University of Jena evaluates supervision tools
Report published on the use and assessment of supervision agreements and career talks
Structured career talk with a supervisor
Published:
In recent years, Friedrich Schiller University Jena has established several tools to support cooperation between doctoral candidates or postdocs and their supervisors. These include supervision agreements between doctoral candidates and their supervisors, status meetings on the progress of the doctorate, and career talks for postdocs.
In 2023, the Graduate Academy conducted an online survey among doctoral candidates, postdocs, and supervisors in order to evaluate how these measures are being implemented at the University of Jena. The sample included 1,016 doctoral candidates, 231 postdoctoral researchers, and 151 supervisors. The evaluation report has now been published.
Supervision agreement – just a formality?
Since 2017, a written supervision agreement between doctoral candidates and their supervisors must be concluded in Jena before they are accepted for a doctorate. Among other things, this agreement regulates the doctoral thesis topic, the type of dissertation (publication-based, monograph), and the regularity of meetings with supervisors.
97 percent of doctoral candidates say that they have concluded a supervision agreement. Around one in four doctoral candidates has used the supervision agreement again from time to time (27%). Overall, however, 47 percent of doctoral candidates and 38 percent of supervisors state that they consider the supervision agreement to be a mere formality and that it has no noticeable benefit. One reason for this could be that it is concluded at the beginning of the doctorate and is rarely used afterwards.
Positive assessment of annual status meetings
The “Guidelines for the Doctoral Phase” stipulate that doctoral candidates must hold at least one structured status talk with their supervisors each year. These meetings should focus on the progress of the doctoral project, but also on prospects for the candidate’s future career. The university provides guidelinespdf, 521 kb · de for these talks.
Seventy-two percent of doctoral candidates say they have already had such a status talk. Sixty-two percent of doctoral candidates have had one “at least once a year”. Forty-four percent of supervisors say they conduct status talks “about once a year”. Another 39 percent say they have it at least “every six months”.
Doctoral candidates positively evaluate the fact that the talks take place in a good setting (time, place, duration, etc.) (79%) and that they help in planning the next steps of their work (78%). Only around one in seven doctoral candidates and 8 percent of supervisors see no discernible benefit in the status talk.
Only half of the postdocs had a Career Talk
Postdocs should have a structured career talk with their supervisors in their second year of employment. The conversation should cover topics such as past performance and possible career prospects. Minutes of it are a prerequisite for extending the employment contract. The university provides guidelinespdf, 175 kb for the talk.
About half (52%) of postdocs have already had a career talk. 86 percent of supervisors say they have had such a conversation with all or most of their postdocs. In the eyes of postdocs, the initiative usually comes from the administration (43%), followed by their supervisors (39%) and then themselves (21%). Supervisors state that they themselves most often initiate the meetings (61%).
56 percent of postdocs state that the career talk have helped them to set priorities. Of the supervisors, 61 percent say that these talks are an important management tool. Only 9 percent of supervisors and one-fifth of postdocs see no benefit in it.
Possible future actions
The results of the evaluation show that the supervision agreement is rated rather poorly. Its potential could be better realized if it were regularly adapted to the changing needs during the course of the doctorate. These changes could be discussed during the annual status meeting.
The status and career talks, on the other hand, are rated positively for the most part, but are not conducted by all doctoral candidates and postdocs. To change this, it is necessary to increase awareness of status and career talks (including the guidelines) and to further encourage researchers to use them.