Supervision
A student registered in the Graduate Programme is entitled to supervision by one (or more) suitably qualified staff member(s) of ITC.
It is not possible to be registered in the Graduate Programme unless a suitably qualified staff member has agreed to act as supervisor; and it is not possible to maintain registration if supervisor(s) withdraw and replacement(s) are not available. A suitably qualified staff members is one holding a PhD degree and with expertise covering all or part of the research topic of the graduate student.
The supervision entitlement is four hours per week on average for the duration of the registration period (subject to a maximum of four years). This not necessarily contact time (a supervisor needs to review the written work of the student) and the average takes into account that supervision may be more intensive at some times (fieldwork supervision, thesis finalization) than at other times. Supervision is not location-dependant; thus during a period overseas as part of studies under a sandwich construction, a graduate student is entitled to distance supervision.
Supervision may be provided by a single supervisor or distributed amongst a supervision team led by a senior supervisor. The composition of the team is usually based on complementary expertise, i.e., the expertise of the team covers the research topic of the graduate student.
The general content of supervision is agreed soon after registration of the graduate student between the graduate student and the senior supervisor in a training and supervision plan. Subsequent adjustments can be mutually agreed and made according to changing circumstances.
For graduate students registered to submit a thesis for the award of a PhD degree of a Netherlands university, the composition of the supervision team is partly influenced by the way the PhD examination is formally structured. It is usual to have a senior supervisor (or promotor-deisgnate because, at the time of the PhD examination, he is the promotor) and a daily supervisor (who, at the time of the PhD examination is the co-promotor); in some cases both supervisory roles are filled by the senior supervisor / promotor-designate, in others there can be two (joint) promotors-designate and/or two co-promotors-designate. Other staff members may also be involved in supervision without being formally involved in the PhD examination.
The promotor is a full professor with an (adjunct) appointment at a Netherlands university. Professors of ITC hold (adjunct) appointments at the universities of either Twente, or Utrecht, or Wageningen. By virtue of this appointment, the professor holds the ius promovendi or legal right to present candidates (promovendi) for examination (promotion) leading to the award of the university's PhD degree. The co-promotor has no comparable right; this position arises with the agreement of the promotor through the supervision contribution per graduate student.
A graduate student not content with the quality of supervision by a member of the supervision team should talk about the problem with his senior supervisor / promotor-designate. A graduate student not content with the quality of supervision by his senior supervisor / promotor-designate should talk to the Head of Research. The graduate student should recognize, however, that whilst it is sometimes possible to adjust the composition of the supervision team, it is not usually possible to change promotor-designate. If ITC is unable to offer supervision with which the graduate student is content, there may be no alternative to discontinuing registration.