Hi Folks,

Thought some you might find the appended article interesting....especially
students.

Cheers,
        Madiba.
-----------------

               ........ A STITCH IN TIME ..........


GENESIS
'Experience is the best teacher' is a popular saying which makes meaning
only when you have gone through a problem or have first hand information
from individuals with unique experiences.  What follows below is not based
on personal experiences alone but also on the experiences of other Nigerian
postgraduate students in Australasia and the UK within the last few years.
Normally very few Nigerians find their way to study or work in the Pacific
regions.  Somehow there is a growing statistics on the nature of harrowing
experiences in the hands of Postgraduate Supervisors which makes one wonder
whether the problem is Nigerian or world wide.  My stint as a lecturer and
the time spent working in a research institute has provided added
information to realise that the experiences being described below are not
uniquely Nigerian.  But Nigeria is my domain, my interest and my home.  I
will therefore limit this discourse to mostly Nigerians.  I will not discuss
the situation as it obtains in Nigeria (most of us know it), but rather as I
find among Nigerians abroad.

Have you ever wondered why that classmate whom you used to beat or used to
beat you all the time in both secondary and the undergraduate level fails to
complete his or her postgraduate studies, either at all or on time?  While
there are ample reasons to suggest that finishing a postgraduate course on
time and at all can be correlated with ones ability in the subject area,
there is growing statistics pointing to the fact that other strong reasons
impact upon the completion of one's postgraduate course.  I will not spend
time analysing issues related to ability, but rather those involving
relationships within the university, with one's supervisors and with fellow
students.


ACADEMIC PROBLEMS OR RELATIONSHIP PROBLEMS?
A few years ago, a friend of mine went to the UK for his PhD course, through
the commonwealth  scholarship, a job was waiting for him at home paying
something to his account every month.  Many of his friends wished they were
in his shoes.  Years past and stories started to emerge that he would not be
finishing his course after all.  He was disagreing heavily with his
supervisor and petitions were flying back and forth in his campus.  While he
accused his supervisor of racism, he accused him of incompetence and
insorbordinatiion.  In situations like this, something must give and someone
will lose out.  My friend did and returned home without a certificate, and
also lost his job as a lecturer in Nigeria.  Of course the British
supervisor may have had his reputation dented, but kept his job.  Questions
were asked without answers.  Why would a person who is racist agree to
supervise a black student?  To fail him and to make him appear incomptent?
Why were other black students doing well under him?

Eight years ago, a Ugandan student in an Australian campus was having
problems with his supervisor. He started out as a Master's student and
upgraded to PhD.  Being a social science course, he was required to collect
data using a series of questionaires, which he did.  He wrote the draft for
his PhD thesis and everytime he submited a draft, it came back with red inks
everywhere and new requests for re-writing.  Eventully, the flip flop effect
took two years off his time, the supervisor informed him, he would only
submit the thesis for an MSc degree, not a PHD!  The University sent a
notice of "Explain why your candidature should not be discontinued".  He
tried and gave reasons why his supervisor was the problem.  He accepted
advice to desist from accusing or being confrontational with the supervisor
and to allow someone else read along and edit the thesis with him.
Eventually another African student agreed to read the draft for him and to
help re-write it.  It turned out he actually had real problems.  The data
collected were inadequate.  He was obviously verbose in the thesis, which
means, the thesis was at least 700 pages long.  While he thought the number
of pages is evidence of productivity, the supervisor correctly thought it
was weakness in English and writing. In many places he was repetitive.  It
took another 6 months to re-write the thesis, a suspension of his
scholarship, high blood pressure and a wife who also was threatening to
leave him or start her own studies.  She had waited too long for him to
finish for her to start hers!  He eventually got the thesis submitted for a
Phd and passed after 7 years of full time PhD studies!

"My supervisor is sexist, hates women and above all me, because I would not
...." Miss X complained to a fellow Nigerian.  "My supervisor is punishing
me because he comes from tribe B and I from tribe A", moaned a Nigerian male
postgraduate student in a foreign country to another Nigerian. Apparently,
the Nigerian lecturer felt he had a duty to supervise another Nigerian and
to see him finish on time. The student wanted to report him to the
University authorities because "he is punishing me for the problems his
tribe has with mine at home"!  Luckily for him, the Nigerian he complained
to advised him not to be confrontational with his supervisor but to discuss
the issues involved face to face with the supervisor.  At the same time the
supervisor was also having problems with his undergraduate students, which
means the issues involved are not really because both of them come from two
different tribes.  Eventually the problems got to the chair of the
department who had a lengthy discussion with the lecturer.  Their
relationship improved and he latter confirmed that the supervisor had
improved.  It did turn out that the supervisor also thought the student was
incompetent and not progressing well, and he wanted to ditch him.

Student Y was ditched by his supervisor because, he wanted to send an
abstract for a conference and the supersivor thought it better to write the
paper for a journal.  The student thought it was his right to publish his
work with or without the supervisor's consent.  He sent the abstract for the
conference with the name of the supervisor as a co-author.  The abstract was
accepted and he rushed with joy to let the supervisor know that the abstract
went through.  The supervisor was red-faced and ordered the student to do
three things: first to remove his name as a co-author should the student
insist on publishing it, secondly to remove the name of the university as
the source of the paper and thirdly to withdraw the paper if the student
wants him to continue to be his supervisor!  As usual the student complained
and accused the supervisor of intimidation and not being a good supervisor.
For some students, the saving grace is always close by.  For this student,
the saving grace came from a Nigerian lecturer in the University who advised
him to do what the supervisor said.  He obeyed and eventually got the paper
published in a journal as the supervisor initially advised.  Most
supervisors are genuine in their intentions towards their students.  Many
want to see their students do well.  The success of a student isthe success
of the supervisor, advancement of his career and the image of the
university.  Why would a person agreee to supervise you only to record in
his resume that the students he had supervised failed?  No one wants to do that.

Relationships between supervisors and students determine to some extent why
some so-called 'not good students' finish their PhDs and your friend who
bagged a first class could not.  A good supervisor is a peer, someone to
look up to.  Someone who wants to transfer knowledge and build his or her
own carbon copy in this student.  Many supervisors are concerned and worried
when their students do not have funds to live on, and most would find the
means to provide the funds for the students.  Others go a long way to not
only guide but tutor the student towards achieving the objective.  In all
cases, the PhD is yours.  The MSc research is yours.  The supervisor is
there to guide, and mould the individual and to act in an official capacity
on behalf of the university.  Most supervisors that I know outside Nigeria,
go beyond those requirements.  As a private student, my supervisor gave me
jobs within the department to help me raise money for my fees.  I know many
other students whose supervisors did more than this for them.  Some kept
their PhD graduates as Research Fellows.  Others gave them teaching
positions and build lasting relationships with their graduates.

In every situation in life, there are obvioulsy the odd ones out. A Ghanian
student was offered a university scholarship with a Nigerian which convered
stipend only.  They were the only recipient of the scholarship from Africa
for that year. The Ghanian student was obviously lucky that the Ghanian
government supplemented his scholarship to cover fees which then stood at
$7000 (Australian dollars annually) but later grew to $9000 by the time they
finished.  He reported three weeks before the Nigerian student started his
own PhD on the limited scholarship.  Because he was an older and more
experienced student, the department offered him a limited teaching position,
which earned him more money.  In terms of money, there was no reason to
worry, so it seemed.  Unfortunately, the money from three sources meant he
had lots to spare to spend on booze and women in the student union bar and
in the city.  Because he was drinking heavily, the department stopped him
from teaching after a year. The drinking problem caused him to borrow money
rampantly.  The university scholarship ran out after 4 years.  After 6
years, the Ghanian government also stopped their scholarship, and he was
left on his own. The Nigerian student on a limited scholarship combined his
studies with working in a factory.  This hard labour spured him to work
harder to finish on time. He finished within three years and secured a
permanent job.  During that period he brought his family to be with him.
Six years after they started their studies, the university discontinued the
candidature of the Ghanian student, his visa was cancelled and he hasd to go
home without submitting a thesis.  In this case, the student is his personal
problem as well as too much money to study with.

There are many reasons why good students fail to finish their postgraduate
studies.  It is not good enough to be 'good' in one's field to finish a PhD.
Social issues impact upon academic performance, and I think, in many cases,
social issues are responsible for failures.  Many failures are
self-inflicted and also academic. Have you ever disagreed with your
supervisor on a theory, a method and or a new idea which stands to disprove
past results?  I know two Nigerian students who went through such
experiences.  While Doctor Z understood the problem and worked through it,
Mr W forgot his objectives and destroyed his studies, or helped to destroy
it.  Dr Z did a PhD in biotechnology and came up with a method which refined
a well established theory.  Right from the beginning of his course, he
merticulously kept research notes and informed his supervisor on his
results.  Because his method and results differed from the established norm,
his supervisor refused to accept his 'thesis' of 'extra information',
hitherto ignored it as the reason for his better and more effective results.
Luckily and unluckily for this student, a Japanese visiting-professor came
to his department and his supervisor made him discuss the method with the
visiting professor in details.  The Japanese reproduced the new method and
the new results.  This is where the story took a new turn.  The visiting
professor wrote a journal paper with the new method and results and put the
Nigerian's name as the second author.  He protested to his supervisor who
refused to do nothing, but rather to 'let sleeping dogs lie'. Because this
student kept a good research notebook, it confirmed he is the author of the
method, which meant he could write his thesis based on the method.  He did
and passed, but refused to include the paper which the Japanese put his name
as a co-author in his thesis.  Eventually he did, but his records saved his
degree.  Mr W on the other hand who was doing a PhD in electrical
engineering had the same level of disagreement with his supervisor.  Because
he believed his method disproves the supervisor's theory which for years has
been the industry standard in that area, he went ahead to publish it without
the consent of his supervisor.  That is where his PhD degree vanished.  Up
till today, his thesis has not been accepted by the examiners selected by
the univerisity to examine the thesis.  There are lessons to learn from Dr Z
and Mr W.

What did Mr W do wrong?  By publishing the results without the consent of
his supervisor and without the knowledge of his Chair of department, he left
himself without protection.  He could have first held seminars in the
departmnent, inform the Chair of the department and if necessary, use the
official university channels of resolving such issues first.

By all means, keep a good research notebook.  Have your theories and results
written down and dated.  Try to have your supervisor counter-sign them.  If
he or she would not let you publish them, try to open up an avenue within
the department to hold seminars on your methods and results - ie, publish
them locally within the department before an informed audience of lecturers
and students. Does this sound unimportant to you?  It is a hard lesson to
learn that someone has published the core of your thesis.  This happened to
two of my friends, one from the Netherlands and the second a white
Zimbabwean. They were doing PhD courses under a young lecturer who also was
looking for avenues for promotion to higher positions.  They discussed their
results with the lecturer, but had no written notes or seminar materials to
support their claim on the methods and results.  The young lecturer knew
this and published them in a journal paper.  Needless to say, this ended
their studies in that department. The young lecturer is still there!


REDUCING TEARS
I have watched good students waste away because of small issues and mistakes
which they could have
handled right from the beginning well.  Maintain a good relationship with
your supervisor.  It pays.
I am writing from experience.  I had my thesis kept unread for 12 months.
After it was read, it
remained unmarked for another 13 months because one of the examiners did not
read it!  While this happened it gave me time to write more papers on the
thesis and got them published and at the same time, I was looking for jobs!
But, but, the supervisor was good enough to realise that the fault was not
mine and gave me jobs within the department waiting for the thesis!
Normally the long wait will end. Remember what Nnamdi Azikiwe said: "No
condition is permanent".  What is required is patience.  As a result of my
experience, I have changed most of my attitudes towards reviewing of papers
for journals, and examining of thesis. I have rather adopted the method of
trying to experience delay from the point of view of the student. Delays in
examining thesis, reviewing papers and not being available to see a student
when you need to impacts on careers, the living standards of family members,
and above all on health, because most students are normally worried about
studies.

Beware.  A supervisor, young in his or her career is likely to be the one to
seek to publish your work as his or her own.  A chair of a department is
unlikely to have enough time to supervise you well.  But if you are the type
that needs very little help to do your research and studies, he is going to
turn out to be the best supervisor for you.  You will get to know more
professors in the area, probably find jobs more easily when you finish under
him and above all, it is likely that your thesis will pass through the
system much more quickly because he wants the results as records for his
department, himself and he is not going to allow things to dent his
reputation that easily.  However, if you have problems with such a person,
you could find it harder to solve.  You will find good supervisors among
lecturers who have strong records through personal publications, or have
brought in a lot of research grants to the university.  Such lecturers will
look for results and have money and time to support postgraduate students.
They are likely to have time to supervise and give employment after you
finish. They are also less likely to steal your results, but rather will
demand royalties from any inventions go to the research lab.  It is a give
and take.  Older professors, the emeritus types are likely to be fatherly
and guide the student, but are also likely to be dogmatic on their theories
not being challenged by younger researchers.



FINAL WORDS
Getting a job after you finish and obtain that 'money making paper' does now
depend on experience which universities, research laboratories and industry
count in terms of:

a) Number of papers (journal, conferences, research file notes and reports)
within the last couple of months. Academic and research jobs require
publications! "Publish or perish" they normally say, but for a lecturing
job, one might equally say, "publish or go without the job".

b) Industries require hands on experience.  This requires conducting your
experiments yourself.  Write your computer programs yourself.  In many
cases, there is need for you to do so.  While it is easy to use someone's
software for experiments, when you graduate, industries will be looking for
those with the core experience in not only using but also writing. Do not
let someone take the experiences from you.  Experience is technology
transfer!  It is know how.  It helps in becoming an expert gradually.  Do
not short change yourself.

c) Now industries ask for 'Demos'.  It is becoming 'Demonstrate or perish'
in research institutes.

d) If you are in the information technology area, there is absolutely no
reason why you should not he learning at home new internet languages (html,
java-script, java, visual C++, pel etc).  Learn them on your own.  They
could be the difference between your getting that job and losing it to
someone else.

e) Attend that conference if the chance is created.  Even if you have no
paper to present, attend if someone is paying for it.  You will come back
with fresh ideas for your work.

f)  Attend that course when it is available to you even if you do not need
the material now.  I did just that about 18 months ago attending courses on
Internet languages, object-oriented-programming, java and more.  It did turn
out six months latter that I need them for my projects!

g) One thing internet is teaching all its users is how to 'type' with a
keyboard. Formalise the training.  Extend the typing to more than two
fingers.  Learn to use all the 10 fingers and your
work will not only become easier, you could earn something too with that
self training.  For students, the result is instant.  You get to type your
thesis, reports, papers and by learning to use word processors as well, you
have acquired a skill needed everywhere.  Let us turn our attention from
replying many internet mails, but rather filtering out the good things in
internet and use them.

I do not have any answers to the academic and social problems facing
students, but I have seen too many students in tears to know what causes
them.  I wish I had someone telling me these things ten years or more ago.
If you find these hints useful, share them.  May be someday, somewhere, you
will reap the reward.


johnson.i.agbinya
j.i.a

NB:  You will find mistakes in the above write-up.  I have not taken time to
study english at the degree level!

****************************************************************************
*       "Tomorrow, Today is History.  Create The History Before It Creates
*        Itself" Johnson I Agbinya (Ph.D)
*       Image and Signal Processing
*       CSIRO Telecommunications and Industrial Physics,Vimiera/
*       Pembroke Rds,   P O Box 76, Epping, New South Wales 2121, Australia
*       Internet: http://www.tip.csiro.au/~jagbinya/
*       Ph: +61 2 (9829 4682h or 9372 4366w).
*
****************************************************************************

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