Personal supervision philosophy statements of participants in ASFI Art of Academic Supervision course 2025

Every aspect of academic engagement has its purpose and, thus, must be intentional. One of the common terminal products of the academic journey is a written thesis, dissertation, or report of a project. This product results from a relationship between a supervisor and a supervisee, an entrenched process that provides the platform for a supervisee to be guided by a supervisor towards producing the expected product. The supervision engagement is not just any type of relationship, but a relationship that brings together formal academic expectations, attitudes, and processes. This can create a challenging task for supervisors, as well as supervisees. Often, many supervisors lack sufficient knowledge, experience, and skills required to be successful. In African institutions, this is exacerbated by the fact that many institutions do not have formal training in academic supervision. The consequence is that supervisors may learn the art through trial and error, often not reflecting on their supervision values, beliefs and styles. Recognizing the need to support African academic supervisors in leading a fruitful and rewarding supervision engagement, the African Science Frontiers Initiatives (ASFI) developed a course, Art of Academic Supervision, tailored to African academic supervisors. The first edition of the course was taught between May and July 2025. One of the course tasks was for participants to write a Personal Supervision Philosophy Statement that provides a reflective description of their supervision engagement – either as they currently supervise or as they would like to supervise in the future. The aim was to allow participants to express their core values, beliefs, and styles about their supervision. Participants were guided on how to write the supervision philosophy statement. They wrote the first drafts, which were then reviewed and critiqued by colleagues in their respective pre-course assigned groups. The final version of these statements is hereby published. Overall, the course participants found this to be good exercise, providing them with the opportunity to continuously engage in a reflective supervision engagement.