Who can be a supervisor?
The main supervisor must be:
- An internal permanent scientific employee.
- Responsible for familiarizing themselves with the master's agreement and approving it.
- Responsible for the project description.
- Responsible for the special curriculum and conducting the examination (if the student is to have a special curriculum) in accordance with the institute's regulations.
- Responsible for training the co-supervisor on how to supervise master's students and communicate at that level, if they have not supervised before at the institute.
The co-supervisor:
- Can be a permanent scientific employee, postdoc, or Ph.D. student.
- Can be external (collaboration with external national/international parties must be approved by the program council).
- Must approve the master's agreement.
- Should inform the student ahead of time, preferably at least one working day in advance, if they are unable to attend meetings, etc. This is especially important if they will be absent for an extended period, so that the main supervisor can take over.
The supervisor's responsibilities
The supervisor must:
- Become well acquainted with UiO's ethical guidelines for supervisory relationships as well as guidelines against harassment.
- Discuss with the student how active the supervisor should be regarding the formulation of the research question, design, choice of theory, data analysis, etc. The role of the supervisor concerning the selection and retrieval of literature should also be discussed.
- Offer the student at least 10 supervision hours in total per semester, distributed relatively evenly throughout the semester, and be well prepared for these meetings. Supervision should be of high quality.
- Encourage regular communication and continuity regarding the work on the master's thesis. During the first meeting between the the supervisor and student, they must discuss how the supervision time should be allocated. Should meetings be scheduled at regular intervals, and/or should the student contact the supervisor along the way to arrange supervision as needed? Some students may require close follow-up every week, while others may prefer to communicate every other week or less in the beginning but may need weekly meetings towards the end of writing their thesis.
- Discuss with the student how they wish to receive feedback. In the early stages of a supervisory relationship, it can be challenging to know what type of feedback is most constructive. However, it is important to discuss any expectations the parties have regarding this. Should feedback always be given in writing? Should it be provided before each meeting? Should the supervisor ensure that the progress plan is being followed?
- Develop a workplan with monthly and/or weekly goals and have regular meetings with the student throughout the period while the student is working on their thesis.
- Discuss and evaluate the setup, method, and execution of the investigation/analysis with the student, ensuring that it can be completed by the submission deadline.
- Read and provide detailed comments on chapter drafts at least once, but can themselves decide how extensive the review of revised chapters and the master's thesis as a whole should be.
- Stay informed about the progression of the student's work through supervision meetings and assess progress against the established timeline and workplan.
- Inform the student about any laws, regulations, and guidelines relevant to data collection, storage, and presentation of data, as well as any potential deletion or transfer of data.
- Notify the student promptly, at least one working day in advance, if they cannot attend meetings, etc.
- Inform the student as early as possible (even before the student chooses a topic) about planned absences of longer duration during the supervision period and notify them immediately if such absence becomes necessary. If extended absence might seriously hinder the student's progress, the supervisor must notify the program coordinator so that a new supervisor can be appointed.
- Contact the program coordinator if there is a need for significant changes to the master's thesis, or if there are grounds to implement measures such as changing topics or adding additional members to the supervisory team. If the communication with the student is not working properly, then they must seek advice from the study adm. in order to avoid a delay in student's progression and an escalation of the problem.
The master's student responsibilities
The master's student:
- Must ensure, together with supervisors, that the master's agreement, including the project description, is submitted by the deadline.
- Unless otherwise agreed, is expected to be a full-time student and attend meetings as scheduled, working steadily on the project throughout their studies.
- Must adhere to the approved plan as formulated in the agreement unless there are compelling personal or academic reasons to change it. This includes both the completion of selected curses and the plan for the research project.
- Must carry out the project in accordance with ethical research guidelines and comply with the laws, regulations, and guidelines, as well as contractual obligations related to the collection, storage, and presentation of data, and any potential deletion or transfer of data.
- Must discuss with their supervisor about the expectations on how they should prepare for supervision meetings, and how they would like to receive feedback from their supervisors. Should the student draft an "agenda" before each supervision? The student should also discuss their obligation to inform the supervisor about the progress of their work.
- Should be prepared for the supervision meetings. Lack of results and informing the supervisor about it is as important as when everything goes according to the plan.
- Must notify the supervisor(s) ahead of time, preferably at least one working day in advance, if they are unable to attend meetings, etc. This is especially important if the student will be absent for an extended period.
- Must contact the study adm. if the communication with the supervisory group is not working properly.
- Must become well acquainted with UiO's guidelines against harassment.