Being a supervisor of a master/ PhD. students is a part of major challenge in an academic world. Generally, we know that the research culture in Malaysia is still low compared to other developed countries. Before going through the philosophies, it is better to go through the problems of postgraduates studies that we are facing in Malaysia, especially in UTM.
- Research environment – facilities, services, networking
- Student background – financial,
I believe, it is very challenging to create an interesting research culture among postgraduate students in Malaysia. Although the number of postgraduate students are increasing day after day, the number of local students are still low compared to the international students intake. If we ask to the Malaysian undergraduate students on the reason on not continuing their postgraduate studies, they will reply that they want to have working experience. They felt bored and tired in their study life and they want to try something new. Looking forward to their answers, it is really important to create an interesting research environment in order to encourage the youngsters to pursue in postgraduate studies. Different from those days, students nowadays are very proactive. The students like an environment where they can go through, not only the theories but the execution in the real world application. Creating an environment of university-industry is an alternative. Hence, this will expose the students to the real working life and not limited to fundamental. Moreover, this will add the values to the students once they apply for work in the industry later. I hope that I am able to work towards this philosophy. To build networking, to initiate and establish an interesting university-industry friendly research environment (facilities and services).
Understanding the students ability with various background and characteristics leads to an excellent supervision. Another intention is to create a friendly relationship between supervisor-supervisee. The youngsters nowadays prefer a leader that is not just good at work but also good in their interpersonal skills. I need to develop my skills in order to act as a teacher and at the same time, as a counsellor, family member and a consultant.
As a teacher, I instruct supervisees in skill development and observe their counsellor-client interactions. As a consultant, I encourage supervisees to brainstorm alternative interventions and suggest possible alternatives. As a counsellor, I encourage supervisees to identify their own feelings in relation to individual clients and urge them to recognise and manage intense feelings as they occur within counselling relationships.
I continue to study and alter my supervisory skills as new research emerges. This is a field that is lacking overall in outcome assessment. The methods I have used and cited have strengths as well as weaknesses. My theoretical orientation is existential/humanistic. I help supervisees focus on their authenticity and skill development within a respectful, empathic environment. My belief that people have tremendous potential enables me to be optimistic about their possibilities of becoming effective counsellors, and I am very respectful of the role I play in their development.