An International Comparison of Doctoral Student Support Programs: Similarities and Differences Across National Contexts

• In Event: 75.046 - Designing Supportive Doctoral Learning Environments

Abstract

While abundant research has been conducted on the programs developed to support doctoral students in the United States (i.e., Holley & Caldwell, 2012), less attention has been paid by American scholars to doctoral student mentoring or support programs in other contexts or how these programs compare in terms of structure, intent, and funding mechanisms. The purpose of this study was to compare doctoral student support programs at two research universities, one in the United States and one in Turkey. Both programs sought to reach doctoral students from multiple academic disciplines through a range of activities. The similarities and differences between these programs reveals a great deal about how PhD programs are conceptualized around the world.

Authors

• Karri A. Holley, The University of Alabama

• Omer Caliskan, Middle East Technical University