SUPERVISION AND EVALUATION OF RESEARCHPROJECTS OF GRADUATE STUDENTS – REALITIESAND REQUIREMENTS

By its very nature, research activity leading to a higher degree is fraught withuncertainty, which is faced both by the supervisor and the candidate. However,the candidate s neck is on the line, so the supervisor is expected to play his vitalrole to help the student reduce the uncertainty as the time progresses. Supervisionof postgraduate research can be viewed as management of uncertainty;management of transformations and realizing that time is the enemy. A recentquestionnaire given to post graduates students revealed that students desiresupervisors to be knowledgeable about research area. However, a supervisor’s jobdeals with a lot of consideration. A supervisor who evaluates his own project,dissertation or thesis of his own students will apply the same yardstick when heevaluates others. The yardstick will vary from country to country and also withina big country having a number of universities. This paper shares the views of thesenior faculty members who have got long experience of supervisingpostgraduate students. In evaluating a thesis as external examiner bias willpresent itself. The bias can be positive or negative, and the latter needs to becontrolled as it may hurt the student who is being assessed. Negative bias isbased on the fame of the supervisor, the university where the research work isdone, and the country where it is located. Students should be encouraged towrite journal papers as publications are the proof of the quality of a work.Citations to one’s work are the crowning glory of a student s achievement inthe discovery of something new in his research. Evaluation of thesis is a highlyresponsible task that needs to be executed in a highly professional manner. Inthis paper standards have been set out and benchmarks have been indicated.