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    Vice-Chancellor's Award for Postgraduate Supervision 2008

    Introduction

    The Vice-Chancellor of Monash University makes available an award for postgraduate supervision.

    The award consists of a medallion, a permanent citation on the Records and Archives website, and a grant of $5,000 to be used at the discretion of the award winner to benefit his or her postgraduate supervision. Certificates of Special Commendation may be awarded to nominated supervisors who demonstrate superior performance in supervision but who are not award winners.

    The Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Postgraduate Supervision Committee reviews all nominations and makes recommendations. The Committee comprises the Vice-Chancellor or nominee, the chair of the Research Graduate School Committee or nominee, a representative of the Monash Postgraduate Association, a staff member nominated by the Monash branch of the National Tertiary Education Union, a nominee of the Academic Board, and a previous award winner.

    Eligibility

    Nominated supervisors must be full-time members of academic staff, tenured or contract, with at least three years of current and continuous experience in the University at supervising PhD, Professional Doctorate, or research masters students, at the time of nomination. For staff whose supervision activity has been interrupted (eg maternity leave, secondments out, outside studies programs) while still being continuously employed by Monash, ‘continuous’ can be taken to mean a minimum total of three years supervision experience in the University.

    Previous award winners are not eligible.

    Nominations

    Each nomination must be made by at least four people. One nominator must be a current research student supervised by the nominated supervisor, and one must be an academic colleague who has at least 10 years experience at supervision. The remaining nominators may be past or present research students or colleagues. The Committee has no objection to faculties establishing search committees to approach supervisors for nomination.

    Self-nominations will not be accepted.

    Nominations must be received by Monash Research Graduate School, no later than 5:00pm Monday, 26 May 2008.

    Procedure

    1. Nominations must be submitted on the form provided here (pdf (17kb) or rtf (58kb)).
    2. The nominators will be asked by the Committee to provide a dossier of information about the scope and quality of their nominated supervisor's supervision. This dossier must be received by 5:00 pm, Monday, 23 June 2008.
    3. References from the nominated supervisor's Head of Department, and from three graduated research students whom the nominated supervisor has supervised, will be sought by the Committee as required.
    4. Referees cannot be nominators.
    5. The Committee will review the documentation for all nominated supervisors against the criteria as defined below.
    6. The successful nominated supervisor will be announced by the Vice-Chancellor at a special event to launch Research Month in August 2008.

    Dossiers

    The dossier must provide documentary evidence of the outstanding contributions to supervision made by the nominated supervisor. The Committee will expect the dossier to demonstrate the nominated supervisor's strengths against each of the four criteria defined below.

    The content should be clearly structured into four sections, each relating to one of the four defined criteria. Use the criteria labels from this information as the headings for each criterion section in the dossier.

    As indicated below, responsibility for the preparation of these dossier sections will rest separately with the nominated supervisor, one of the student nominators, and one of the colleague nominators.

    While reference can certainly be made to things like materials, products, or papers prepared by the nominated supervisor, there must however be no appendices or attachments to the dossier. It must be a stand alone document.

    Dossiers should not exceed 18 sides of A4 paper. They should be prepared using a 12 point Times Roman font, with normal character spacing (ie. not condensed) and single line spacing. Margins should be a uniform 25mm all around.

    Nominated supervisors and nominees are invited to contact MRGS for advice on how to compile the dossier.

    Selection criteria

    The Committee will decide its recommendations by comparing each nominated supervisor's dossier against the following criteria. The performances of nominated supervisors should be described in relation to each of these criteria, but it is important that such descriptions indicate how the nominated supervisor's supervision activities demonstrate excellence in relation to each.

    1. Supervisor as a teacher

    To be completed by the nominated supervisor

    This should focus on the supervisor’s enthusiasm for, commitment to, knowledge and understanding of the research student’s learning processes in the conduct of thesis research.

    Could be demonstrated by things such as:
    • effective approaches to guidance during the planning of research projects
    • structures established for ongoing interaction with students
    • timely reading and returning of student work with appropriate comments
    • critical analysis of student work
    • maintaining a balance between providing guidance and encouraging a student’s independence
    • fostering and facilitating the student’s development of academic skills and self direction
    • assistance with the student’s accessing of specialist expertise (eg statistics, computing, language)
    • successful interaction with students from other cultures
    • engaging in practices which are inclusive and supportive
    • arrangements made during supervisor absences

    2. Supervisor as a mentor

    To be completed by a current research student of the nominated supervisor, who is also one of the nominators

    This should focus on the supervisor’s commitment to and understanding of the student’s welfare.

    Could be demonstrated by things such as:
    • support and encouragement given to the student
    • assisting the student to establish and use networks with other students and academics in the field of study
    • availability to the student
    • provision of a sympathetic atmosphere
    • provision of conference and publication support for the student
    • use of grant funds to provide support to the student
    • knowledge of the University’s administrative processes relating to supervision (eg codes of practice, progress review, submission and examination, scholarships)
    • advice to the student on job contacts and possibilities

    Supervisor's track record

    To be completed by the nominated supervisor

    This comprises evidence of the supervisor’s practice and outcomes over the last five years ONLY. This section MUST include as a minimum:
    • numbers of all students supervised in the five years (indicate whether full or co-supervision)
    • student progression and completion rates, times to completion, results of examination (whether revisions or re-submission was required)
    • areas of study of theses supervised
    • employment and post-doctoral histories of graduated students

    Supervisor as a model

    To be completed by a colleague of the nominated supervisor, who is also a nominator

    This includes the supervisor’s enthusiasm for, and commitment to, knowledge and understanding of the student’s area of study.

    Could be demonstrated by things such as:
    • supervisor’s personal record of scholarship and research
    • supervisor’s ability to communicate his or her knowledge and expertise
    • publications record, especially jointly with research students
    • supervisor’s record of finding support for his or her personal scholarship and research
    • peer acknowledgment as indicated by journal editing experience, speaking invitations, invited chapters or articles
    • invitations and requests to be an external examiner
    • evidence of collegiality and team-work
    • evidence of open-mindedness on the knowledge interpretations of others
    The Committee may consult others for comment on any of the information presented in a dossier. Further, the Committee may decide to interview some nominators or nominated supervisors.

    Presentation of the award

    The award will be presented at a special event to launch Research Month in August 2008.

    Obligations of the award winner

    In the year following the award, the award winner and special commendation recipients can expect to participate in workshop sessions for the academic staff of the University. Further, award winners and special commendation recipients will be assisted in translating their dossier materials into a web-based presentation of their work, which will then be available to the broader University community via the MRGS website.

    The nomination form is available in pdf (17kb) and rtf (58kb) formats.