What is a supervision
Supervisions are arranged by Colleges. Supervisions are focussed teaching with a teacher and a small groups of students (normally in groups of two or more, and occasionally as a one-to-one).
Please note that a supervisor may not offer more than the expected number of supervisions in a term without the agreement of the appropriate director of studies and senior tutor (who has overall responsibility within a college for overseeing the education, health and welfare of a college's students).
The frequency of supervisions depends on discipline conventions: usually they take place once a week or once a fortnight.
Given the supervisor-to-student ratio, supervisions provide excellent opportunities for learning, and they are something of which the University is justly proud.
The supervisors are frequently senior staff members, but in some cases may be experienced freelancers or trained graduate students.
There is, of course, considerable variation in practice between supervisions and among supervisors. In general, however, a supervision:
- lasts around one hour
- provide an opportunity for students to seek further explanation of something not understood in lectures or practicals
- provide an opportunity for students both to discuss specific issues related to the subject of the supervision and to explore more general questions to widen their knowledge of the subject area.