The International PhD student journey.

Abstract

Realising the growing diversity of post graduate researchers in the UK, this article aims at shedding light on the complexities of the research journey for international students by analysing and interpreting the cultural assumptions embedded in the PhD process. This study uses the researcher as the phenomenon under investigation which is the essence of auto-ethnographical research. Auto ethnography is a reflexive genre of writing that could help us understand a larger cultural pattern. It is used in this study to reflect on some of the researcher’s challenges throughout her PhD process focusing on the supervisory role in providing academic and non academic support. It was apparent that, cultural assumptions shape students’ expectations and pose challenges on the student-supervisor relationship. Except for supervisors’ initiatives, nothing was done by universities in order to prepare supervisors to cope with these culture-related challenges.