Strategies for Managing a PhD Student-Supervisors Relationship at Nigerian University

Abstract

Besides the admission qualifications and academic intellect, a post-graduate student need to have good psychological behaviours, developed faculty of reasoning and political managing behaviour with which they can see, think and manage all kind of relationships. Almost all supervision exercises in Nigerian universities are a team. The teamwork that joined two or more supervisors with the same or different discipline and experience is difficult to manage especially for a new inexperienced supervisee to manage, due to different interests, goals, task assignments and attitude or manner of approach of the supervisors. Therefore, this paper spells out and dwelled well on some strategies for managing individual supervision relationships or collective relations with all of them. Following these strategies abated the unnecessary delay, disappointment and puzzling circumstances that academic go-slow, academic standard retardation, over-stayed student, amnesty cases for graduating half-baked students, frustrated uncompleted programs and social and economic crises among others. The paper considered all the differences we have in Nigeria in terms of location, culture, and ethnicity, religion in drawing out these strategies. Therefore grafting a policy from one university to another would not be harmful to the student or in running the program or to the university in any way unless they are lacking good personnel, means of electrical power, internet facilities, enough infrastructure, software applications, scientific aid facilities, apparatus and equipment among others. Finally, relationship management is the bedrock of all success.