ABSTRACT
Graduate studies have attracted attention from governments, institutional researchers, student bodies and those concerned with equity and access as well as supranational bodies. Graduate education is a growth area in higher education. The 1980s were the decade of efficiency and effectiveness in higher education and accountability for both. Thus planning for quality in graduate education in contrast to trusting the academic staff and academic departments to ensure and deliver quality is not new. A good Honours degree, certainly a first class Honours degree, admits students to any PhD programme. If students do not have this qualification they may be admitted with an 'equivalent' qualification; institutions can determine how this equivalence is demonstrated. This is particularly important in the new universities which often draw on a student population which has a less traditional educational career path. Some students are more vulnerable than others and it helps to realize where we as supervisors need to be aware of potential problems.
