Friends,

Been reading the thread with interest and pleasure. I find myself agreeing
and learning from everyone. I'm on my way to meet Can Ozcan at the
agribusiness design conference in Izmir -- and to collect the wooden spoons
he promised me if I came -- so I'll only take a minute to offer a few
thoughts.

1 Team supervising

Johann's post says so much that I'd only find myself writing a "me-too."
There's one issue I do want to give a special cheer, and this is the idea
of supervising in teams. All of us have special skills, and even the best
supervisors gain when they bring in colleagues to fill gaps. I am
co-supervising a doctoral candidate at the Norwegian School of Management
whose main supervisor is one of our most brilliant scholars. He is an
experienced supervisor with a strong record of successful supervising. Why
did he ask me to work with his student? Because I can bring new dimensions
and a second set of ears to the process.

Some programs emphasize team supervision. This was the case at
Staffordshire when David Durling built the doctoral program there, and it
is an idea that is growing in many places.

2 A better community

Rosan's suggestions are spot-on.

We DO need to find some constructive community approaches to help students,
and not just in bad situations. A good constructive program can help
students and supervisors in many schools, including the best schools.

This is such an important proposal that I'm going to shop it around among
some of the colleagues and societies that ought properly to be interested.
This process will take a few months. I will report back with ideas and
opportunities in September.

3 A list for doctoral students

Rosan suggested a list such as PhD-Design organized specifically as a
discussion list for doctoral students.

Others have floated the idea in the past. With the growing contingent of
doctoral students in our field, perhaps it is time to give this serious
thought.

Again, this is not difficult. It requires sponsorship and a list owner. I
am willing to accept the challenge of finding out "how and who." I will
report back on this within 30 days.

4 Fundamental skills for good research and good practice

Fil has written another post that is a "me-too" for me. In my view, the era
of research-based undergraduate education has arrived for all fields. As
Fil notes, though, there is no either-or here. Professional practice today
requires these skills to some measure in all fields. There is, indeed, a
spectrum of possibility.

As Fil suggests, each university ought to establish an articulate position
on that spectrum.

The original meaning of the word "university" is the guild of masters and
scholars. We are the university. Our job -- each of us -- is to reflect on
issues such as this, working to ensure that each of our schools accepts
these kinds of challenges, realizing them in action.

Off to Izmir for me.

Ken