Supervision and Planning of Studies

University supports the high and systematic quality of supervision of doctoral studies at every stage. Each doctoral student is assigned one or two supervisors, one of whom must be a professor or docent (adjunct professor) in the employ of the University.  The doctoral student and the supervisor draw up a written study and supervision plan agreeing on the main supervisor and the respective obligations and responsibilities of supervisor and supervisee.  In addition to a schedule, procedures and practices in supervision are agreed upon. The supervisory plan, especially the yearly progress of the work, will be checked and updated once a year.

Monitoring groups may be used to support supervision. In addition to supervisor(s), these groups can include researchers of the doctoral programme or external supervisors, and can consist of members for example from other universities, enterprises or research institutes. Monitoring groups widen the expertise of supervision and feedback. The quality of dissertations nearing completion may in some cases be confirmed in the monitoring groups.

The extent, supervision and teaching of a doctoral degree (as also the extent and form of the dissertation) must be determined and arranged in such a way that a full-time doctoral student can complete them in four years and the aim being completion of studies in five years. In case the studies are conducted part-time, schedule for the degree will be agreed separately.

Joint doctoral studies include courses on planning and mananging one's own research process and training for supervisors.

For more information on good practices in supervision, see document Good practices of arranging doctoral training at the University of Tampere (Intranet).