A comparative analysis of a pathway model and manuals to assess efficiency of pedagogical training in doctoral supervision in Uganda

Abstract

Doctoral supervision is increasingly becoming a complex enterprise, calling for highly skilled and competent supervisors. This paper considers a comparative analysis of a three – pathway model and graduate manuals of selected Ugandan universities to forecast the role of pedagogical training in doctoral supervision. The handbooks were in some instances in consistence with the model tracks. However, they, to a larger extent, envisioned informal training of PhD supervisors. The paper discerns, from the model and documents that a doctoral supervisor with pedagogical training may enlist conceptualised and differentiated supervisory skills. A supervisor on- the- job training has the opportunity to develop crystallized skills. A neophyte supervisor is a candidate of ‘supervisory accidents’. In contemporary times, the process of doctoral supervision takes the supervisor’s aptitude, which to a bigger extent is an upshot of formal pedagogical learning. An empirical analysis of the concepts considered in this paper is suggested.