El Rol del Tutor y del Estudiante en Universidades Australianas

As a RHD student, you will need advisors to work with you throughout your program, especially when you are working on your thesis. The choice of appropriate advisors is very important. Usually, a principle and an associate advisor are appointed for each student. Choice of advisors, which is initially made by the School’s Head of Research, is based on the area of the student’s proposed research. Where the study brings together different areas, joint advisors may be appropriate.

Students and advisors will be required to maintain close links throughout the period of enrolment in the program, though patterns of supervision are likely to vary depending on the particular research schedule of the student. If, as the study develops, there is a change from the original research idea, or if wider implications become apparent, it may become
necessary to change advisors or to have joint advisors appointed.

Students experiencing problems with advisors should in the first instance discuss this with the advisors involved. If the issue or concern cannot be satisfactorialy resolved then the student may choose to approach the the School RHD Student Director to discuss this matter further. For further information onf grieivance resolution see page 26 of this Handbook.

The Role of Advisors

Advisors will assist you in developing your study plan, ensuring that it is technically sound and possible to
implement with the resources likely to be available. They will:

• be available for consultation for an appropriate
period of time and at regular intervals throughout
the term of your study program;

• suggest strategies that will enable you to finish
your research in as short a period of time as is
practicable;

• regularly discuss progress with you and assist
you in the development of appropriate research
habits;

• insist on reading drafts of your reports and
thesis as it is produced, and will read the entire
manuscript before it is prepared for submission;

• encourage you to prepare sections of your work
for submission as it is done, not leaving it all until
the end;

• give you appropriate feedback on your work
throughout the year, including advising you
clearly when and if your performance is not
satisfactory.

The Role of the Student

While the role of advisors is to provide advice, help and encouragement; students are ultimately responsible for setting their own goals and planning how to achieve them. They will be expected to:

• discuss with advisors the type of guidance and
comment they find most helpful and agree on a
schedule of meetings;

• take the initiative in raising problems or
difficulties, however elementary they may seem;

• maintain the progress of work in accordance with
the stages agreed with the advisor, in particular
presenting written material in sufficient time
to allow for comments and discussion before
proceeding to the next stage;

• decide when they wish to submit, taking due
account of the advisor’s opinion but bearing in
mind the decision is theirs.