A Critique of Supervisory Practices of Doctoral Student Research in Emerging Higher Education Context, Botswana

Abstract

The science community in Botswana holds a broad consensus that not enough quality PhDs are being produced to meet the needs of societal developments in the country. There appears to be a connection between the level of knowledge advancement of a nation and its economic wealth. The role of supervision in the quest for a leap towards quality and quantity knowledge output therefore, cannot be overemphasised. This paper provides a critique of supervisory practices of doctoral student research in emerging higher education context of Botswana. The study adopted a desk top research methodology which focused on a scoping view of studies related to the phenomenon of study. The areas interrogated included the initial stage of student recruitment and selection, allocation of supervisors, proposal development, and management environment for research, implementation of the proposal, and document compilation for examination.