Educational conditions for postgraduate research on human rights of marginalised groups in Uganda

Description

Postgraduate education has been recognised as a key to bring about societal change. While further capacity building is imperative in this regard in East Africa (Wao et al., 2022), we will in this study focus on how supervisors function as important role models to their students (Brodin et al., 2020). We assume that supervisors’ own approaches to societal change affect their supervisor relationships and practice, and hence also the potential scope of postgraduate students’ critical agency. Thus, in order to promote critical thinking and critical action in students’ development research, we firstly need to consider the conditions for their supervision.

The aim of this study is to explore how research supervisors in Uganda view themselves as agents of societal change within postgraduate education, and to depict how their supervisory relationships and practice are shaped by these views, according to their own experience.

Drawing on critical pedagogy (Brookfield, 1987, 2005; Freire 1970/2005), we are thus theoretically interested in research supervisors’ sense of societal agency in a developing country, such as Uganda, with its colonial history and deep respect for cultural traditions. For instance, it is well known that the supervisor-student relationship is traditionally characterised by a strong hierarchy in East Africa – which may prevent both supervisors and students from realising their full potential as critical agents of societal change.

Based on interviews with postgraduate supervisors from different faculties at a public university in Uganda, our results show how their sense of societal agency feeds into their supervisory practice (as reported by the respondents themselves). We will also share educational facilitators and barriers experienced by the supervisors in this regard. The results of this study are useful for capacity building in postgraduate education in developing countries – especially when it comes to supervisor training.