Go beyond

“There are two aspects here to emphasize. First, my expectation as supervisor is that I am not confronted with the student as a typical researcher. My expectation is that the student has interest in the topic of research (and the topic to be researched). Second, I have the expectation that the student is willing to provide high quality. The drive to provide quality is a mindset that I expect. But the gap between what I can expect and what the result will be is massive.

This has consequences for how I will evaluate the thesis. As a supervisor, I have two options. First, I delegate the thesis to some extent. Or, second, I reframe my proposition and view the student by taking the approach a typical consultant would take. A consultant is a connector between scientific methods and the practice. If the student manages to reach the level of a consultant, he or she is already performing very well. If the student can go a bit beyond that level and show that they can apply scientific methods as per the current academic practice in research, so much the better.”

(Urs Jäger)