ContentslistsavailableatTheInternationalJournalofManagementEducationjo - PDF document

1 ContentslistsavailableatTheInternational
ContentslistsavailableatTheInternationalJournalofManagementEducationjournalhomepage:www.elsevier.com/locate/ijme Enhancingcompletionratesofmini-dissertationsforaprofessionalmaster'sdegree:AnintegratedapproachLiezelMassyn Globalisationhasincreasedthemobilityofstudentsandthereforethestudentpopulationatinstitutionshasbecomemorediverse.Apartfromtraditionalfactorslikeculture,diversitynowextendstothestudents'academicbackground,theirreadinessforpost-graduatestudiesandtheirpersonalandprofessionalidentities(Parker-Jenkins,2016Allofthesechallengeshaveculminatedinanincreaseinthetimeittakesstudentstocompletemaster'sanddoctoralprogrammesCohen&Greenberg,2011;Donnelly&Fitzmaurice,2013;Moutonetal.,2015;Wright,2003).Themassivegrowthinpostgraduatestudentnumbershaschallengedhighereducationinstitutionsinmorethanonerespectandgovernmentshaveconcernsregardingthequalityofthegraduatesthataredelivered(McCallin&Nayar,2012Someofthesupportmechanismssuggestedintheliteratureonpostgraduatesupervisionincludealternativesupervisionmodelsandstrategiestomeettherisingdemandforsupervision.However,littleresearchonstructuredmaster'sandprofessionalpro-grammeshasbeendocumented(Cohen,2012).Thearticlefocusesonprogrammemanagement,supervisionandstudentengagement.Itusesacasetoillustratethechallengesandhowtheyweredealtwiththroughanintegratedapproachinaprofessionalmaster'sdegree(MBA).Inthisparticularcase,implementingthestrategieshasenabledmorestudentstocompletetheirmini-dissertations(compulsoryresearchprojects)withintheallocatedtime.Thestudyhasindicatedthatthechallengesassociatedwithcompletiontimesshouldbeaddressedfromthevariousroleplayers'perspectivetoachievethedesiredchange.Itprovidesanoverviewoftheobstaclestocompletionratesandstrategiesthatthepostgraduatesupervisionliteratureproposestoenhancetimelycompletion.Lastly,theintegratedapproachfollowedinthespecicprogrammeisexplained.2.ChallengesandstrategiesassociatedwithcompletionratesThehighereducationliteratureindicatesthatstudents'inabilitytocompleteprogrammeswithinsettimelinesisacomplexissue.Toobtainamoreholisticpicture,thechallengesassociatedwithtimelycompletionwillbediscussedfromtheperspectiveofeachroleplayer,namelythestudent,thesupervisorandtheadministrator(whoisresponsibleformanagingtheprogramme).Thediscussionisfollowedbyanoutlineofthestrategiesidentiedinthehighereducationliteraturetoaddressthechallenges.Thestudentperspectiveisanalysedrst,providingmorebackgroundaboutthechangingstudentprole.Itisfollowedbyananalysisofthechangingsupervisoryroleandlastlythemanagementofthepostgraduateprogrammeisscrutinised.2.1.FromastudentperspectiveMostofthestudentsenrolledinaprofessionaldegreeareworkingadults.RoetsandBotma(2012)indicatethatcompletionratesusuallydeclinetheolderthestudentgets.Asworkingadults,studentsdonotonlyhavetheirstudiestofocusonbutareexpectedtojugglevariousotherresponsibilities(Alam,Alam,&Rasul,2013Mouton(2011)rmsthepressureonstudents.Inthisstudy,39%ofmaster'sstudentsindicatedthattheyexperiencedchallengesassociatedwithpersonal,socialandfamilylife,whilealmosthalf(49%)ofthesestudentsindicatedthattimeconstraintsbalancingworkandstudiescontributedtotheirdecisiontodiscontinuetheirstudies.Thestruggletobalanceconictingresponsibilitiesandrolesputsstudentsatrisk.Studyingpart-timealsomeansthatthereislesstimeforsocialinteractionwithfellowstudents,whichmaylimitthesupportthattheycouldprovideeachother.Itcouldalsomeanlimitedtimetoattendadditionalnon-course-relatedactivities(Alametal.,2013).Studentsupportmechanismsshouldthereforebesensitivetotheuniquesituationofadults.Duetothelackofexposuretoresearchinmostundergraduatecourses,studentsoftenhaveanunrealisticideaofwhatthepostgraduateresearchprocessentails.Theyregarditasjustanotherbigassignment,likethestructuredmodulesthattheyareusedto,thereforeunderestimatingthetimeandcommitmentneededtocompleteadissertation.Theresultantinsucientplanningmakesthemfeeloverwhelmed(Lambert,2012;Lee,2008).Toassistwiththetimelycompletionofmini-dissertations,Lambert(2012)suggestsimposingdeadlinesforvariousmilestonesoftheresearchprocess.Studentsareusedtodeadlinesandthepressureofthecourseworkcomponentsandthiscouldassiststudentstocompletetheirresearchpr

2 ojects.Afurtherchallengeisthediverseacad
ojects.Afurtherchallengeisthediverseacademicbackgroundofstudents,whichimpliesanenormousvarianceinstudents'readinesstoconductresearchandwriteacademically.Zhoa(2001)proposesseminars,workshopsandfull-timecoursestoacquirebasicresearchskillsortoupdateresearchskills.Researchtrainingforstudentsrefersnotonlytothespecicinformationincludedintraditionalresearchmethodologycoursesbutalsogenericworkshopsontheliteraturereview,researchdesign,dataanalysistechniquesandwritingupoftheresearch(McCallin&Nayar,2012).Supervisionshouldfocusonbothstructure(aspectsrelatedtothemanagementofthemini-dissertation)andsupport,andmustbeexibleenoughtobeindividualisedaccordingtotheneedsofthestudentpo-pulation(McCallin&Nayar,2012Zeegers&Barron,2012).ThisimpliesanalysingandmeetingtheneedsofindividualstudentsZhoa,2001Thechangingstudentproledemandsthattraditionalsupervisionmethodsshouldbereconsidered.Thefollowingsectionfocusesthechallengesthatsupervisorsface.2.2.FromasupervisorperspectiveThestudent'srelationshipwiththesupervisorisoneofthemostimportantaspectsofsuccessfullycompletingaresearchprojectMcCallin&Nayar,2012).Thenatureofthesupervisoryrelationshiphaschangedovertheyears.Supervisorsnowhavetoplayerentroles(McCallin&Nayar,2012;Parker-Jenkins,2016),becausethetraditionalsupervisoryrolenolongermeetstheex-pectationsofstudents.Studentsexpectsupervisorstobeadvisers,coaches,mentors,guidesandqualitycontrollers.TheseL.Massyn expectationsputadditionalpressureonsupervisors,notonlyintermsoftime,butalsointermsofthecompetenciesneededtosupervisestudents.Inpractice,nosinglesupervisorcanfullalltheserolestomeetstudentexpectations(McCallin&Nayar,2012).Thetraditionalone-to-onesupervisionrelationshipshouldthereforebereconsidered.Whilesomeresearchersstilltrytoaddressshortcomingswithaone-to-onemodel,othershavemovedawaytowardamorecollaborativeapproach(Harrison&Grant,2015).Allocatingmorethanonesupervisortoastudentcoulddecreasethesupervisionload,butreceivingadvicefromdierentsupervisorscouldleadtocon-fusionamongstudents(Harrison&Grant,2015Theindividualsupervisorystylesofsupervisorsexacerbatetheconfusionamongstudents.Supervisorsvaryintheamountofinformationtheyshare.Whilesomesupervisorsgivedetailedfeedback(hands-onapproach),othersleaveproblemstothestudents,expectingthemtogurethingsoutthemselvesandassumingthattheyhaveexperienceinresearch(hands-oapproach)(McCallin&Nayar,2012).Studentsoftenfeelisolatedduringtheresearchprocessandwhentheydiscusstheirresearchwithpeersoralumni,theybecomeevenmoreconfusedduetothevarietyofopinions(Nordentoft,Thomsen,&Wichmann-Hansen,2013Whilesupervisors'stylesaredierent,justasvariouslecturershavedierentteachingstylesorpreferences,theliteraturein-dicatesthatresearchsupervisionisaspecialisedacademicskillandcanseldombefullyoutsourcedtopractitionersintheMcCallin&Nayar,2012Swanepoel(2010:136)pointsoutthatithasbecomemoreandmoreditoobtainandretainacademicsofqualityMcCallinandNayar(2012)statethatthereisaneedforfacultydevelopmentinsupervision.Facultymembersmustbemadeawareofdevelopmentsintheeldofsupervision,especiallythesupportmechanismsthatcouldbeutilisedandareavailableintheinstitution.However,thedevelopmentoffacultygoesbeyondtraininginsupervision.Itincludescreatingawarenessofpolitical,economicandpedagogicaldemandsandhowhighereducationisrespondingtothem,aswellastheimplicationsoftheseresponsesforsupervisorypoliciesandpractices.Peersupportisanothersignicantfactorthatcanassiststudentstocompletetheirresearch.Thenewersupervisionmodelsemphasisepeerinteractionasasupportcomponent,mostlythroughcommunitiesofpractice.Thecommunityofpracticefocusesonthesupportthatstudentsprovidetoeachother,throughthemediationofafacilitator.Suchsupportusuallyhelpstoinductstudentsintheacademiccontext,providessocialsupport,alleviatesfeelingsofisolationandtransformsknowledgethroughpeerinteractionDonnelly&Fitzmaurice,2013;Zeegers&Barron,2012Duetothechangingexpectationsandthewideskillsetthatisrequiredfromamodern-daysupervisor,alltheavailableresourcesandinfrastructureofaninstitutionmustbemobilisedtoaddresstheneedsofindividualstudents.Examplesincludecounsellingservices,creatingsocialgroupsinwhichstudentscansupporteachotherandregularcommunicationonwo

3 rkshopspresentedbyotherentitiesoftheinst
rkshopspresentedbyotherentitiesoftheinstitution,likepostgraduateschools,languagecentresandlibraryservices.Eachdepartmentshoulddevelopasupervisionmodelandsupportsystemwithintheirspecicinstitutionalenvironmentthatisacceptabletoallsupervisorstoensuretheirbuy-in(Parker-Jenkins,2016:12).Thesemechanismsshouldbeincorporatedasaformal,structuredpartoftheprogramme.Thenextsectionfocusesonprogrammemanagementchallengesfromanadministrator'sperspective.2.3.FromaprogrammemanagementperspectiveManaginganacademicprogrammeisacomplexprocessandinvolvesbalancingvariousfactors(McCallin&Nayar,2012).Thesefactorsincludetakingintoaccountandimplementinginstitutionalrequirementsintheformofpoliciesandprocesses,ensuringthatadministrativesupportisecient,mobilisingsupportmechanismsforstudents,ensuringfacultyreadinessforthechangingen-vironmentandmanagingthefacultyworkload,aswellasthedesignanddeliveryoftheprogramme(Aversa&McCall,2013;McCallin&Nayar,2012Givenallthesedemandsonadministrators,Moutonetal.(2015)warnagainstcreatingacomplianceculturethatjustwantstogetstudentsthroughthesystem.Moutonetal.suggestananalysisofthestudentproleandensuringthattheresourcesavailableintheprogrammeandinstitutionareinplacetosupportpostgraduatestudents.Thedesignofanacademicprogrammecaninuencethesuccessrateofstudents(McCallin&Nayar,2012).Theprogrammeshouldkeepinmindtherequirementsofvariousqualityassurancebodiesandcompetitors.Notallchallengescanbesolvedduringthesupervisionprocess;identifyingissuesthatcanbeaddressedearlierintheprogrammecancontributetoalleviatingthepressureonbothsupervisorandstudentduringthedissertationphase.Supportmeasuresthatarealreadyavailableintheprogramme,likeadministrativesupport,couldbefurtherextendedbasedonstudents'feedback(Aversa&McCall,2013Programmemanagershavetodealwithstashortagestogetherwiththeincreaseinstudentnumbers,anageingworkforce(theaverageageofaSouthAfricanacademicis59years)andinexperiencedyoungersupervisors(McCallin&Nayar,2012;Sonn,2016Younger,inexperiencedsupervisorsusuallyworkasco-supervisorsandarementoredandcoachedbyseniorsupervisors.Thiscreatesadditionalpressureonexperiencedsupervisorsandlimitstheircapacityforsupervisingstudents.Moutonetal.(2015)reportthatinastudyintheSouthAfricancontext,athirdofsupervisorsindicatedthattheyfelttheydidnotgivesucientattentiontostudents.Programmemanagersmustgivecarefulconsiderationtothecurrentworkloadofsupervisors,toensurethatsupervisorshaveenoughtimetoassiststudentswiththeirdissertations(Schulze,2012Furthermore,supervisorsatsomeinstitutionstendtoprefertosupervisefulldissertationsratherthanmini-dissertations,becausemini-dissertationsarenotcompensatedortakenintoaccountforworkdivisionorpromotionopportunities.Swanepoel(2010)indicatesthattheamountofworkthatgoesintoamini-dissertationisequaltotheinputforafulldissertation.Administratorsmustthereforemanageperformanceindicatorstogetherwiththecapacityandworkloaddivisionoffaculty.L.Massyn Thissectiondiscussedthelackoftimelycompletionfromtheperspectiveofthestudent,supervisorandadministrators.Strategiessuggestedintheliteraturetoaddresssomeofthechallengeswereindicated.Thenextsectionpresentsthecasestudyinwhichanintegratedapproachwasusedtosolvethechallengeofthelowcompletionratesofmini-dissertations.3.Anintegratedapproachtoenhancingcompletionratesofmini-dissertationsZeegersandBarron(2012)cautionagainstlistingproblemsandsuggestingsolutionsinaself-helpbookfashion.Theyargueforamultiplicityofpedagogies,whichincludescontent,teaching,studentlearningandthecontextoflearning.Regardingstrategiestoimprovethecompletionratesofresearch,Wisker(2013:208)cautionsagainstxesortemporarysolutions,insteadre-commendingstrategiesthataredevelopmentsinthecontextofsustainabilityTherefore,amultidimensionalapproachtodealwithchallengesatvariouslevelsshouldbeconsidered.Toidentifysustainablestrategies,oneshouldthinkwiderthanthestudentandsupervisor,althoughtheywouldstillformthefoundationofthestrategiesMcCallin&Nayar,2012).Thefollowingsectionprovidesapracticalillustrationofthewayvariousstrategiescanbeappliedtotheissueatdierentlevels.3.1.Backgroundtotheprofessionalmaster'sdegreeInabusinessschoolenvironment,studentsenrollforanMBA,whichisclassiedasaprofe

4 ssionalmaster'sdegreeinSouthAfrica.Aprof
ssionalmaster'sdegreeinSouthAfrica.Aprofessionalmaster'sconsistsofacourseworkandaresearchcomponent.Aresearchprojectisnotcompulsoryinsomeinterna-tionalMBAprogrammes.However,intheSouthAfricanenvironment,theMBAmustincludeeitheraresearchoratechnicalprojectinadditiontothecourseworkmodules(CHE,2014).WithaPhDprogrammeinmind,MBAstudentsintheparticularbusinessschoolreportedoninthisarticlehadtocompletearesearchproject,knowninthiscontextasamini-dissertation.Theadmissionrequire-mentsoftheprogrammeincludedthatstudentsmustbeatleast25yearsofageandhaveatleastthreeyearsofmanagerialworkexperience.Furthermore,thedegreewasonlypresentedonapart-timebasis,implyingthatallthestudentswereworkingadults.Theaverageenrolmentageofstudentsbetween2012and2016was36years;three-quartersofthestudentsweremale.OneoutofstudentswerefromneighbouringAfricancountries.InthisparticularMBAprogramme,studentscompletedthecourseworkcomponentoftheprogramme,buttheadministratorsnoticedthattheyweretakinglongertocompletethemini-dissertations.Agradualdeclineinthecompletionrateofmini-dissertationswithintheexpectedtimeframewasreported.Thistrendnegativelyaectedtheprogramme'sgraduationrate.andSpaulding(2014)indicateaglobaldoctoralgraduationrateof50%,whileRochford(inSwanepoel,2010)claimsthatonlyaquarterofstudentswhostartamaster'sdissertationundersupervisionwillcompleteit.Moreover,thesecompletionratesdonotnecessarilymeanthatstudentshavecompletedtheprogrammeintheprescribedtime.Moststudentstakelongerthantheprescribedtimeframetocompletequalications.ThegraduationrateinSouthAfricaisevenworse,withSonn(2016)indicatingagraduationrateof20%formaster'sgraduatesand12%fordoctoralgraduates.Theuniversityofwhichthebusinessschoolformsparthasamaster'scompletionrateof26%(IRR,2016),whichis6%abovethenationalaveragebutstilldoesnotmeetthebenchmarkgra-duationtargetof33%assetoutintheNationalPlanforHigherEducationof2001(HESA,2014Althoughsomeofthesupportsystemsidentiedintheliterature,suchasanacademiclanguageexpertandastatistician,andaccesstoonlinedatabases,wereavailabletostudents,theywerenotutilisingthem.Inthecourseworkcomponent,studentsreceivedassignmentswithdeadlines,andtheyusuallydidnotstruggletocompletethecourseworkcomponentsontime.However,theystruggledtomakeprogresswiththemini-dissertation.MostMBAstudentsdonotenrolltobecomeresearchers,buttoincreasetheirknowledgeandcompetenciesrelatedtomanagement,ortoenhancepromotionopportunitiesformanagementpositions.FewMBAstudentsareenthusiasticabouttheprospectofcompletingamini-dissertation,andforsome,thislackofenthusiasmcompromisestheirlikelihoodofgraduating(Morrison,2013Lambert(2012),workinginasimilarcontext,attributedthemainreasonforthedeclinetothefactthatstudentsenteredtheMBAprogrammefromvariousundergraduatedisciplines,withvaryinglevelsofexposuretoresearchmethodsandpracticalresearchexperience.Inaddition,students'academicwritingskillsdiLambert(2012)thetimingofidentifyingthetopicofthemini-dissertationasanotherfactorthatcontributestothefailuretocomplete.Alametal.(2013:875)pointoutthatthesuccessandqualityofpostgraduateeducationlargelydependsoneectiveandesupervisionofpostgraduatestudentsInthiscasestudy,whilethesupervisionrelationshipwasstillvaluedandregardedasthemajordeterminantofsuccess,additionallayersofsupportwereintroduced.Theintroductionofthevarioussupportstrategieswascarefully3.2.StrategiestoenhancecompletionratesFig.1providesasummaryofthestrategiesthatwereintroduced.Thereweretwomaingroups,thoseimplementedbeforeregistrationforthemini-dissertation,andthoseimplementedduringtheregistrationperiodofthemini-dissertation.Thepre-regis-trationstrategiesfocusedonprogrammemanagement,whiletheregistrationstrategiesimplementedduringregistrationwereaimedatstrengtheningthesupervisionmodel(tosupportthesupervisors)andchangingstudentbehaviour(tosupportstudentstocom-3.2.1.ChangesatprogrammelevelAsindicatedinFig.1,twostrategieswereimplementedintheMBAprogrammewhilestudentswereregisteredforthecourseworkL.Massyn component(beforeregistrationforthemini-dissertation),namelyformalisinginstitutionalsupportandredesigningsomemodules.3.2.1.1.Formalisinginstitutionalsupport.Thesupportsystemsalreadyavailableintheinstitutionwereoptimisedand

5 bothstudentsandsupervisorsmadeawareofthe
bothstudentsandsupervisorsmadeawareofthem.Toemphasisetheimportanceofthesesupportmechanismstostudents,shortworkshopswereincludedincontactsessionsinthecompulsorycourse,BusinessResearchMethods.Forexample,thelibrarianpresentedashortone-hourworkshoponhowtoaccesselectronicresourcesfromhome,andhowtosearchforcredibleinformation.Duringanothercontactsession,thestatisticianpresentedafour-hourworkshoponquantitativeresearch,andanotheronqualitativeresearch.Students'academicwritingwasassessedaspartoftheassessmentoftheproposalandanacademicwritingexpertpresentedaworkshoponkeyissues.Thisexpertwasavailabletohelpstudentsthroughouttheirstudies.Tofurtherhighlighttheimportanceofacademiclanguage,aproportionoftheirnalmarkfortheBusinessResearchMethodscoursewasforacademicwriting.Byincorporatinginstitutionalsupportinthecourseworkmodulesinamoreformalway,theimportanceofthesupportwasemphasised.Whenworkontheactualdissertationstarted,studentswerealreadyfamiliarwiththesupportmechanismsandcouldusethemoptimally.3.2.1.2.Redesigningmodulesthatcouldassistinlayingthefoundationforthemini-dissertation.Thestudentsenrolledforthemini-dissertationduringthelastyearoftheMBAprogramme.Tohelpthemtoidentifyatopicwellinadvance,theyhadtoenrollforBusinessResearchMethodsintheirrstyearofstudy.Duringtherstcontactsessionofthismodule,theywererequestedtoidentifypossibletopicsrelatedtotheirworkplaceandacademicinterestswithintheframeworkoftheMBAcurriculum.Theywereassistedinidentifyingsuitabletopics.Duringthesecondcontactsession,studentshadtopresenttheirchosentopicstotheclassforassessmentandwereguidedintermsofthefeasibilityofthetopics.Thenalassessmentofthemodulewastheresearchproposal.Insteadofctitiouscases,studentswereencouragedtousetheBusinessResearchMethodscoursetocompiletheirresearchproposalforthemini-dissertationbasedonanactualbusinesssituation.Althoughstudentscouldstillchangetheirtopicsbeforestartingworkonthemini-dissertation,theywerestronglyadvisedtousethetopicidentiedatthestartofthecourse.Basedontheirproposals,studentscouldasktoworkwithaspecicsupervisor,orasupervisorwouldbeallocatedtoastudentfortheirmini-dissertation.Thesupervisortookthisinitialproposalandreneditfurther.Inthisway,studentsreceivedcontinuoussupportindevelopingtheproposals.Theresearchmethodologyworkshopswerealsomorerelevantandapplicablebecausethestudentshadtoassimilatetheinformationandidentifythebestmethodologyfortheirspecicstudy.Theabove-mentionedinterventionstookplaceinthecourseworkphase,beforethestudentsregisteredforthemini-dissertation.Whenthestudentsregisteredforthemini-dissertation,additionalstrategieswereintroducedatsupervisorandstudentlevel.3.2.2.ChangesmadeatsupervisorandstudentlevelThreestrategieswereimplementedthatwereaimedatsupportingstudentswhileregisteredforthemini-dissertation.Thestrategytargetedthesupervisionmodel,whiletheothertwoprovidedsupportthatsimulatedelementsofthecourseworkcomponent.3.2.2.1.Changesinthesupervisionmodel.Managementpreferredaone-to-onesupervisionmodelforreasonsofaccountabilityandworkloaddivision.However,cohortsupervisionwasintroducedtoprovideanotherlayerofsupporttoenhancetheworkofthesupervisorandtoavoidrepetitionofthesameinformationbysupervisors.Incohortsupervision,studentswhostartedatthesametimeweretaughttogetherastheyprogressedthroughtheacademicprogramme.Theadvantageofthisapproachisthatitsupportsbothsupervisorandstudent(VanBiljon&DeVilliers,2013).Thesupervisorisstillthesubjectexpertandmakesthenaldecisions Before registration for mini-dissertation Redesigning modules Formalising institutional support During registration of mini-dissertation Changes in the supervision Introduction of time-management strategies Follow-up mechanisms Fig.1.Summaryofstrategiesthatwereintroduced.L.Massyn regardingthestructureofthemini-dissertation,butthecohortsupervisionsavestimeforindividualsupervisorsbyprovidingadditionalsupporttothestudents.Duringthecohortsupervisionsessions,allstudentsreceivedthesamegenericinformationonwhatwasexpectedinthevariouschapters.Fiveworkshopswerepresented,outliningtostudentswhatwasexpectedatthevariousstagesoftheresearchprocess.Thesesessionswereusedtomotivatestudentsandtoprovideinformationontheprocess.Theyals

6 olledthegapsforstudentspairedwithsupervi
olledthegapsforstudentspairedwithsupervisorswhohadamorehands-oapproach.Studentsfeltthatthesameinformationwassharedwitheveryone.Theworkshopswerepresentedbytwosupervisorswhousedateamteachingmodelsothatstudentscouldgetasenseofthevarietyofapproachestoconductingresearch.Afurtheradvantageoftheworkshopswasthatitcreatedsocialsupportamongthestudents.Notonlydidtheydiscusstheareasthattheystruggledwith,buttheyalsoencouragedeachotheranddidnotfeelasisolatedaswhentheyworkedalonewiththeirsupervisor.3.2.2.2.Timemanagementstrategies.Toenablethestudentstocompletethemini-dissertationontime,itwasbrokendowninsmallermilestones.Mostofthestudentsfollowedthetraditionalresearchmodelwhenwritinguptheirresearchandthechaptersofthemini-dissertationwerethereforeusedtocreatemilestones.Studentshadtosubmitcertainchaptersatcertainduedatesthroughouttheyear.Anumberofdraftversionsofthechaptershadtobesubmittedtosupervisorsforfeedbackbeforetheduedates.Tofurtheremphasisetheimportanceoftheduedates,ruleswereintroduced.Ifstudentsdidnotsubmitontheduedates,theycouldnotcontinuewiththemini-dissertationforthatyear.Inordertoensurethatallstudentswereinformedofthis,aguidelinedocumentwascompiledandpresentedtoallstudentswhentheyregisteredforthemini-dissertation.Thetimelinecouldbeusedbyindividualsupervisorsasastartingpointtoclarifyexpectations,anditassistedwiththedevelopmentofaresearchtimeframeandactionplanZhoa,20013.2.2.3.Follow-upmechanisms.Toensurethatallstudentsreceivedfeedbackfromtheirindividualsupervisorsonacertaindate,thesupervisorsalsoreceivedsetdateswhenmarksfortheindividualchapters(dierentmilestones)hadtobeprovidedtotheadministrativeoce.Administrativesupportstausedthesemarkstomonitorstudentprogressandfollowupwithsupervisorsifstudentsdidnotsubmit.Thesupervisorscouldusetheirdiscretiontograntanextensiontoastudentwhohadmadeprogressbutforsomereasoncouldnotsubmitontime.However,thenalsubmissiondateforthecompletedmini-dissertationwasnon-negotiableasitwasadatesetbytheinstitution.Theimplementationofthestrategiesaspartofanintegratedapproachwasmonitoredfromitsinception.Theintegratedapproachwasintroducedin2014andresultedinanincreaseintimelycompletion,fromanaveragecompletionrateof43.9%for20112013to81%for20142016(intheprescribedtimeof1year).Table1indicatesthecompletionrateofmini-dissertationsintheMBAprogrammebetween2011and2016.4.ConclusionEnrolmentinpostgraduatestudieshasincreasedsignicantlyandhasledtochallengesassociatedwiththecompletionrateofdissertations.Theliteratureidentiesawiderangeofstrategiestodealwiththesechallenges.Becausethefactorsinuencingthecompletionratesofadultstudentsaremultidimensional,thesupportstrategiesmustalsoaddressthesefactorsfromdierentper-Thearticleusesacaseasanexemplartoindicatehowchallengesassociatedwiththelowcompletionrateofmini-dissertationscouldbeaddressedwiththeintegrationofvariousstrategies.Themostimportantaspectofthecompletionofadissertationisthestudent'srelationshipwiththeirsupervisor,whichshouldthereforeremaincentral.Theone-to-onesupervisionrelationshipcanbeenrichedbyseverallayersofsupportstrategies,rangingfromprogrammetoinstitutionalsupport.Carefulconsiderationshouldbegiventothemostappropriatetimetointroducethesupportmechanisms.Inthecaseofastructuredprogramme,somestrategiesshouldbeintroducedevenbeforethedissertationstage.Thereisnoone-size-ts-allstrategythatcouldeliminatethechallengesassociatedwithcompletionrates.However,thelayeringandtimingofstrategies,andoptimisingwhatalreadyexistsinthevariousentitiesofaninstitution,canassistincreatinganin-tegratedsupportapproachtoaspecicprogramme.Furtherresearchcouldspecicallycorrelatebiographicalfactorswithcompletionratesandexploretheutilisationoftheonline Table1Completionratesofthemini-dissertationinpercentages.2011201220132014201520161year53.335.542.977.577.6882years80.074.267.285.079.33years93.393.672.94years1001008.612.55.23Nocompletion18.52.515.59N303170405834L.Massyn environmenttocreatecommunitiesofpractice.Thiswillenhancepeersupportwithoutputtingmoretimepressureonsupervisorsandstudents.Thecaseindicatesthatacustom-madeapproachtothechallengesoftheprogrammecouldleadtopositiveresults.Theissueofcompletionratesismultifacetedandneedstobehandledinamul

7 tifacetedyetintegratedapproach.Disclosur
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