Supervision in Postgraduate Programmes (SPGP)

The Section for Higher Education Development at Linnaeus University offers a special university-wide course for PhD-supervisors – Supervision in postgraduate programmes (SPGP).

Next iteration of SPGP starts in the fall of 2025. Application form opens in the spring of 2025.

About SPGP

This course, which is commissioned by the Vice-Chancellor, aims to strengthen and develop competences of PhD-supervisors, to ultimately support the doctoral students’ learning conditions. SPGP is part of the faculties’ quality assurance and improvement strategy. The course is a university/academic requirement in order to qualify as primary supervisor in postgraduate programmes.

Doctoral studies in Swedish universities are exclusive, i.e. not available for everyone, and subject to a set of regulations stipulated in various steering documents, such as the Higher Education Act, The Higher Education Ordinance and local regulations formulated by each university. At Linnaeus University, each Faculty Board is responsible for securing the quality and equity of postgraduate programmes in the disciplines within the Faculty. As part of this responsibility, the Faculty Boards need to ensure that PhD-supervisors are provided with appropriate preparation and training for the tasks included in their role and in their pedagogical practice.

One of your main responsibilities as a supervisor in postgraduate programmes is to secure that the doctoral students have the best conditions to be able to achieve the learning outcomes for postgraduate education and complete their studies successfully. Furthermore, as a supervisor you are responsible for the study progress of the PhD candidates and their integration with the scientific community.

In order to take on the formal responsibilities of a primary PhD-supervisor and to be able to live up to the broad set of expectations that are associated with the role of supervisor in postgraduate programmes, you need a broad set of experiences, competences and skills.

The course Supervision in postgraduate programmes (SPGP) aims to prepare doctoral supervisors for their complex mission. This includes creating suitable pedagogical practices by providing materials and activities that will enhance your abilities and skills as a supervisor to take appropriate actions in different supervision situations.

The course is designed to encourage exchanges of experiences between the participants from different disciplines and to promote collaborative learning where PhD-supervisors create a reflective community of practice.

The focus of SPGP, the course contents and the preparations to be completed, are purposely designed to meet the standards required by the regulations regarding postgraduate programmes and to ultimately enhance the quality of doctoral studies at Linnaeus University.

Course objectives

After having completed the course, you are expected to:

Be able to engage actively in the development of postgraduate programmes through identifying, critically reflecting on and discussing the overall conditions and frameworks (e.g. the design of postgraduate programmes, legal aspects etc.).
Have developed communicative competences and a philosophy of supervision that help you manage the complexity of your relationships related to your role as supervisor.
Be able to implement tools and strategies for supporting the doctoral students and follow up their progress with regard to:

fostering their writing skills considering different types of dissertations
time-management and ways to handle time limits
supporting the integration of PhD students with the scientific community
intellectual independence and capability to spread research results in order to contribute to society
using the full potential of the ISP as both a regulatory document and as a pedagogical tool.

Research education in the context of Swedish Higher Education and international research communities.
National regulatory and legal framework and university-specific regulations.
Roles and responsibilities of actors involved in post graduate programmes.
Tools and strategies for supervision.
Communication skills with focus on:
- formal/informal meetings between supervisor and doctoral student
- expectations, rights and obligations
- giving and receiving feedback
- equality in the regulatory framework in Sweden
- power aspects
- the significance of gender, ethnicity/culture, age and social background.
Promoting good working environment.
Challenges and problems in practice.
Fostering writing skills and publishing strategies.
Supervision ethics: rights and obligations in the PhD process.
Preparing for the Viva/Dissertation.
PhD career development and planning.

Disposition

SPGP consists of nine course meetings spread over eight months. You are expected to participate in all course meetings. If you are prevented from participating in more than one course meeting, we recommend that you do not submit an application. If you need to be absent from one course meeting, you will need to compensate for this by attending the corresponding course meeting, the next time the course is offered.

Participants are expected to be well prepared before each course meeting and continuously reflect and document your thoughts, insights and questions on an individual reflection-thread on MyMoodle throughout the course. The course is held in English. You can write your reflections in Swedish but all participants are expected to be able to present and exchange their thoughts, insights and reflections in English during the course meetings.

Prerequisites

To be able to fully benefit and contribute to the course, applicants are expected to:

Be an employee at Linnaeus University.
Have documented experience of supervision, at least at undergraduate level. Priority is given to those who have experience of co-supevision at postgraduate level.
Having conducted and published research after PhD-dissertation.
Priority is given to those who have completed courses about teaching and learning in higher education (högskolepedagogiska kurser).

Selection among applicants will be based on the above.

Schedule for SPGP2024–2025

Course meeting #1: September 25, 13–15 (Zoom)

Course meeting #2: October 16, 9.30–15.30 (Växjö)

Course meeting #3: November 13, 9.30–15.30 (Växjö)

Course meeting #4: December 4, 9.30–15.30 (Kalmar)

Course meeting #5: January 22, 9.30–15.30 (Kalmar)

Course meeting #6: February 19, 9.30–15.30 (Kalmar)

Course meeting #7: March 12-13, 9–12 (Zoom)

Course meeting #8: April 9-10, 9–12 (Zoom)

Course meeting #9: May 8, 9.30–15.30 (Växjö)

Please note all the dates above, reserve accordingly in your calendars and make any necessary arrangements so that you can participate in the physical meetings (if you book train tickets, make sure that you have the option to rebook/cancel if needed)

Financial conditions

The course and the course literature is financed by central university funding and it is free of charge for faculty members employed at Linnaeus University.