Recentering postgraduate supervision as a knowledge co-sharing pursuit in the 21st century

Abstract

While it is generally accepted that postgraduate supervision is fundamental to the production of new knowledge, numerous aspects of postgraduate supervision have remained understudied and under-theorised. This lack of theory has presented postgraduate supervisors with limited understanding of the model(s) of supervision they should adopt. In light of this, postgraduate supervisors tend to adopt the ‘learning-by-doing’ approach. Thus, while postgraduate supervision is key to knowledge co-creation, knowledge production, and knowledge sharing, there are limited theoretical frameworks that address the nuances of postgraduate supervision at different levels. Recognising this paucity of theoretical approaches on postgraduate supervision, this paper explores ways in which postgraduate supervisors can address postgraduate supervision. This paper examines how postgraduate supervision can be re-imagined as a knowledge sharing activity rather than an academic attempt to guide a student to a postgraduate degree completion.