When a reply is received, most international students are then furnished with 'introductory packages' describing facilities available, general study obligations and support services. The professional experience and expertise of the supervisor is crucial in determining its success. In recognition of the need for more conscious management of this relationship, and the inherent difficulties of supervision, many universities in Australia are now providing support and development for supervisors. These programs typically identify a range of strategies and emphasise the need to adopt a flexible style of supervision which is appropriate for the individual student. At the same time, students need to be made aware of their roles and responsibilities and the need to articulate their expectations.
Supervision is after all a shared responsibility.
The implications of this are that relations between staff and students can no longer be built on a broad set of shared assumptions about attitudes to knowledge and approaches to learning. These assumptions are best clarified by both parties through the careful expression of specific expectations regarding their professional relationship. However, these forms may only focus on the quality of supervision they have been receiving and ignore other important information relevant to their experience such as outlined above. Unless an exit study is conducted, only specific information may be collected about the student-supervisor relationship, or about students' experience of administrative support structures. Institutional research on the experiences of international postgraduate students needs to be investigated from a number of perspectives.