While a supervisor’s task for finding a suitable student is hard it is a near impossible task for the students because a student’s future plans, career etc. hugely depend on his/her successfully completing a degree program. So in the initial stage finding a supervisor can cause various mental stresses for the students. That’s why a student has to carefully search for a suitable program and subsequently the supervisor. As was the factors that were important for the supervisors some of those factors also are important for the students too. But there are also some additional factors that influence the students. Over the years, various researchers have conducted numerous studies to identify the factors affecting the students in choosing higher education institutions and supervisors. Factors such as location, cost, academic programs, advertising efforts, career prospects, parents’ influences etc. were deemed to be capable in influencing people’s choice of higher education institutions [101–104]. Some additional factor are found by the studies [9, 105, 106] who suggest that graduate student decisions are affected by the academic reputation of the institution, program quality and size, price/cost, financial aid, geographic location, contact with faculty, and a student’s individual characteristics such as academic ability and achievement. Kallio [107] found some additional practical and rep- utational considerations to be relevant too, including spouses’ plans, the ability to work in one’s current job, cost beyond financial aid, program quality, research opportunities, campus life, social opportunities, and recruitment efforts by the faculty of the program. Poock and Love [108] affirmed the factors identified by [9] and [107] as important for doctoral students in higher education programs. So among these factor we can find that while searching for a suitable post graduate program or a supervisor a student generally focuses on a lot of factors among which we put emphasis on the four factors that are most related to the supervisors - the country or region, research area, experience level of the supervisor, published works etc.
The figure 3.2 shows the result of the survey done during the same thesis [97] on the thesis students of CSE department of BUET. They are asked to rank four topics according to their preference from 1 to 4 when deciding to approach a supervisor. From the figure it is clear that
CHAPTER 3. PROPOSED SYSTEM 33 for majority of the students programming related work got the majority of the vote and ranked as 1st and teaching experience, publication and field of interest was ranked as follows 2nd, 3rd and 4th.
Figure 3.2: factors influence a student while selecting a supervisor
On the other hand during Next we’ll discuss about these four criteria that influences a students.
Area of Research Interest
It is important for a student to choose research area that is interesting to him/her professionally, as well as, personally. Experienced researchers note that “a topic in which you are only vaguely interested at the start is likely to become a topic in which you have no interest and with which you will fail to produce your best work” [109]. Ideally, a student’s research area should relate to his/her future career path and potentially contribute to the achievement of their career objectives. So to find a suitable research area a student generally focuses on the following steps.
Keeping up with Current Researches A research can only be fruitful if it adds some- thing to the current understanding of things in the world. There is no point in researching about something that is not relevant or useful in the current times. That’s why one can get ideas about different research areas by reading recent published works, attending seminars or getting acquainted with various works done by scientists and potential supervisors.
CHAPTER 3. PROPOSED SYSTEM 34 Discussing the idea with others When looking for a research area it is important for a student to find something that interests them. Working on an interesting question helps them in making significant discoveries. Discussion with someone who has previous experience about research and the pros/cons in their research field can help the student to decide on a area or topic he/she will be comfortable with.
Defining a concrete question A research area can be very vast and it might be impossible to cover it in a short amount of time. Defining a specific question about the problem the student wants to study is very important. A primary hypothesis can be then modified and redefined as he studies it intensely and experiments.
So we can see that finding a favourable research topic can be done in various ways and it is a very important start for finding a suitable program/supervisor. That’s why it plays a significant role in ranking a supervisor from the point of view of the student. A supervisor with similar area of interest is a much more desirable match for any student than someone with a different area of interest.
Country of the program/supervisor
When choosing a program/supervisor a student not only chooses a definite future for him/her but also sometimes chooses a certain regional destination for him/her and their families as well.
The country of the program/supervisor can affect a student in many ways. Such as -
Future Jobs and Welcoming Environment As in the current world the best way of relocating to another region/country and finding a suitable job is to have a degree from a reputed institution of that region/country, more and more students these days primarily focuses on the region/country more than anything while deciding about a program. A country which is more welcoming to foreigners, has more job opportunities, brighter future for the family is always a desirable destination than others.
Funding Opportunities Education is costly in most cases and for a student it is always nearly an impossible task to bear the total cost of a degree from his/her pocket. That’s why students are always more eager to consider a program/supervisor which offers funding for the duration of the study.
Geographical Location and Weather As peoples’ ability to adapt in a new place and
CHAPTER 3. PROPOSED SYSTEM 35 environment sometimes largely depends on the geographical position and the weather of that place, it is also an important factor that plays a role in choosing a region/country.
Published works of the Supervisor
A work published in a reputed journal is always an achievement for a student and sometimes a specific requirement for the degree too. It can help the student by boosting their current career and create new career opportunity. A supervisor with more published work thus becomes more desirable for any student with the view of publishing their work. The student is generally right to assume that a supervisor with more publications in likely to encourage their students more to publish their works too.
Experience of the Supervisor
A supervisor’s experience is also a factor that greatly entices a student while considering a suitable supervisor. Generally an experienced supervisor is more likely to have suitable projects and funding options under their belts. So while ranking a supervisor a student put much importance on the years of experience of the supervisor too.