Why Is It Difficult To Change Supervisor

As an important part of higher education in China,graduate education plays an indispensable role in talent training.As the first responsible person of postgraduate training,the supervisor plays a key role in the growth and development of postgraduate students.The match between postgraduate students and their supervisors will have a certain impact on their academic interest,academic performance,and the relationship between postgraduate students and their supervisors(hereinafter referred to as postgraduate-supervisor relationship).This study takes graduate students to change their supervisors as the starting point,and uses qualitative research methods to conduct in-depth interviews with 17 research subjects.A total of 195,000 words of recorded transcripts are formed for the study.On the basis of preliminary coding of the transcript of the interview,in-depth analysis of the data was made through the method of combination of context and category analysis to clarify the research topic and the context of the written text.First of all,the process of a postgraduate student and her supervisor’s acquaintance,understanding and separation is presented in the form of a narrative,so as to have a more complete grasp and understanding of the reasons and processes for postgraduate students to change their supervisors in a specific context.Then,it shows why postgraduate students want to change their supervisors and why it is not easy to change supervisors in a horizontal way through narration.The results show that: lack of interest in the supervisor’s research direction,the mismatch between the learning style and the supervisor’s guidance style,the lack of effective guidance from the supervisor and the supervisor’s moral character are the important factors leading to the change of the supervisor.The main reasons for the above problems are the irrational choice and the tense relationship between postgraduate students and their supervisors.The reasons for the difficulty in changing supervisors lie in the following aspects: the dignity of teachers in traditional culture,the restriction of human feelings and face,the imperfection of the system of changing postgraduates’ supervisors,the limitation of the planned enrollment system and the imbalance of power between postgraduates and supervisors.Through further integration and analysis of the above findings,it can be concluded that the institutional environment and the postgraduate-supervisor relationship reflect behind the change of supervisors.The institutional environment problems at the macro level case the alienation of the postgraduate-supervisor relationship at the medium level,and the alienation of the postgraduate-supervisor relationship may induce the change of the supervisors at the micro level,which embody the operating logic of "institutional space-interpersonal relations-action strategy".Based on the analysis and reflection of the relationship between the institutional environment and the postgraduate-supervisor relationship problem,this study tries to put forward the improvement ideas from the following aspects: Firstly,improve the interaction environment between supervisors and postgraduate students.To create a good academic environment,change the "only scientific research" academic evaluation guide,provide enough research funds for teachers and students,and set up special teacher-student exchange field;Secondly,reform the tutorial system for graduate students.Perfect the system of supervisor selection,evaluation and supervision,establish a more scientific and reasonable two-way mutual selection mechanism,establish and improve the system of supervisors’ change;Third,improve the graduate training system.Revising the publishing system of graduate thesis and strengthening the protection of the legitimate rights and interests of graduate students;Finally,enhance the knowledge and understanding of the role of both teachers and students,and on this basis to strengthen the communication and exchange between supervisors and postgraduate students.