By Matthew Peake
Tuesday, January 24, 2023
On Friday 20th January 2023, the London Campus hosted its first engagement for DBA students for 2023. The event titled “Meet Chat Review” was an opportunity for doctoral students, their supervisors and representatives from the UWTSD Doctoral College to gather, give feedback, and look forward.
The morning started off with welcome refreshments where students and supervisors could meet and catch up. Opening remarks were delivered from the Executive Dean and Head of the London Campus, Dr Audsin Dhas. Soon after, Dr Mohamed Asim (DBA Part 2 Programme Manager) had the opportunity to give his review on the programme and highlight exciting and important updates.
Later in the morning, it was the chance for students and supervisors to give their feedback and experience on the doctoral journey so far. A worthwhile opportunity for their voices to be heard and discuss any issues, challenges and successes in an open forum.
An important session was also delivered by the UWTSD Doctoral College Board who gave an overview of how the DBA programme fits into the overall strategy for doctoral study at the University.
Finally, there was an opportunity for staff to respond to the feedback from the students and supervisors, as well as take note of the areas for improvement to continually enhance the student experience.
DBA Part II Programme Manager, Dr Mohamed Asim, said:
“This is the first engagement event for 2023 that brought in doctoral supervisors, students, doctoral college board, and faculty and staff. The event provided an opportunity for exchange of ideas especially on a programme of engagement for 2023 to improve and develop skills, gain confidence, broaden network of contacts and explore opportunities for research students. An important engagement to be launched is the research seminar series focussing on building and developing a culture of research at UWTSD.”
Nabila Jrida, Doctoral Student, said:
“As a DBA student, I really enjoyed this event as it was a good opportunity to network not only with students but also directly with other supervisors and programmes’ managers. Besides, the event was informal which gave me enough confidence to raise all the concerns and challenges that I have had throughout my journey at UWTSD. However, for more students to be able to attend in the future I would suggest hosting such an event on a weekend if that’s possible."
DBA Supervisor, Dr Gladius Kulothungan, shared:
“The Meet and Greet event for DBA supervisors and scholars held on the 20th of January was an excellent one where we got to meet fellow supervisors and heard from DBA scholars about the challenges they face and the kind of support that could be extended to them to make their research journey more productive and rewarding. The supervisors aired their views on the systems in place and how some of them could be improved. On the whole, it was very productive and collegial.”