Postgraduate Research Student Supervision Part One: PGR Student Life-Cycle Role and Responsibilities of Supervisors (and students) Standards, Regulations, Policies and Quality Assurance Peter Heard

Guidance, Support, Montoring & Reporting Student Lifecycle Guidance, Support, Montoring & Reporting Initial Enquiry Application Admission & Enrollment Research Support Progression, Submission & Award

Role and Responsibilities of Supervisors  Project-Specific Support  General Academic Support  Mentoring (pastoral support) Supervisory support should always reflect the individual needs of the postgraduate researcher and the context of their study

Project-Specific Support Guiding the overall direction of the researcher’s research work Holding formal supervisory meetings: held at least monthly agenda notes of the meeting should be taken (signed copies kept by supervisor and student) providing constructive feedback agreed actions (should be regularly available for informal discussions also: within a week) Giving guidance and training on: advising the student on their and their supervisor's role and responsibilities planning of the research standards expected literature sources research techniques publication of results intellectual property rights health and safety, and ethical considerations plagiarism

General Academic Support Regulations, Policies and Procedures Admissions; enrolment; progression Completing and submitting forms Information about the University, Department and Programme Mentoring Personal development Personal advice and guidance Careers guidance

Students’ Responsibilities Know the requirements of their degree programmes Take initiative, and assume responsibility, for their own progress Act at all times in a professional manner, and comply with all University regulation and guidelines Agree the goals and scope of the research project with their supervisor Set and keep to timetables and deadlines, including the submission of required work Be open and honest about progress, and inform their supervisor of any factors that are affecting their progress Maintain regular contact with their supervisor, including when away from the University Agree a schedule of meetings; attend all scheduled meeting Take account of guidance and feedback from supervisors Agree planned absences, such as holiday arrangements in advance to the supervisor Make full and appropriate use of the study and research facilities provided Actively participate in training and development opportunities agreed with the supervisor Maintain a proper and professional relationship with the supervisors and other University staff and students Keep appropriate records of their research, of their research and professional development, and of formal meetings with supervisors

Regulations, Code of Practice, Quality Assurance Procedures  Key Reference Documents:  MQA Standards: Masters and Doctoral Degrees by Research  MQA Programme Standards  Sunway University Academic Regulations for Postgraduate Programmes  Student Resource and Lifestyle Guide  Research-specific policies and procedures Student (and parents) expectations are rising Students are (arguably) taking less responsibility for their work Plagiarism, appeals, mitigating circumstance and complaints are all increasing

MQA Standards Document(s) provide guidance on the minimum standards expected in relation to the governance and management of programmes, including such areas as programme design and deliver, admissions, progression and assessment, and programme monitoring and review etc. Basic and Enhanced standards: Sunway aims to meet the enhanced standards! Programme Standards documents set out more specific standards expected for particular programme areas. PGR Supervisor should be aware of the key elements of the Standards Available from www.mqa.gov.my

Sunway Academic Regulations Presently two sets of Academic Regulation: for Undergraduate and for Postgraduate programmes Academic Regulations for Postgraduate Programmes are available from the Research and Enterprise Office Supervisors must be familiar with all relevant academic regulations and ensure that they and their students are, at all times, compliant

Student Resource and Lifestyle Guide Provides useful information to student on Sunway and their academic life in Sunway Incudes information and guidance on: academic matters, such as fees, enrollment, facilities and resources etc. special information for international students student rights and responsibilities appeals complaints and grievances discipline and misconduct

Research-specific policies and procedures Code of Practice for the Ethical Conduct of Research Research Governance and Integrity Policy Health and Safety Policy Intellectual Property (HR policy) Internal Grants Scheme Conference Support (for staff) Conference Support (for students)*

Code of Practice for the Ethical Conduct of Research All research must be receive ethical approval before any data is collected Ethics approval is given by the Research Ethics Committee (Chair Professor Nigel Marsh) The PI (Supervisor for PGR projects) is responsible for ensuring research is carried out ethically Applying for ethical approval: Write to chair of ethics committee requesting approval (a short form, available form the committee chair, will need to be completed) Projects requiring no special consideration will normally be approved by return Projects involving human or animal subjects or that may pose a reputational or other indirect risk will be considered by the full committee Collaborative research that has been previously approved by an approved ethics committee (e.g. from another recognized university or research institute) will not normally need to be reviewed again, but researchers must provide evidence of prior approval

Research Governance and Integrity Sunway expects that all research carried out by its staff, or otherwise on its behalf, is conducted to the highest international standards with complete integrity All research must be conducted in accord with the University Research Governance and Integrity Policy Supervisors must ensure that they and their student are compliant at all times Includes the requirement to adhere to all relevant external regulations, policies and guidelines (e.g. Biosafety regulations)

Intellectual Property Under the Sunway Intellectual Property Policy, the University asserts that all IP created or developed by its staff in the course of their duty of work belongs to the University, unless it is otherwise agreed (includes course and teaching materials, and software) The same applies to students (they sign over their rights on signing the enrollment papers!) The ownership of IP generated through work carried out in collaboration with colleagues at other universities or funded through external grants must be agreed in advance (usually a very straight forward process) Staff are expected to take reasonable and appropriate steps to protect commercialisable IP, including any generated by students during the course of their project Any profits will be share with the creators (creators get 1/3 of any net income in total); it should be agreed in advance what the distribution of those profits should be between co-investigators, including students) The University may, from time-to-time waive its right to IP ownership The Policy can be found on Vine (HR pages)

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