Navigating Graduate School: Supports for and Barriers to Thriving

• In Event: 66.041 - Graduate Students: Surviving and Thriving in Higher Education

Abstract

The purpose of this mixed-methods study is to investigate/understand the supports for and barriers to graduate student thriving at a mid-sized Canadian university. While few scholars have investigated thriving in the undergraduate context, there remains a dearth in knowledge about the factors that influence thriving for graduate students. Participants identified elements, events, and experiences within themselves, their relationships, their department/faculty, the institution, and the local community that promoted or hindered their ability to thrive. These results indicate that graduate students’ thriving is continuously shifting across a spectrum due to multiple interconnected layers of supports and barriers. This research is foundational in untangling the complexities of thriving in graduate studies and presenting a more holistic understanding of a thriving graduate student.

Authors

• Nadia S. Arghash, Queen's University

• Eleftherios Kyprianos Soleas, Queen's University

• Heather Coe-Nesbitt, Queen's University

• Anoushka Moucessian, Queen's University - Kingston