"Research education" : a concept wider than postgraduate supervision?

Abstract

This paper promotes the argument that although conventional postgraduate supervision is useful to address the research skills and competences of postgraduate students, a wider perspective is nonetheless required to educate and train any researcher (including postgraduate students upon their entrée into the world of research) to comprehend the demands made by research and how best these demands can be addressed. It is in this context that a more comprehensive concept of research education is promoted. The argument is based on the perspective that methodological understanding alone is not sufficient to assist a researcher in meeting the expectations of a research project. Research education refers to the training of researchers to be responsive to the research value chain. This includes aspects such as the formal research process, the importance of research ethics and integrity regarding the research project, the imperative to promote scholarship in research and the application of research results through technology transfer, innovation and incubation. Research education sensitizes the researcher to look beyond the scope of the academic research project and to extend the research to activities such as technology transfer, innovation, commercialization and partnerships. The aim of research education is to promote the wide range of aspects contributing to the understanding of what counts as research and its application.