Supervision Guidelines
The supervisor-candidate relationship can be one of the most rewarding aspects of academic life for both supervisor and candidate. There is no single right way to supervise or to complete a PhD or MPhil thesis and the supervision relationship will usually change over time as the needs of the candidate and project change. There are, however, some hallmarks of most successful supervision relationships including: good communication; agreed standards; professionalism; consideration of the needs of the other party, and ethical behaviour.
The University has rules for supervision and PhD and MPhil candidature. These rules prevail over any of the comments made here. In particular, see the PhD handbook and the MPhil handbook - the current guidelines for students and supervisors are extracted below and on the Melbourne School of Graduate Research webpage.
The aim of the guidelines below is to assist supervisors and candidates in the Law School to develop a sense of what is required of each and to identify some common areas where problems have arisen in the past in the Law School. It was developed in consultation with graduate research candidates, supervisors, staff of the MLS Office for Research and the Melbourne School of Graduate Research, and the Law Research Committee.