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The purpose of this study is to examine the benefits and challenges of simultaneously participating part-time in a doctoral program and teaching full-time in the K-12 classroom.

In this study, the author used autoethnography to examine the benefits and challenges she faced as a part-time doctoral student and full-time, public high-school English language arts teacher.

The findings included that managing finite personal resources such as time and mental bandwidth constituted a challenge while simultaneously existing in both worlds created a unique perspective derived from the knowledge, ideas and events in each world constantly prompting reflection on the other. Additionally, benefits – the synergy between research and practice – and challenges – the frustration that occurred when potential crossover faced resistance – resulted from the cross-pollination between studying and teaching. Finally, inhabiting both worlds ended up changing the author’s plans, raising questions about where to go upon finishing her degree.

Scant research exists about part-time doctoral students in general, even less research exists on part-time students who work full-time in any profession, and even less broaches teachers’ experiences teaching full time while in a doctoral program. Given the need for classroom realities to better inform research and policy, examining the possibilities regarding part-time doctoral programs for teachers holds potential for both practice and research to speak to one another.

This study aims to explore the motivation and satisfaction of part-time PhD students in the USA through the lens of self-determination theory (SDT).

Following an explanatory sequential mixed methods design, data sources consisted of a survey (N = 100) and focus groups (N = 20) of part-time PhD students.

Findings suggest that part-time PhD students achieve greater satisfaction when they are autonomously motivated. Part-time PhD student satisfaction may be increased through shifting motivation from an external to an internal locus of control, such as when doctoral work is framed within the context of solving practice-based problems. Facilitating this change requires those involved in the practice of research doctoral education to work toward satisfying students’ innate needs of autonomy, competence and relatedness with others, yet many part-time PhD students describe experiences within their doctoral education that do not meet these needs. Implications for research and practice are presented.

This paper tests the applicability of SDT, a widely used theory in doctoral studies, to part-time PhD students, an understudied student population in the USA.

Given declining tuition funds and government grants, Kenyan universities need to develop strategies, including increased research grants and collaborations, to diversify their income sources. Well-managed doctoral students can boost a university’s teaching and research outputs. However, numbers of students enrolled in doctoral programmes at Kenyan universities are low, and graduation rates and time-to-graduate statistics are disturbing. Research undertaken elsewhere underline the important role played by supervisors and peers in facilitating students’ sense of belonging and their success. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the influence of supervisory and peer support on PhD students’ sense of belonging and their success at Kenyan universities.

In this cross-sectional study, data were gathered through an online questionnaire from 614 students admitted to doctoral programmes at Kenyan universities between 2010 and 2018. We used multi-item scales to collect data on PhD students’ self-efficacy, supervisory and peer support and a sense of belonging.

Structural equation modelling results revealed that PhD students’ modes of study and self-efficacy were significantly associated with the quality of supervision, peer support and a sense of belonging. However, only age, a sense of belonging and the quality of supervision were directly linked to their success.

This study contributes to the literature on doctoral-level education, responding to the need for research on the influence of relationships with supervisors and peers on PhD students’ sense of belonging and their success, especially in developing countries.

This paper analyses teachers' perceptions of how teaching-learning approaches affect the development of higher education (HE) graduates' learning outcomes based on competencies development. The authors focus the analysis on Belarus, a post-Soviet country which transitioned from a centrally planned to a market economy and needs reforms to the HE sector there. In particular, Belarus requires HE graduates equipped with competencies that match the needs of a market economy.

The authors use Fostering Competencies Development in Belarusian Higher Education (FOSTERC) data to study how teachers contribute to the development of HE graduates' competencies, employing factor analysis to categorize 24 competencies and group the graduates into two groups: entrepreneurial or transversal. The authors also consider variables such as teachers' educational background and experience, predominant teaching field of study and university location – using regional dummies.

The results point to a lack of attention to entrepreneurial and transversal competencies and suggest a disconnect between HE and society needs in Belarus.

Although Belarus has introduced some changes to the HE system following the adoption of the Bologna process, Belarus, especially Belarus' national HE system are still influenced by the country's Soviet past, where universities prepare the students for participation on one job and one career, instead of offering more attractive and constructive curricula that would allow future graduates to operate in a changing world.

This study aims to advance the understanding on individual variations in PhD candidates’ personal interest in their doctorate and supervisory and research community support, and several individual and structural attributes potentially having an impact on the profiles.

The authors explored the interrelationship between personal interest – social support profiles, and nationality, gender, research group and study status and the risk of dropping out. A total of 768 PhD candidates from a research-intensive university in Finland responded to a modified version of the cross-cultural doctoral experience survey. Latent profile analysis was used to explore the individual variations in PhD candidates’ interest and support from the supervisor and research community.

Three distinctive PhD interest-social support profiles were detected; the high interest–high support profile (74.4%, n = 570), the high interest–moderate support profile (18.2%, n = 140) and the moderate interest–moderate support profile (7.4%, n = 56). The profiles exhibited high to moderate levels of research, development and instrumental interest. Individuals in the high interest–moderate support and in the moderate interest–moderate support profiles were more prone to consider dropping out from their PhD than in the high interest–high support profile.

The results indicate that by cultivating PhD candidates’ interest and providing sufficient supervisory and the research community offers a means for preventing candidates from discontinuing their doctorate. Hence, building a supportive learning environment that cultivates a PhD candidate’s personal interest is likely to reduce high dropout rates among the candidates.