|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Student Leaders Report
Best Practices in Graduate Advising
Graduate advising is a topic that affects the well-being and livelihood of graduate students in ways that few other topics do. Alarmingly, significant number of students report that they face problems with their advisors. In truth, the number of cases where students face such problems and do not openly admit to them is even larger. What is more worrisome is that students are unaware of sources of advice and help available for them.
The nature of problems reported by students generally center around four main areas: funding, thesis completion, work practices, and mentoring.
In an effort to address these perennial problems, the Graduate Student Council raised the issue of advising with the Corporation Joint Advisory Committee (CJAC). CJAC, together with GSC, conducted a thorough survey of good practices in advising and mentoring in different departments at MIT, as well as at other reputable institutions. From these, we identified specific practices that will help alleviate the common problems faced by graduate students. In this article, I present a summary of recommendations from the "Best Practices in graduate advising" that were presented by CJAC members to department heads on April 2, 2001, at the department heads luncheon chaired by President Vest. The PowerPoint presentation is available at http://web.mit.edu/gsc/www/advising.html.
Guaranteed funding for first-year students is a strong recommendation from CJAC. This will help in providing time for new graduate students to shop around for advisors. Most cases of conflicts that arise between students and faculty are due to students rushing to take up RA positions without really considering their options. Time to shop around will enable students to find faculty that have interests and mentalities comparable to that of the students. This will also enable students to take time and talk with members of that particular research group about the "way things are done" and see if these are what the student appreciates as well. Another advantage of this is that International students will not have to face severe problems in applying for visas since the availability of guaranteed funding is a requirement for obtaining visas.
Another benefit of the guaranteed funding for the first year is in minimizing the situations where faculty hold students for "ransom" in the first few semesters to accomplish research targets. This, it seems, is a familiar trend among some younger faculty on tenure track. International students have been especially exploited by this rather horrific practice.
An additional significant recommendation that is aimed at alleviating funding related problems, is the introduction of a "funding certificate" that will enable students to know of their funding status for the upcoming year or semester (as appropriate in the department) to be signed by the principal advisor providing funding for the student. This document will include three options: "I will definitely fund the following student," "I am not sure about funding the student" (with reason such as not sure of approval of funds from funding agency), and "I will definitely fund the student." If this document is signed and made available in time before the TA deadlines, this will enable students to either take up a TA in time to compensate for a semester or look for other sources of funding.
Along these lines, the availability of departmental funds for allocation for such cases of abrupt lack of funding will also help students greatly.
In the work practices side, most of the causes of conflicts that do occur are due to poor communication channels and insufficient contact time available between students and their advisors. A recommendation to ensure at least once-a-semester appraisal of student progress between the student and his/her faculty advisor will go a long way toward reducing the miscommunication and "expectation" problems that commonly occur. A written document (which is currently the practice in Materials Science and Engineering) enables a detailed discussion between the student and faculty on the accomplishments of the semester, what can be reasonably expected in the coming semester, and specific goals that should be aimed at.
Along similar lines, requirement of at least one meeting a year between a student and his or her thesis committee will enable regular discussions. A written report of these discussions and goals for the research project will enable students to gauge the satisfaction of the thesis committee and help identify the goals they need to get to, to be considered "done." A common point of conflict between students and faculty is when students approach what they consider is time to write up and this is not quite the opinion of his or her research advisor. Complaints of ever increasing task lists near completion could be avoided by having a written document establishing the necessary goals that need to be achieved early on, and at which point the thesis could be considered done.
A major reason for students' advising misadventures arises due to the fact that there are few resources available for students within departments that help solve common problems when they arise. Even in cases where such resources are available, the information is not widely known. The presence of senior student-friendly faculty who act as departmental Ombudspersons will assist a great deal in directing students on right paths towards solving problems they encounter with their advisors, research, academics, and other issues. Identifying a point contact person(s) rather than an office will help a great deal.
Along with these, another major recommendation from CJAC is to have a second faculty member in the student's home department who could act as an academic advisor and someone to whom the student could go to talk about a variety of issues. This second faculty advisor would provide a means for students to approach topics they otherwise would not normally discuss with their main advisor. Also helpful will be the student-faculty interaction, from which students can learn a great deal.
Another recommendation which was based on a practices at the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University, is to encourage discussion about conflicts which are bound to occur, and to actively publicize the need to discuss these early on when they happen, and identify sources of help for the students.
Advising is a major challenge and is by no means an easy task. Senior faculty members have a wealth of experience from which junior faculty can benefit. Organizing programs that encourage senior faculty mentoring of junior faculty is another major recommendation under this topic of student mentoring. Possibly a means of training faculty regularly on the topic of advising and handling students will be beneficial to everyone concerned.
These recommendations have the potential to dramatically improve the cases of poor advising at MIT and set world standards in graduate advising which will always help attract the best and the brightest. Implementing them in some adopted form in each department will go a long way toward creating a thoroughly productive and happy experience for graduate students. Please help graduate students in this endeavor by implementing some of these practices in your department.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|