Supervision and Personal Study Plan

The Dean of the School assigns each postgraduate student one or two supervisors, preferably two. Usually, the professors who were consulted before the application process become the student's supervisors. According to the Postgraduate Committee, the main supervisor should be a professor or a docent in the School of Communication, Media and Theatre. The second supervisor should be a docent, but the second supervisor does not have to be employed at the University of Tampere. The respective responsibilities of the supervisors are defined in the study and supervision plan.

The School keeps a register of all postgraduate students and their supervisors. The Dean of the School may assign a postgraduate student a new supervisor for a cogent reason, which may be, for example, the supervisor moving to another university or the discontinuation of a supervision relationship. There may also be other reasons for being assigned a new supervisor. Whenever a postgraduate student is assigned a new supervisor, all parties must be heard, and the supervisors and the student must be informed. If the decision is controversial, it will be taken to the Postgraduate Committee. The Dean will then settle the issue after consulting the Postgraduate Committee.

Personal Study and Supervision Plan

Each postgraduate student must draw up a written study and supervision plan together with his or her supervisors. The plan must specify the name of the main supervisor and the duties and responsibilities of the supervisors and the student. The plan must include the postgraduate student's preliminary schedule as well as the supervision practices applied. The purpose of  supervision is to support and train the student in independent scientific or artistic work and to develop the student's professional skills and career prospectives. In addition, the plan must include a personal study plan that describes how the postgraduate student intends to fulfil his or her degree requirements. The School recommends that the study and supervision plan be updated once a year. It is especially important to update the section on the progression of the student's work. In this connection, so-called "passive" postgraduate students may decide to give up their right to study.

Study and supervisory plan

Good Practices in Supervision

The School's Postgraduate Committee monitors supervision in postgraduate studies. If need be, it holds discussions on supervision, collects feedback on supervision and keeps track of the student-supervisor ratio. The Committee also keeps track of the quality of the dissertations and the evaluation criteria. The Postgraduate Committee is set up and acts in compliance with the Guidelines of Good Practices of Arranging Doctoral Training at the University of Tampere, laid down by the Research Council and approved by the Rector.

Postgraduate students report on the progress of their thesis and other studies to their supervisor at least once a year. The personal study plan and the research plan should be updated when necessary. Postgraduate students at the School of Communication, Media and Theatre pursue their studies according to their personal study plan.