My students learning needs

Understanding UWC postgraduate students as a Supervisor

Being a hands-on supervisor I believe in practical teaching to enhance learning. The students that I supervise usually have English as a second or third language which requires additional assistance with writing. I therefore include Thesis writing one day workshops in my training courses. The need for scientific and grant writing workshops must be compulsory for post graduate research. In my lab group a project proposal is defined by the supervisor to give the student enough opportunity to do research and master skills. Our field is a scarce skill and requires additional training workshops to get all the students on the same level. My five year experience as a supervisor allows me to apply different teaching methods to optimize my teaching strategy. Currently, I have bi weekly one on one meetings via ZOOM or face to face meetings to stay in contact with students and they must provide me with progress reports. Students that travel and are late I try to accommodate by shifting my lab group meetings. I propose closer accommodation like staying on residence. To address the lack of computational skills I have once a month practical sessions with exercises to strengthen their development. To address financial concerns students are provided internal bursaries to top up existing bursaries to aid in their studies because we know the cost of living is expensive. Finally, during our one on one meetings I make sure to give students an opportunity to speak to me about anything that is bothering them and where I could be of assistance.