Preparing a laboratory-based thesis: Chinese international research students’ experiences of supervision

This qualitative study examined Chinese international laboratory-based research students’ experiences of supervision during the first six to eighteen months of their candidature in Singapore. The experiences of marginalization in student/supervisory relationship identified in the study, particularly in the first six months, may very largely be understood in terms of unrealistic or unfulfilled expectations being brought to the new study context but grounded in the home culture. Negative experiences of the student/supervisory relationship were stronger in those with previous postgraduate experience. They also tended to be stronger in those who had irregular supervisory meetings and assigned stronger importance to language difficulties. The findings highlighted the fact that different students require different supervisory relationships, ranging from a high level of dependency to a high level of autonomy. Implications arising from the study inform the suggested intervention programmes that are directed to the points of tension identified in students’ experiences.