ABSTRACT
Research students, and young researchers need supervision and thus a supervisor. Often the selection of the student and supervisor seems to happen accidently, and the two people have to learn about their roles over time and adapt to each other. However, despite best intentions, there may be tensions, leading to disputes. Such situations may lead to high dropout rate among research students. To overcome disputes that may take place, Universities have attempted to develop rules of the dos and don’ts. However, reading the list of the rules developed by some of the Universities makes one remember the classic, 1984 (Orwell).
This chapter is written for helping the reader understand the relationship between the research student and the supervisors. It discusses the expectations of both, the supervisor and the student and methods to get the mutually beneficial outcomes. It also suggests techniques that could be used for identifying the most suitable supervisor for a student and is written to benefit the student and the supervisors.
