Enhancing the skills of PhD supervisors facing internationalization: The issue of independence

This research started out due to some institutional changes at a department at
Aalborg University as regards supervision of PhD students. For various reasons the department suddenly got a large intake of PhD students in 2008, many of which came with an international background. After a period of time staff members of the department began to look very frustrated. Not only did they feel burdened with the large intake, they also struggled with the task of facilitating the transition of international students to become independent scholars. The situation led to the creation of a more general interview study within the faculty, and an inquiry into the field of cross-cultural supervision with the purpose of enhancing the skills of PhD supervisors. As is often the case with cross-cultural exchange and inquiry, the study ended up by being just as informative on the supervision cultures and settings of the faculty as on the cultures and needs of international students.