My writing focuses on the relationship between the postgraduate student and the supervisor, and the need for open, honest and trustworthy communication. A successful dissertation experience occurs only through significant efforts by both the adviser and the student. In this regard, Bartlett and Mercer (2001:2) state that none of the manuals on postgraduate supervision ‘include or even imagine the variety of possible situations that may arise between a supervisor and a candidate’. It is, however, important to understand what the supervisor can and cannot do for the student. Postgraduate students will be expected to be independent in the way they work, and their research will be expected to be their own work, work that they have planned and undertaken.

A supervisor is not there to tell the student what to do, nor to be by their side in everything that they do. My experience as a supervisor and postgraduate external examiner in both conventional and distance institutions is that a supervisor should act as a guide, an academic colleague, and somebody with whom the student can test his/her ideas. It is also important for a student to know the limits of his/her supervisor's expertise. At master's level, it is probable that whatever the student chooses as his/her research topic, the supervisor will know most of contents set out in the dissertation. At doctoral level, though, it is probable that the student will soon know and understand more about his/her particular subject than the supervisor. This is because work at a doctoral level is about contributing something new to knowledge, so any research done at this level ought to discover ideas and knowledge not yet known to the supervisor. As an expert in the field of research, the supervisor's role is therefore to support the student in the process of discovering that knowledge.

Effective supervisory practices and strategies

Over the years, I have come to realise that students have different needs. This becomes a challenge to supervisors because they have to meet the needs of the students at their particular stage of the research project. In my experience, some students require more intervention than others.