Yesterday, I heard the most peculiar conversation between
two people. One of them, it seems, had either
moved jobs or left his job or perhaps retired- it was not exactly clear. The other person asked him what happened to
his PhD students at his former institute.
This person shrugged and replied, “I don’t know. They probably found someone else.”
His response made me wonder about the responsibilities of
advisors towards students. Should they
not even attempt to make alternative arrangements for their PhD students if and
when they move? In a lot of cases that
involve moving to a new institute, the student moves with the advisor. This requires a considerable amount of
paperwork if the student has a CSIR fellowship.
The new institute may have additional requirements for the PhD programme. But, these things can be managed.
If it is not possible to move, the student works with
someone else at the same institute. In
some cases, the new advisor also has similar research interests, or the PhD
supervision is done jointly with the former advisor so that the student can
continue to work on the same project.
But, I am also aware of many cases where students had to significantly
change their research plans. Nonetheless,
usually, students are not left out in the cold and alternate arrangements are
made with active involvement from the former advisor.
One would hope the students of the person mentioned above were
able to move to a new advisor and their programme was not disturbed too much.
But, his cavalier response made me wonder: If an advisor
leaves, who is responsible for their PhD students? The advisor or the
institute?
4 comments:
Formerly the institute. The degree is granted by the institute not by advisor. The advisor merely helps/guides/facilitate) student in his/her research (that was the original idea of PhD, it used to be a research quest of student, and not of advisor).
I had to go through a similar situation when my supervisor abruptly left his job. Though he did make arrangements for someone else to officially take over the supervisor position and he continued to help with my work unofficially, I remember those were the most nervous several months not knowing what's going to happen. Especially since those involved with making decisions were not forthcoming with information.
That's pretty atrocious. Perhaps it's the Institute's responsibility, but the professor's attitude is pretty lousy.
Formally it is the department/institute's responsibility to provide another supervisor to the student with similar research background. But this professor's attitude is really bad. It is the moral responsibility of a PhD advisor to guide the student until the completion of PhD as well as help with reference letters + prospective job opportunities till a few years after.
My PhD advisor moved to a different university during the last two years of my PhD. But he was always an email away about all the small queries I had during that time. He was even willing to talk to the staff in my university on phone when some documents were to be arranged and has been writing reference letters for my postdoc applications very readily.
Post a Comment