Graduate Students’ Satisfaction on the Thesis Advising Practices

This descriptive action research focused on the satisfaction of the students on the advising practices of their thesis advisers. The 28 respondents of the study were purposively and incidentally chosen. The findings, derived from the use of unstructured interview and survey questionnaire, revealed that most of the students are satisfied with their thesis advisers in terms of their knowledge of student’s research, professional characteristics and qualities, and personality factors as revealed by the overall weighted mean values of 2.68, 2.72, and 2.72 respectively. The students along thesis advising observed various practices of the faculty members. Students chose their advisers based on their availability, field of specialization, and coaching and mentoring abilities. Based on the findings, this study recommends that the faculty members be given more training to further enhance their abilities in thesis advising. The college may also tap other research-reputable faculty members to become research advisers. An orientation activity among the students may also be conducted to assist them in choosing the faculty member with an appropriate research reputation and also to brief them on the roles they will play as thesis advisers. The need to revisit the policies of the School of Graduate Studies (SGS) is also highly recommended. Hence, this study proposes some amendments on the existing guidelines of the department along thesis advising.

Keywords – Satisfaction, Practices, Thesis Adviser, Policy Enhancement, State College