Issues in postgraduate supervision – a gender aspect.

Abstract

Reaching a good gender balance in tenure positions within scientific subjects is an important goal for the University of Bergen. Women are reasonably represented at a bachelor, master and PhD level, though the figures decrease along the way, but very few women are employed in tenure positions. There are clearly some biological processes that might be a major cause to this “sieving” effect. However, another cause might be the way postgraduate female and male students are supervised. Group teaching has been strongly advocated by women themselves as a teaching and supervising form that is “gender friendly”, however groups might have a complex dynamical behaviour. This is emphasized by a comparative study conducted within a postgraduate group of students within Applied Mathematics, University of Bergen. This essay is written in conjunction with the course ”Veiledning på master og PhD nivå” for the completion of the course in basic university pedagogy.