Collaborative transnational doctoral education: Insights from a Philippines-Australia partnership

ABSTRACT

This paper describes the experiences of doctoral candidates involved in the first year of a transnational research training partnership between Australia and the Philippines. It aims to ascertain how the partnership model of the programme has been perceived by doctoral candidates, and to understand its associated benefits and challenges. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with the six candidates enrolled in the programme, revealing five key themes: the importance of place, of planned face-to-face interactions, of diversity in research cultures, managing distance communications, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The consideration of these themes led to two key conclusions. First, in the online context, interpersonal relationships with and between supervisors and programme administrators provided a trusted reference point that became part of the candidates’ sense of belonging. Second, that the treatment of the candidates as a cohort was crucial to their wellbeing and progress in the first year of candidature.

KEYWORDS:

• Doctoral education
• research supervision
• transnational education
• student experience
• researcher development

Acknowledgments

We would like to acknowledge all the candidates, supervisors, coordinators and others involved in the AdMU-LTU partnership for their respective contributions and vision. This research was supported by a La Trobe University Transforming Human Societies Research Focus Area collaboration grant (2020). Ethics approval was provided by the La Trobe University Human Ethics Committee (ref. HEC20030).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Dan Bendrups

Dan Bendrups is Senior Lecturer in Research Education and Development in the Graduate Research School, La Trobe University where he provides professional development for graduate researchers and their supervisors. His research encompasses various aspects of graduate research and supervision, especially with regard to the experiences of international doctoral candidates.

Anne Lan K. Candelaria

Anne Lan K. Candelaria is Associate Dean for Graduate Programs and a member of the Department of Political Science of the Ateneo de Manila University - Loyola Schools. She has twenty years of experience in policy reform and leadership engagement in basic and higher education in the Philippines, working with local governments, school communities and other agencies.

Trevor Hogan

Trevor Hogan is Adjunct Senior Research Fellow in School of Humanities and Social Sciences, La Trobe University. He was the inaugural Director of the Philippines Australia Studies Centre, La Trobe University (2003-2020). He works in social theory, historical sociology, cultural sociology with a special interest in Asia-Pacific urbanisms.