector for Doctoral Studies and a professor of chemistry at ETH, is head of the working group. “Our analysis and our discussions so far have already led to some specific ideas for improvements,” he says. “One possibility is for doctoral students to have both a mentor and an additional supervisor; another is to make regular written feedback from the supervisor an obligatory part of the doctorate. In any case, all departments must accord the research plan the central importance it deserves.”

Partnership, not power gap

Supervising doctoral students is a complex pedagogical task, Togni states. Accordingly, it is essential to strengthen professors’ supervisory skills, perhaps through a range of mandatory courses. “As I understand it, ETH should be aiming to replace the outmoded asymmetry of power between professors and doctoral students with a partnership of academics, a ‘learning alliance’,” says Togni. In this alliance, it is not the supervisor’s job to know and decide everything; instead, supervisors should take on more of a mentoring role. “We also need to work towards getting doctoral students to become more independent from their supervisor over the course of their doctorate,” says Togni. Because in the end, he concludes, that is the goal of a successful doctoral course: “To train up independent scientists who are capable of critical thinking.”