Abstract:

The increase of international doctoral students (IDS) has provoked a rise in studies about opportunities and challenges of pursuing a doctorate overseas in students’ perspectives [1, 2, 3]. While listening to students’ voices is highly important, it is also critical to acknowledge supervisors’ views on the opportunities and challenges of supervising IDS [4, 5]. Indeed, studies on international doctoral experiences focus primarily on students’ perspectives, while supervisors have been more neglected [6].

In Portugal, HE internationalization has become a major concern and universities have been receiving a growing number of IDS mainly from the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP). The University of Aveiro (UA), the context of this research, follows this tendency hosting a high number of IDS from Brazil, Angola, Mozambique Cape Verde and East Timor.

Against this background and considering that studies focusing on these IDS and on supervisors are almost inexistent in the Portuguese context, this paper reports on a study that aimed at understanding supervisors’ perspectives on the opportunities and challenges associated with supervising IDS from the CPLP. For this matter, and within a qualitative approach, semi structured interviews were conducted with eight supervisors in the area of educational sciences of the UA.

Results from thematic analysis reveal that regarding opportunities, supervisors stress: the development of their own intercultural competence (knowledge of diverse contexts and of different communication and relational cultures; skills of observation, interpretation and adaptation; attitudes of openness, empathy and discovery); an increasing awareness about the mediating role of languages and cultures in supervision processes; the acknowledgement of culturally inflected research processes and knowledge construction. As to challenges, supervisors underline: IDS’ reduced competences in European Portuguese and English; IDS’ undeveloped research skills; lack of supervisors’ knowledge about Portuguese language varieties; differences between educational systems and pedagogical cultures; different research and knowledge cultures.
Implications for institutional policy and practice concerning support to supervising across languages and cultures will be discussed.

References:
[1] S. Pinto, “Everything is so different...: African students’ voices on the challenges of doing a PhD at a Portuguese university” Journal of International Students, vol. 11, no. 4, 895–913, 2021.
[2] N. Nguyen & M. Robertson, “International students enacting agency in their PhD journey”, Teaching in Higher Education, 2020, 10.1080/13562517.2020.1747423
[3] G. Schäfer, “Spatial mobility and the perception of career development for social sciences and humanities doctoral candidates”, Studies in Continuing Education, 2020, 10.1080/0158037X.2020.1826919
[4] D. Elliot & S. Kobayashi, “How can PhD supervisors play a role in bridging academic cultures?”, Teaching in Higher Education, vol. 24, no. 8, 911–929, 2019.
[5] T. Winchester-Seeto, J. Homewood, J. Thogersen, C. Jacenyik-Trawoger, M. Manathunga, A. Reid, A. & A. Holbrook, “Doctoral supervision in a cross-cultural context: Issues affecting supervisors and candidates”, Higher Education Research & Development, vol. 33, no. 3, 610-626, 2014.
[6] P. Bøgelund, “How supervisors perceive PhD supervision – And how they practice it”, International Journal of Doctoral Studies, no. 10, 39–55, 2015.

Keywords:

Supervisors, international doctoral students, opportunities, challenges, Portuguese higher education.