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Understanding Doctoral Supervisors' Understanding of Supervisory Goals in China: A Social-Cultural Interpretation

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Title: Understanding Doctoral Supervisors' Understanding of Supervisory Goals in China: A Social-Cultural Interpretation
Language: English
Authors: Yanru Xu, Ji'an Liu
Source: Higher Education: The International Journal of Higher Education Research. 2026 91(1):387-404.
Availability: Springer. Available from: Springer Nature. One New York Plaza, Suite 4600, New York, NY 10004. Tel: 800-777-4643; Tel: 212-460-1500; Fax: 212-460-1700; e-mail: customerservice@springernature.com; Web site: https://link.springer.com/
Peer Reviewed: Y
Page Count: 18
Publication Date: 2026
Document Type: Journal Articles
Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education
Postsecondary Education
Descriptors: Doctoral Programs, Doctoral Students, Supervision, Supervisor Supervisee Relationship, Goal Orientation, Foreign Countries, Confucianism, Humanism, Supervisory Methods, Individualism, Collectivism, Moral Development, Talent Development
Geographic Terms: China
DOI: 10.1007/s10734-025-01422-2
ISSN: 0018-1560
1573-174X
Abstract: Limited academic attention has been paid to doctoral supervisors' understanding of multiple supervisory goals and social-cultural factors influencing their understanding. This has inhibited the theorisation of the multiplicity of modern doctoral supervision. Drawing on theoretical perspectives synthesising the ripple-like structure of societal orders as concentric circles and the anthropocosmic idea of Confucian humanism in China, this qualitative study interviewed Chinese doctoral supervisors in two research-intensive universities to understand doctoral supervisors' understanding of their supervisory goals. The findings first identified the ultimate supervisory goal: to cultivate REN through research training, which includes virtue moulding and talent developing. To realise the ultimate goal, two dimensions of supervisory goals dominate: the individual and collective. These illustrate that supervisory goals in China's doctoral education extend beyond individual academic achievements and moral developments to include collective contributions to the family, community, and larger societal circles. However, the missing of supervisory goals in the anthropocosmic view makes the meaning of 'REN' incomplete from the holistic sense of Confucian humanism. This article first contributes to understanding supervisory goals in modern China and offers a basis for international comparison. Second, it contributes to developing theoretical tools for understanding doctoral supervision by offering a social-cultural interpretation.
Abstractor: As Provided
Entry Date: 2026
Accession Number: EJ1506257
Database: ERIC
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  Value: <anid>AN0191500327;hie01jan.26;2026Feb13.06:44;v2.2.500</anid> <title id="AN0191500327-1">Understanding doctoral supervisors' understanding of supervisory goals in China: a social-cultural interpretation </title> <p>Limited academic attention has been paid to doctoral supervisors' understanding of multiple supervisory goals and social-cultural factors influencing their understanding. This has inhibited the theorisation of the multiplicity of modern doctoral supervision. Drawing on theoretical perspectives synthesising the ripple-like structure of societal orders as concentric circles and the anthropocosmic idea of Confucian humanism in China, this qualitative study interviewed Chinese doctoral supervisors in two research-intensive universities to understand doctoral supervisors' understanding of their supervisory goals. The findings first identified the ultimate supervisory goal: to cultivate REN through research training, which includes virtue moulding and talent developing. To realise the ultimate goal, two dimensions of supervisory goals dominate: the individual and collective. These illustrate that supervisory goals in China's doctoral education extend beyond individual academic achievements and moral developments to include collective contributions to the family, community, and larger societal circles. However, the missing of supervisory goals in the anthropocosmic view makes the meaning of 'REN' incomplete from the holistic sense of Confucian humanism. This article first contributes to understanding supervisory goals in modern China and offers a basis for international comparison. Second, it contributes to developing theoretical tools for understanding doctoral supervision by offering a social-cultural interpretation.</p> <p>Keywords: Supervisory goals; China; Concerntric social orders; Confucian humanism; Doctoral education</p> <p>Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-025-01422-2.</p> <hd id="AN0191500327-2">Introduction</hd> <p>Doctoral supervision is a crucial element in doctoral education, where doctoral supervisors' work significantly influences doctoral students' retention and attrition, satisfaction, and degree progression till completion (Ives & Rowley, [<reflink idref="bib20" id="ref1">20</reflink>]; Walker et al., [<reflink idref="bib41" id="ref2">41</reflink>]). Traditionally, the supervisory goal in doctoral education was to produce the stewards of the discipline, which can be measured by a discipline-specific thesis with original contributions to knowledge (Golde & Walker, [<reflink idref="bib11" id="ref3">11</reflink>]). It has largely involved offering oversights and guidance, and passing on the knowledge, skills and norms of research to doctoral students (as apprentices), thus facilitating their socialization into the disciplinary communities (Gardner & Mendoza, [<reflink idref="bib9" id="ref4">9</reflink>]). Existing studies showed that modern doctoral supervision involves multiple goals, including but not limited to the intellectual, emotional, moral, and political dimensions (Bastalich, [<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref5">3</reflink>]; Lee, [<reflink idref="bib22" id="ref6">22</reflink>]; Schneijderberg, [<reflink idref="bib34" id="ref7">34</reflink>]).</p> <p>For example, Åkerlind and McAlpine ([<reflink idref="bib1" id="ref8">1</reflink>]) identified three overarching purposes of doctoral supervision and respective strategies. The first is to enable doctoral students to become self-sufficient researchers through providing training in research skills and requirements; the second is to facilitate students as innovative researchers by generating new ideas; and the third is to develop individuals, ensuring students' enjoyment and commitment during doctoral journeys. Building on Burns et al. ([<reflink idref="bib5" id="ref9">5</reflink>]), who classified three foci of outcomes for doctoral supervision in education (thesis, academic professionalization, and the whole person), Murphy et al. ([<reflink idref="bib32" id="ref10">32</reflink>]) presented two belief orientations regarding desired supervision outcomes in engineering: towards completed research tasks and towards the personal development of the candidate. Bao et al. ([<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref11">2</reflink>]) found that the purpose of doctoral education in China has extended from an exclusively academic affair to a national policy agenda, reflecting a broader contextual understanding of doctoral supervisory goals in China.</p> <p>Other studies, although not adopting the exact notions of 'goals', 'purposes', and 'outcomes', have demonstrated the multiplicity of modern doctoral supervisors' work. In terms of doctoral supervisors' roles and functions, Halse and Malfroy ([<reflink idref="bib14" id="ref12">14</reflink>]) found five facets of doctoral supervision: the learning alliance, habits of mind, scholarly expertise, technê and contextual expertise. Lee's research (2018) demonstrated similar results, proposing five themes crucial for successful supervision: functional; enculturation; critical thinking; emancipation; and relationship development. In the context of China, Horta and Li's ([<reflink idref="bib19" id="ref13">19</reflink>]) investigation on doctoral students implied supervisors as publication facilitators. As for doctoral supervisors' practices, Schneijderberg ([<reflink idref="bib34" id="ref14">34</reflink>]) identified 14 supervision practices which are divided into two broad orientations towards the academic community and the PhD candidate. Bastalich ([<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref15">3</reflink>]) conceptualized four distinct frames of doctoral supervision regarding: project management and relationship improvement; government control and regulation; pedagogic support and academic socialization; and contradictions within academic subjectivity. These echo Maxwell and Smyth ([<reflink idref="bib29" id="ref16">29</reflink>]) who described the complex interactions and synergistic relationships among the knowledge, the student, and the research projects in doctoral supervision.</p> <p>Although these studies reveal the multiplicity of doctoral supervision, challenges are there to 'theorize the complex, multifaceted work involved in supervising doctoral students' (Halse & Malfroy, [<reflink idref="bib14" id="ref17">14</reflink>], p. 79). Also, existing studies tended to simply describe or list what doctoral supervisors really/should do and say to achieve supervisory goals, obscuring doctoral supervisors' understanding of their supervisory goals. Closely related, there is little exploration regarding what shapes doctoral supervisors' understanding of supervisory goals. The consensus is that understandings towards the multiple outcomes of higher education vary according to national-cultural contexts (Marginson & Yang, [<reflink idref="bib27" id="ref18">27</reflink>]). However, how national-cultural contexts shape doctoral supervisors' understanding of supervisory goals is less clear. Such gaps, we argue, largely result from a shortage of appreciation of the social and cultural factors underpinning doctoral supervision in specific national-cultural contexts. China is a representative case to break through in this regard. The reasons follow.</p> <p>In terms of the national-social context, Chinese society is not as discrete entities as that in the West, especially the Anglo-American social imaginary (Marginson & Yang, [<reflink idref="bib27" id="ref19">27</reflink>]). In the Anglo-American social sphere, people recognise their social boundaries in each distinct societal sector with clear boundaries. As such, the ties linking individuals within the same social sector/organization can be qualifications for membership in a contractual sense (Fei et al., [<reflink idref="bib8" id="ref20">8</reflink>]). Instead, China's social orders resemble concentric circles with the ego at the centre, from which familial, communal, and broader societal relationships emanate (Fei et al., [<reflink idref="bib8" id="ref21">8</reflink>]). This ripple-like characterization of national-social dynamics in China echoes its national-cultural underpinnings that shape doctoral education, especially interpretations of individual and collective outcomes of higher learning influenced by Confucianism (Marginson & Yang, [<reflink idref="bib27" id="ref22">27</reflink>]; Yang, [<reflink idref="bib50" id="ref23">50</reflink>]).[<reflink idref="bib1" id="ref24">1</reflink>]</p> <p>Confucianism, especially its anthropocosmic view of humanism, signifies human relations and strong commitments to the world (Tu, [<reflink idref="bib39" id="ref25">39</reflink>]), where self/ego is not absolute but 'relational and role bearing' as the member of the larger collective group(Marginson & Yang, [<reflink idref="bib27" id="ref26">27</reflink>], p. 14). For example, Confucianism promotes the concept of <emph>Ren</emph> (benevolence or humanity) and <emph>Li</emph> (proper behaviour or propriety), advocating for education that contributes to the moral development of individuals and by extension, to the societal good (Tu, [<reflink idref="bib36" id="ref27">36</reflink>]). In this sense, there are no clear distinctions between individual and collective outcomes of higher learning in China: individuals' fullest development is not only for the sake of the inner self, but for the outer social self with particular social roles (Marginson & Yang, [<reflink idref="bib27" id="ref28">27</reflink>]; Yang, [<reflink idref="bib50" id="ref29">50</reflink>]).</p> <p>These traditional social and cultural dynamics in China provide crucial national contexts to understand its doctoral education (see the next section). They suggest that doctoral supervisors are not just expected to guide doctoral students in their academic pursuits; but more importantly, to mould students into morally upright individuals with a strong sense of social responsibility and ethical duty, thus contributing positively to broader social spheres (Xu & Liu, [<reflink idref="bib47" id="ref30">47</reflink>]). Meanwhile, it is admitted that traditional social-cultural norms are not sufficient to understand the social reality and doctoral supervisors' practices in modern China, especially with the increasing scope of the autonomous self (Yan, [<reflink idref="bib48" id="ref31">48</reflink>]), the penetration of new managerialism and the 'publish or perish' agenda into university governance, as well as their influences on academic life (Huang et al., [<reflink idref="bib18" id="ref32">18</reflink>]; Xia et al., [<reflink idref="bib45" id="ref33">45</reflink>]). Yet, we can still find the modern projection of the ripple-like structure of societal orders and anthropocosmic idea of Confucian humanism in China's doctoral education.</p> <p>For example, Zheng et al. ([<reflink idref="bib51" id="ref34">51</reflink>]) showed the constellation of multiple institutional logics from different societal sectors in China's doctoral education system, including the state, the profession, the family, the market, and the corporation. Jung et al. ([<reflink idref="bib21" id="ref35">21</reflink>]) integrated the institutional logics into their analysis of doctoral admission in China's nine top research universities, to find the dominant state logic over professional logic. Specific to doctoral supervision, Xu and Liu ([<reflink idref="bib47" id="ref36">47</reflink>]) identified the persistence of traditional father-son relationships advocated in Confucianism in modern China's supervisory relations.</p> <p>These remind us to take 'an organic hybrid of old and new' (Marginson, [<reflink idref="bib26" id="ref37">26</reflink>], p. 607) into consideration when interpreting Chinese doctoral supervisors' understanding of their supervisory goals. However, how doctoral supervisory goals in modern China are aligned with both individual aspirations and collective societal goals through leveraging its unique social and cultural configurations is less clear.</p> <p>To remedy the above research gaps, this article aims to answer the research questions:</p> <p></p> <ulist> <item> How did doctoral supervisors understand supervisory goals in modern China?</item> <p></p> <item> How did the social-cultural contexts shape such understanding?</item> </ulist> <p>In what follows, we will first present the theoretical perspectives of this study by synthesising the social and cultural dynamics of China's doctoral education. From there, we designed our research process to answer research questions. After constructing the research findings and related discussions, we will conclude this article.</p> <hd id="AN0191500327-3">Theoretical perspectives of this study: a synthesis of the social and cultural dynamics in Ch...</hd> <p>A comprehensive understanding of the underlying theoretical perspectives, rooted in China's distinct social orders as concentric circles and cultural philosophies regarding the anthropocosmic idea of Confucian humanism, is crucial to elucidate China's doctoral education generally and supervisory goals specific to this article.</p> <p>Chinese society exhibits a pattern akin to concentric circles, resembling the ripples generated when a stone is cast into a lake. Here, the ego forms the centre from which familial, communal, and broader societal sectors extend (Fei et al., [<reflink idref="bib8" id="ref38">8</reflink>]). Instead of being autonomously separate, there is the ripple-like effect: the exterior circle extends from the inner circle. For example, the family extends from the ego-centre and the community from the family, and so forth. Notably, the scope of each circle can be elastically extended to the world and beyond, but with the ego always at the centre (Tu, [<reflink idref="bib36" id="ref39">36</reflink>]). This contrasts starkly with Western society, which resembles haystacks composed of separate and bound stacks, bundles, and straws. In this analogy, the stacks represent societal sectors, the bundles symbolize concrete organizations, and the individual straws represent individuals. Each organization and societal sector within Western society possesses its distinct boundaries, which serve to clearly define the membership of individuals within them (Fei et al., [<reflink idref="bib8" id="ref40">8</reflink>]). See Fig. 1 for the comparison of the societal orders in China and the West.</p> <p>Graph: Fig. 1 The comparison of the societal orders in China and the West</p> <p>Elucidating Chinese society through the analogy of the ripple effect signifies no societal component functions in isolation. Rather, each societal sector is a continuum of the previous one, highlighting the interdependence of individual and collective entities. Such social dynamics in China echo the anthropocosmic view of Confucian humanism regarding higher learning in Confucian classics—<emph>Da Xue</emph> (translated as <emph>Method of Higher Learning</emph>) (Gu, [<reflink idref="bib12" id="ref41">12</reflink>]),When men's conversations are ordered aright, only then, will their houses be kept in order. When men's houses are kept in order, and only then, will there be good government in the country. When there is good government in all countries, and only then, will there be peace and order in the world. (p. 22).</p> <p>Here, the extending entities of the individuals, family, state and eventually the world in higher learning are evident (Yang, [<reflink idref="bib49" id="ref42">49</reflink>]). The goal of higher learning in China is to facilitate human's conversation aright by acquiring knowledge and understanding through systematic learning (Gu, [<reflink idref="bib12" id="ref43">12</reflink>]). Students achieve internal sagehood and external kinglihood through higher learning, where internal sagehood is fundamental to external kinglihood (Yang, [<reflink idref="bib49" id="ref44">49</reflink>]): 'the ultimate self-transformation of the person as the key to the realization of the social and political values' (Tu, [<reflink idref="bib36" id="ref45">36</reflink>], p.12), and 'the spiritual transformation of the world from within' (Tu, [<reflink idref="bib37" id="ref46">37</reflink>], p.3).</p> <p>Moreover, although the ego is at the centre of extending social orders, the ultimate meaning of human existence is not anthropocentric but anthropocosmic, stressing the 'implicit mutuality, constant communication, and dynamic interaction between the anthropological world and the cosmic order' (Tu, [<reflink idref="bib38" id="ref47">38</reflink>], pp.7–8). This is regarded as the anthropocosmic idea of Confucian humanism in a holistic sense (Tu, [<reflink idref="bib39" id="ref48">39</reflink>]). When it was translated to China's education (Lu & Jover, [<reflink idref="bib24" id="ref49">24</reflink>]), teaching and learning simultaneously bear individual, social, and humanistic focus (Hayhoe, [<reflink idref="bib15" id="ref50">15</reflink>]), contributing to the unity of humanity, universe, and nature (Tu, [<reflink idref="bib39" id="ref51">39</reflink>]). This is also evident in China's modern discourses.</p> <p>Domestically, 'education, science and technology, and human resources' were highly stressed as 'the foundational and strategic pillars for building a modern socialist country in all respects' in China (Xinhua News Agency, [<reflink idref="bib46" id="ref52">46</reflink>]). Globally, China's leadership advocated building a community of a shared future for humankind (Xi, [<reflink idref="bib43" id="ref53">43</reflink>]). China's doctoral education is designated with the crucial task to cultivate socialist constructors and successors, being independent researchers with overall developments intellectually and morally, high-level talents urgently needed by the country to boost innovation, to cater for economic and social development, thus realizing the Chinese dream of national rejuvenation (MoE, [<reflink idref="bib31" id="ref54">31</reflink>]), and global citizens contributing to the sustainable development of the earth and humankind (Xi, [<reflink idref="bib44" id="ref55">44</reflink>]).</p> <p>The synthesis of the ripple-like structure of societal orders as concentric circles and the anthropocosmic idea of Confucian humanism implies that the goals of doctoral education in China extend beyond individual academic achievements and moral developments to include collective contributions to the family, community, and larger societal circles, extending towards the state, the world and beyond (Marginson & Yang, [<reflink idref="bib27" id="ref56">27</reflink>]). See Fig. 2.</p> <p>Graph: Fig. 2 Theoretical perspectives to understand doctoral supervisory goals in China</p> <p>In terms of the individual dimensions, China's doctoral education nurtures doctoral students not only as scholars or professionals in various sectors of the economy, contributing to personal economic success, but also as morally upright and socially responsible individuals, realising ethical maturity. This is achieved through facilitating students' intellectual and moral development, acquisition of specialised knowledge and skills, and improvement of employability, lifetime earnings, or social status (Marginson & Yang, [<reflink idref="bib27" id="ref57">27</reflink>]). In terms of the collective dimensions, the success of doctoral education in China is measured by how well they prepare students to fulfil their social roles within the community and contribute to national goals, societal harmony, and beyond. For example, as doctoral graduates are expected to be leaders in academia and industry, they are expected to generate and disseminate new knowledge, innovate and perform complex tasks, and conduct ethical leadership in their professional fields. From there, they are expected to influence public opinion and cultural values, government policies and practices, engaging in social planning and development that align with national priorities and goals (Marginson et al., [<reflink idref="bib28" id="ref58">28</reflink>]), thus eventually contributing to China's global competitiveness in various scientific and technological arenas (Bao et al., [<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref59">2</reflink>]). Looking beyond the national sectors, China's doctoral education is expected to cultivate earth dwellers with consciousness of a community of shared future for mankind and a community of life for man and nature (Wang, [<reflink idref="bib42" id="ref60">42</reflink>]).</p> <p>Guided by the theoretical perspectives shown in Fig. 2, we will investigate whether doctoral supervisors' understanding of supervisory goals in modern China are aligned with both individual and collective dimensions to answer the first question, especially exploring whether and how it extends beyond individual academic achievements and moral developments to include collective contributions wider society. From here, we will answer the second question through analysing how China's unique social and cultural configurations shape doctoral supervisors' understanding of supervisory goals. Notably, starting from Fig. 2 does not mean our findings will perfectly fit into it eventually. Given changes in academic profession and university governance (Huang et al., [<reflink idref="bib18" id="ref61">18</reflink>]; Xia et al., [<reflink idref="bib45" id="ref62">45</reflink>]), and the increasing scope of the autonomous self (Yan, [<reflink idref="bib48" id="ref63">48</reflink>]) discussed above, we are open to the potential instantiations of modern elements in the answers to our two research questions based on the qualitative research design.</p> <hd id="AN0191500327-4">Research design</hd> <p>This study is a qualitative inquiry through semi-structured interviews. Academic disciplines, as the primary organizing structure influencing the academic profession (Clark, [<reflink idref="bib7" id="ref64">7</reflink>]), are one of the crucial situational elements in the field of doctoral supervision. High social connectedness and interdependence exist between doctoral supervisors and their supervised students in natural sciences and engineering, which is more evident than their counterparts in humanities and social sciences (Golde, [<reflink idref="bib10" id="ref65">10</reflink>]). Also, the improvement of natural sciences and engineering disciplines and the quality of talent cultivation are highly stressed by China's central government to realise its self-reliance and self-strengthening in science and technology (MoE, [<reflink idref="bib31" id="ref66">31</reflink>]). Thus, we chose STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) as the specific disciplinary situation to answer the research questions.</p> <p>To gain rich and sufficient information, we first adopted a purposive sampling strategy to recruit doctoral supervisors in STEM with different academic ranks and years of experience in supervising doctoral students. With the fieldwork ongoing, more doctoral supervisors were recruited through a snowball sampling strategy, allowing our participants to introduce their acquaintances to the authors. Eventually, 20 doctoral supervisors in STEM from two research-intensive universities participated in this study. See Table 1 for participants' brief profiles relevant to this article. We conducted semi-structured interviews during December 2021 and August 2023. Since we are guided by the theoretical perspectives shown in Fig. 2, the purpose of the interview was to gain rich information on our participants' perspectives on their supervisory goals and what factors shape their perspectives and how. We prepared an interview guide (see the supplementary material) that lists the main topics to be explored. Follow-up and probe questions were asked flexibly when some puzzling, unclear or unanticipated answers emerged in individual interviews. The longest interview took one hour and 58 min and the shortest lasted 47 min. Each interview was audio-recorded based on participants' informed consent. Confidentiality was assured to ensure supervisors spoke freely. All participants' names were anonymized in the following presentation of the data.</p> <p>Table 1 Participants' brief profiles relevant to this article</p> <p> <ephtml> <table rules="groups"><thead><tr><th align="left"><p>Pseudonym</p></th><th align="left"><p>Broad research area</p></th><th align="left"><p>University</p></th><th align="left"><p>Academic rank</p></th><th align="left"><p>Years of being doctoral supervisors</p></th><th align="left"><p>Gender</p></th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td align="left"><p>QCF</p></td><td align="left"><p>High energy physics</p></td><td align="left"><p>A</p></td><td align="left"><p>Professor</p></td><td align="left"><p>18</p></td><td align="left"><p>M</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>WBC</p></td><td align="left"><p>Cell biology</p></td><td align="left"><p>A</p></td><td align="left"><p>Professor</p></td><td align="left"><p>13</p></td><td align="left"><p>M</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>ZFJ</p></td><td align="left"><p>Theoretical chemistry</p></td><td align="left"><p>A</p></td><td align="left"><p>Associate professor</p></td><td align="left"><p>3</p></td><td align="left"><p>F</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>HYJ</p></td><td align="left"><p>Chemistry engineering</p></td><td align="left"><p>A</p></td><td align="left"><p>Professor</p></td><td align="left"><p>16</p></td><td align="left"><p>M</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>ZYX</p></td><td align="left"><p>Atmospheric chemistry</p></td><td align="left"><p>A</p></td><td align="left"><p>Professor</p></td><td align="left"><p>11</p></td><td align="left"><p>F</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>YG</p></td><td align="left"><p>Artificial intelligence</p></td><td align="left"><p>A</p></td><td align="left"><p>Professor</p></td><td align="left"><p>21</p></td><td align="left"><p>M</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>WJJ</p></td><td align="left"><p>High energy physics</p></td><td align="left"><p>A</p></td><td align="left"><p>Associate professor</p></td><td align="left"><p>3</p></td><td align="left"><p>M</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>QYZ</p></td><td align="left"><p>Atomic physics</p></td><td align="left"><p>A</p></td><td align="left"><p>Professor</p></td><td align="left"><p>10</p></td><td align="left"><p>M</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>YX</p></td><td align="left"><p>Theoretical chemistry</p></td><td align="left"><p>A</p></td><td align="left"><p>Associate professor</p></td><td align="left"><p>5</p></td><td align="left"><p>F</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>ZW</p></td><td align="left"><p>Experimental physics</p></td><td align="left"><p>A</p></td><td align="left"><p>Associate professor</p></td><td align="left"><p>6</p></td><td align="left"><p>M</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>WJG</p></td><td align="left"><p>Chemistry and chemical industry</p></td><td align="left"><p>A</p></td><td align="left"><p>Professor</p></td><td align="left"><p>21</p></td><td align="left"><p>M</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>DSX</p></td><td align="left"><p>Computational physics</p></td><td align="left"><p>A</p></td><td align="left"><p>Professor</p></td><td align="left"><p>13</p></td><td align="left"><p>M</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>JFM</p></td><td align="left"><p>Earth science</p></td><td align="left"><p>B</p></td><td align="left"><p>Professor</p></td><td align="left"><p>20</p></td><td align="left"><p>F</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>LZW</p></td><td align="left"><p>Energy and materials</p></td><td align="left"><p>B</p></td><td align="left"><p>Associate professor</p></td><td align="left"><p>3</p></td><td align="left"><p>M</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>LZY</p></td><td align="left"><p>Environmental engineering</p></td><td align="left"><p>B</p></td><td align="left"><p>Associate professor</p></td><td align="left"><p>2</p></td><td align="left"><p>M</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>GHY</p></td><td align="left"><p>Mechanical dynamics</p></td><td align="left"><p>B</p></td><td align="left"><p>Associate professor</p></td><td align="left"><p>5</p></td><td align="left"><p>M</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>LSJ</p></td><td align="left"><p>Organic chemistry</p></td><td align="left"><p>B</p></td><td align="left"><p>Professor</p></td><td align="left"><p>17</p></td><td align="left"><p>M</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>QZD</p></td><td align="left"><p>Life sciences</p></td><td align="left"><p>B</p></td><td align="left"><p>Professor</p></td><td align="left"><p>18</p></td><td align="left"><p>M</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>ZJL</p></td><td align="left"><p>Fuel cells</p></td><td align="left"><p>B</p></td><td align="left"><p>Professor</p></td><td align="left"><p>13</p></td><td align="left"><p>M</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>ZJ</p></td><td align="left"><p>Physics and astronomy</p></td><td align="left"><p>B</p></td><td align="left"><p>Professor</p></td><td align="left"><p>22</p></td><td align="left"><p>M</p></td></tr></tbody></table> </ephtml> </p> <p>For data analysis, we conducted a thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, [<reflink idref="bib4" id="ref67">4</reflink>]) with the assistance of NVivo 12. The entire analysis process was a mixture of inductive and deductive approaches based on the criteria of inductive and deductive thematic saturation (Saunders et al., [<reflink idref="bib33" id="ref68">33</reflink>]). On the one hand, we draw on the established theoretical constructs illustrating the traditional social and cultural dynamics of China's doctoral education, as shown in Fig. 2, to interpret the data deductively. In this way, we identified the prevailing individual goals and extending collective goals (see next section). On the other hand, we aimed to explore the potential instantiations of modern elements shaping doctoral supervisors' understanding of supervisory goals in China. This required us to be open in identifying emergent themes from the data. In this sense, we also interpreted our data inductively. In this way, we identified the emerging individual goals based on our efforts to ensure inductive thematic saturation (we could not identify new themes), and the missing of supervisory goals in the anthropocosmic view because of the shortage of deductive thematic saturation (identified themes were exemplified in our data).</p> <hd id="AN0191500327-5">Findings</hd> <p>As answers to our first research question, we finally identified the ultimate supervisory goals through interpreting our participants' stories: to cultivate <emph>REN</emph> through research training, which includes virtue moulding and talent developing. To realise the ultimate goal, two dimensions of supervisory goals dominate our participants' understanding: the individual and collective.</p> <hd id="AN0191500327-6">Doctoral supervisors' understanding of supervisory goals</hd> <p></p> <hd id="AN0191500327-7">The ultimate goal: cultivating REN through virtue moulding and talents developing</hd> <p>When talking about their supervisory goals, our participants keep remarkably consistent: 'cultivating students to be a better <emph>REN</emph>' (YX); 'guiding them to be a <emph>REN</emph> is fundamental' (DSX); 'influencing them on how to be a <emph>REN</emph>' (QYZ).</p> <p> <emph>REN</emph> in Chinese is a homonym, which can be translated into English either as 'person' (人) or 'humanity' (仁), where humanity is regarded as the highest virtue of a person (Tu, [<reflink idref="bib35" id="ref69">35</reflink>]). The meaning of humanity involves 'achieving inner equanimity and outer integrity and responsibility to society' (Hayhoe, [<reflink idref="bib16" id="ref70">16</reflink>], p.19). In this sense, the meaning of <emph>REN</emph> is social, not individual, representing Confucian humanism (Tu, [<reflink idref="bib39" id="ref71">39</reflink>]). In the narratives of our participants, <emph>REN</emph> refers to the meaning of a person with humanity; the goal of doctoral supervision is to cultivate a person with different dimensions of virtue; and based on such virtue, this person can play their respective dimensions of social roles via talents formed during doctoral learnings. In this way, doctoral supervisors facilitate students to achieve internal sagehood and external kinglihood (Yang, [<reflink idref="bib49" id="ref72">49</reflink>]), where the former is the key to realising the latter (Tu, [<reflink idref="bib36" id="ref73">36</reflink>]). For example,My principal value in cultivating students is to make sure they are virtuous and talented after graduation, and then, they can make contributions. (YG)</p> <p>Being asked what virtue they expected students to be moulded and what contributions they expected students can make through doctoral supervision, the answers of our participants demonstrated the salience of the egocentric pattern of China's social orders where individuals can contribute outwards through extending social roles. Specifically, supervisory goals shown in our data include two categorical elements: (<reflink idref="bib1" id="ref74">1</reflink>) virtue moulding—being responsible to the family, being dedicated in the workplace, following the ethos of science of the science community, and being patriotic to the state; and (<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref75">2</reflink>) talent developing, thus being able to be carers in the family, backbones in the workplace, independent researchers in the science community, and nation constructors in the state. These two categorical elements in our participants' understandings were crucial to realise the prevailing and emerging individual dimensions and extending collective dimensions of doctoral supervisory goals. Details follow.</p> <hd id="AN0191500327-8">The prevailing individual goals: cultivating independent researchers and communicating the et...</hd> <p>Prevailing in our data is that our participants believed the realization of the ultimate supervisory goals of cultivating <emph>REN</emph>—moulding students' virtue and developing their talent, thus enabling students to make contributions outwards, is situated in the research training that doctoral supervisors offer to students: 'cultivating independent researchers with research capabilities and ethos of science' (JFM).</p> <p>The research capabilities our participants expected their doctoral students to be trained are 'comprehensive and systematic' (WJG). Being comprehensive means that doctoral supervisors did not only provide training in concrete skills of doing, but also on ways of thinking. Specifically, the concrete skills relevant to conducting research include literature search, laboratory techniques, and conference presentation. The ways of thinking include how to appreciate articles (WBC; LZY), how to analyze experimental data (ZW; GHY), and how to structure academic writings and presentations with coherence (WJJ; LSJ). Being systematic means our participants offered their students research training with a systematic flow, ranging from finding problems, raising research questions, designing research projects, conducting experiments, trial, and error, communicating with the science communities (such as through academic writings), and winning recognition by their communities (such as through publications) (DSX; ZFJ; QCF; JFM; QZD). To realise these talents developing goals regarding research capabilities, communicating the ethos of science (Merton, [<reflink idref="bib30" id="ref76">30</reflink>]) to students, as a way of virtue moulding, is crucial.</p> <p>Our participants believed that qualified researchers must possess the ethos of science proposed by Merton ([<reflink idref="bib30" id="ref77">30</reflink>])—universalism, communality, disinterestedness, and organized skepticism.</p> <p>Universalism means the truth claims should be consistent with preestablished observation and knowledge (Merton, [<reflink idref="bib30" id="ref78">30</reflink>]). Our participants expected students to follow the rule of universalism, making sure that 'the experimental process written in the article can be validated by other authors' (QYZ); and 'students' published data can be replicated' (WJG).</p> <p>Communality acknowledges the social collaboration in producing 'the substantive findings of science' which are assigned to the community (Merton, [<reflink idref="bib30" id="ref79">30</reflink>], p.273). Our participants believed that 'what students have accomplished through their research projects is based on many other senior students' previous work' (YX). Thus, they expected students to share data with team members in the research group. Once students did not leave the data to their followers after graduation, our participants felt that 'it was not a successful case for their work of supervision' (QCF).</p> <p>Additionally, doctoral supervisors in our study aimed to raise students' awareness that science belongs to the science community (ZFJ; ZJ). Thus, they expected students to realize that research publications are not just writing articles, but sharing scientific discoveries with external audiences in the science community (ZJL) 'who can make further research contributions based on your findings' (DSX). This is closely related to the ethos of disinterestedness.</p> <p>The ethos of disinterestedness calls for scientists to work for the benefit of science itself (Merton, [<reflink idref="bib30" id="ref80">30</reflink>]). Such benefits in our data can be summarized as original breakthroughs (ZW; ZJ; JFM). To facilitate students making original breakthroughs for science communities, Our participants believed that they should cultivate students' ethos of organized skepticism.</p> <p>The ethos of organized skepticism requires scientists to ask questions about any facts and potentialities concerning nature and society (Merton, [<reflink idref="bib30" id="ref81">30</reflink>]). Doctoral supervisors in our study expected students to be bold and able to challenge others, including doctoral supervisors themselves through research training.I hope students can throw their doubts on what I have said...no one knows the right answers in scientific explorations, including me; otherwise, it is not exploration... (WJJ)</p> <p>For our participants, communicating the ethos of science (virtue moulding) to doctoral students and facilitating their acquirement of research capabilities <bold>(</bold>talents developing<bold>)</bold> comprise the process where the next generation of independent researchers can be cultivated via research training offered by supervisors. Additionally, the career paths for doctorates have been increasingly diverse and more and more degree holders have entered the competitions in nonacademic job markets (Gu et al., [<reflink idref="bib13" id="ref82">13</reflink>]). Our data echoes such trends, showing the emerging individual goal in supervisory goals to increase students' competitiveness in the job markets.</p> <hd id="AN0191500327-9">The emerging individual goals: increasing students' competitiveness in the job markets</hd> <p>Our participants admitted the difficulty in finding academic positions nowadays. Thus, they kept open attitudes and showed understanding towards students' choice of nonacademic professions. Although not staying in academia, our participants (ZFJ; QZD; JFM; GHY; QCF) believed that the ethos and capabilities cultivated through research training are transferable to whatever occupations doctoral students might choose....even if they became sellers, be willing to share [the ethos of communism as demonstrated in our data], the way of systematic thinking, the capability of writing, and many other aspects of training received during the doctoral study are helpful to facilitate them becoming sellers. (ZFJ)</p> <p>Doctoral supervisors in this article considered the process of research training as laying the foundations for students' career development in whatever areas. Here, the supervisory goals concern with the increasing autonomous self of doctoral students (Marginson & Yang, [<reflink idref="bib27" id="ref83">27</reflink>]) facing fierce competitions in job markets. However, part of our data suggested this is detrimental to the realisation of the prevailing logic of supervisory goals: cultivating contributors to the science community.</p> <p>One main demonstration, stressed by our participants, is that many doctoral supervisors and students are chasing hot topics to publish papers rather than answering truly scientific questions (YG; ZYX). When answering the reasons, being anxious facing the rule of 'publish or perish' was highlighted. Supervisors are anxious about losing positions while students are anxious about joblessness without enough papers (Horta & Li, [<reflink idref="bib19" id="ref84">19</reflink>]; Xia et al., [<reflink idref="bib45" id="ref85">45</reflink>]). Consequentially,When doctoral supervisors did not feel the career security, it is not surprising for them to instil the idea of finding a stable job to their students. (ZJ)</p> <p>There seems to be a dilemma of 'survival or not' facing the 'publish or perish' agenda in China's academia, which has exerted significant impacts on academics' identity and behaviour (Xia et al., [<reflink idref="bib45" id="ref86">45</reflink>]). Faculties in China tend to consider themselves as 'workers on an academic assembly line' worrying about professional survival rather than dedicating themselves to 'the inward calling of science' (Huang et al., [<reflink idref="bib18" id="ref87">18</reflink>], pp. 11–13). To some degree, the emerging consideration of increasing students' competitiveness in the job markets in doctoral supervisors' understanding of supervisory goals in our study is a response to the modern changes in the nature of the academic profession and academics' understanding of who they are.</p> <p>Based on these above two individual dimensions of supervisory goals, our participants believed and hoped doctoral students could release their extending social roles in the family, workplace and the state.</p> <hd id="AN0191500327-10">The extending collective goals: realizing students' extending social roles</hd> <p>Our participants believed that virtue moulding and talents developing through research training can contribute to students' external kinglihood: being responsible carers to the family, dedicated backbones to the workplace (HYJ; JFM; LSJ), and being national constructors to the state (YG; ZJL). Only as such, this can be considered a successful cultivation by doctoral supervisors (ZFJ). In this sense, there are extending supervisory goals towards the family, the workplace, and the state based on the prevailing goal.</p> <p>For the extending goal towards the family, our participants expected doctoral students to be 'a good son [daughter], a good husband [wife] and a good father[mother]' (HYJ). The meaning of good first refers to internal moral quality in terms of 'being responsible'(QCF); and second, it refers to the external ability to shoulder the role of family carers (WJG). When talking about why doctoral training can contribute to students' family roles, ZFJ holds that 'a qualified doctoral degree holder should have the moral responsibility for their families, such as repaying their parents'.</p> <p>The example accounted by ZFJ regarding students' moral responsibility to their parents is representative of Confucianism where filiality, as embodied love, comes first among all human goodness (Tu, [<reflink idref="bib40" id="ref88">40</reflink>]). When talking about how doctoral training contributes to students' family roles, our participants believed that doctoral degree holders are financially able to offer their parents and children better living conditions (ZYX; LZY; LSJ). The utilitarian function of doctoral degrees in terms of supporting the family financially also echoes the secular aspect of being an intellectual in Confucianism (Tu, [<reflink idref="bib37" id="ref89">37</reflink>]).</p> <p>For the extending goal towards the workplace, doctoral supervisors in this article hold that the comprehensive and systematic research training received through doctoral supervision 'will make doctoral students backbones in their workplaces' (DSX) because 'what they have learnt [during the doctoral study] is professional expertise that can create value [to workplace]' (QYZ). More importantly, it is believed that 'doctoral degree holders will dedicate fully to their profession since being dedicated is how they conducted experiments in the laboratories again and again' (YX).</p> <p>For the extending goal towards the state, our data demonstrated that doctoral supervisors assigned patriotism a vital status regarding virtue moulding during doctoral supervision, which represents the supervisory goal of facilitating doctoral students' internal sagehood. Meanwhile, they believed that cultivating national constructors to be able to address the state's concerns is significant, which represents the supervisory goal of realizing doctoral students' external kinglihood. For example, YG stressed that,Graduates from our laboratory [a national laboratory in artificial intelligence] can earn high salaries in the industry. However, it is not the real value of doctoral learning. When you can earn several million a year, you should have a sense of thanksgiving to your nation, have the awareness to consider the nation's need.</p> <p>Similarly, ZW, ZJ, ZJL, and LZW posited it is important for doctoral supervisors to find the joint point between students' interests and national concerns. Similar findings can be found in previous studies (Bao et al., [<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref90">2</reflink>]; Zheng et al., [<reflink idref="bib51" id="ref91">51</reflink>]). Here, the nesting of individuals in the collectivity of China's HE is evident: 'The self-betterment of individuals in higher education is part of the collective contributions of higher education' (Marginson & Yang, [<reflink idref="bib27" id="ref92">27</reflink>], p.19).</p> <p>To interpret the above findings as answers to our second research question, we further draw on the synthesis of the social and cultural contexts in China as discussed above. Details interpretation of the data follow.</p> <hd id="AN0191500327-11">Understanding doctoral supervisors' understanding</hd> <p></p> <hd id="AN0191500327-12">Doctoral supervisory goals in China's social-cultural contexts</hd> <p>Dominating in our data is that doctoral supervision is a process facilitating students' self-transformation to <emph>REN</emph>, which is 'essentially social and active' (Chan, [<reflink idref="bib6" id="ref93">6</reflink>], p.309). In the social sense, doctoral students (when <emph>REN</emph> noted as person/人) are not outside observers conducting indifferent research. Instead, they are the central ego nested in extending social networks (Tu, [<reflink idref="bib37" id="ref94">37</reflink>]). In the active sense, <emph>REN</emph> (as noted as humanity/仁) is not merely 'a state of mind', but more crucially, an activity (Chan, [<reflink idref="bib6" id="ref95">6</reflink>], p.309): the practical application of knowing as to play the ego's various social roles well. This resonates with the national-social dynamics of the ripple-like structure of societal orders in China, where the social sectors, including the family, the science community, the workplace and the state, form concentric circles extending from the inner to the outer (Fei et al., [<reflink idref="bib8" id="ref96">8</reflink>]). Accordingly, doctoral supervisors in China aim to mould students' virtue and develop their talents through research training, as a way to cultivate the ego's power to shoulder their social roles. Such national-social contexts also reflect the harmonizing of knowing and doing (知行合一), stressing the practical application of learning (经世致用) in Confucianism (Tu, [<reflink idref="bib37" id="ref97">37</reflink>]).</p> <p>Additionally, the emerging consideration of students' competitiveness in job markets in our participants' understanding of supervisory goals shows supervisors are concerned with the 'autonomous individual' (Marginson & Yang, [<reflink idref="bib27" id="ref98">27</reflink>]). Based on our data, this, first, cannot be separated from the prevailing individual goals: the comprehensive and systematic research training offered by supervisors can benefit doctoral students' market competitiveness. Then, it is the response to the trend of diverse career paths for doctoral degree holders and the increasing competition in academic positions (Gu et al., [<reflink idref="bib13" id="ref99">13</reflink>]). This generates job insecurity thus anxiousness for both doctoral supervisors and students, who are in dilemmas of survival through publications and contributing to the science community through answering truly scientific questions.</p> <p>Despite part of the data demonstrating the Confucian humanism regarding egocentric social orders in China, there are few illustrations of the anthropocosmic view of goals concerning with the unity of humanity, universe and nature in a holistic sense of Confucian humanism. This, we argue, makes the supervisory goal to '<emph>REN</emph>' incomplete.</p> <hd id="AN0191500327-13">Where are the supervisory goals in the anthropocosmic view?</hd> <p>Traditionally, Confucian holistic humanism advocates 'no necessary tension between the individual benefits of higher education and the common and shared benefits'; and individuals are 'nested within, and expressed within, the other' (Marginson & Yang, [<reflink idref="bib27" id="ref100">27</reflink>], p.22). Here, 'the other' includes the world, the universe and nature. Indeed, the extending goals in doctoral supervision shown by our data move beyond the consideration of personal gains. Nonetheless, they are utilitarian. In our data, we did not identify enough anthropocosmic concerns such as global environmental issues and the sustainable future of the world community. This illustrates the loss of an anthropocosmic view in modern China's doctoral supervision, which makes our participants' supervisory goals of cultivating '<emph>REN</emph>' less holistic.</p> <p>As discussed above, our participants considered cultivating '<emph>REN</emph>' consisting of internal sagehood and external kinglihood as their ultimate supervisory goals; and students are expected to extend their social roles outward to different societal sectors. However, the extending circles in our data stopped at the state level without illustrations of the 'beyond'—the world, universe and nature. This is not the holistic meaning of '<emph>REN</emph>' of 'the highest excellence' (Gu, [<reflink idref="bib12" id="ref101">12</reflink>], p.22) in Confucian humanism, stressing the unity of humanity, universe, and nature (Tu, [<reflink idref="bib39" id="ref102">39</reflink>]). Indeed, individuals' efforts on the integration of 'personal self-cultivation, harmonized family life, and well-ordered states' is an important part of Confucian humanism. The sense of 'home' which expands to the natural world and larger cosmos is crucial to make this vision holistic. Developing and implementing such an expanded sense of home requires the consciousness of responsibility and transformative actions to the world, nature, and humankind (Tu, [<reflink idref="bib39" id="ref103">39</reflink>], pp.245–248). However, when probing into related topics, our participants again complained about the anxiousness and dilemmas academics and students are facing, thus, 'no reflections on connections between what we have done with the world, the nature' (ZJ). This results in 'the cultivation of our students without soul' (ZJL).</p> <p>Confucianism advocates that 'The object of a Higher Education is to bring out the intelligent moral power of our nature...and to enable us to abide in the highest excellence' (Gu, [<reflink idref="bib12" id="ref104">12</reflink>], p.6). This means the 'soul' (in ZJL's words) of a complete '<emph>REN</emph>' should look beyond the utilitarian ends, transcending to a harmonious world community, a harmonious relationship among human beings, species and environmental sustainability (Tu, [<reflink idref="bib39" id="ref105">39</reflink>]). Only students acquire knowledge and understanding of the world, universe and nature, can they develop the ethical responsibilities and transformative competencies to build a community of shared future for humankind (Xi, [<reflink idref="bib43" id="ref106">43</reflink>]), and to construct a nation with five-sphere developments in economy, polity, culture, society, and ecology (Hu, [<reflink idref="bib17" id="ref107">17</reflink>]), as emphasised by China's official discourse. Unfortunately, part of our data demonstrated the current practices in China were negative to the realisation of the anthropocosmic view. In addition to the penetration of senses of insecure and anxiety in the job markets, the shortage of transcendental education to cultivate students' self-cognition, transformative responsibilities, and community consciousness, which can break through the limitations of utilitarian functions of higher education (Wang, [<reflink idref="bib42" id="ref108">42</reflink>]), leaves the supervisory goal of cultivating '<emph>REN</emph>' incomplete in China's doctoral education.</p> <hd id="AN0191500327-14">Discussions and concluding remarks</hd> <p>The multiplicity of doctoral supervisors' supervisory goals, purposes and outcomes have been presented by existing studies (Bastalich, [<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref109">3</reflink>]; Halse & Malfroy, [<reflink idref="bib14" id="ref110">14</reflink>]; Lee, [<reflink idref="bib22" id="ref111">22</reflink>]; Maxwell & Smyth, [<reflink idref="bib29" id="ref112">29</reflink>]; Schneijderberg, [<reflink idref="bib34" id="ref113">34</reflink>]). Different authors have developed different categorizations, groupings, and dimensions to describe such multiplicity. However, they largely focused on concrete supervisory practices, rather than answering why supervisors did this or said that. That is, the theoretical explanation of contemporary doctoral supervision is insufficient (Maxwell & Smyth, [<reflink idref="bib29" id="ref114">29</reflink>]). When we tried to find theoretical answers to 'why' questions, we felt gaps between the Western way of presenting social orders like separate stacks and the rippled-like pattern of China's societal orders (Fei et al., [<reflink idref="bib8" id="ref115">8</reflink>]) (See Fig. 1). Close related, outcomes of higher education in China are intricately linked with the responsibilities students bear towards their families and broader societal circles. This is different from the West (especially Anglo-America), where individual outcomes enjoy the 'the normative primacy' (Marginson & Yang, [<reflink idref="bib27" id="ref116">27</reflink>], p. 21). Also, China is with no exception resonating with the changing landscapes of modern doctoral education generally and doctoral supervision specifically (Bao et al., [<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref117">2</reflink>]; Gu et al., [<reflink idref="bib13" id="ref118">13</reflink>]). In such contexts, this article is a response to the pressing theoretical and practical gaps existing in the current understanding of modern doctoral supervision and doctoral education through a social-cultural interpretation in China. Figure 3 helps to visualise the social-cultural interpretations of the findings in this article.</p> <p>Graph: Fig. 3 A social-cultural interpretation of doctoral supervisors' understanding of supervisory goals in China</p> <p>Figure 3 depicts 'an organic hybrid of old and new' (Marginson, [<reflink idref="bib26" id="ref119">26</reflink>], p. 607) interpretation of China's doctoral supervisors' understanding of their supervisory goals. Such understanding of supervisory goals is simultaneously embedded in social-cultural dynamics, especially ripple-like concentric social orders, traditional Confucianism, and present-day dilemmas in terms of professional survivals facing fierce competition in job markets and academia.</p> <p>At the core of the solid lines and arcs in black lies the 'Ego', symbolising doctoral students, whose cultivation as <emph>Ren</emph> is central to the supervisory endeavour in our participants' understandings. This is achieved through virtue moulding of doctoral students' ethical and moral character and talent developing in their intellectual and professional capabilities. The virtues here speak to the traditional Confucian emphasis on personal virtues, such as responsibility, dedication, and ethics; and the talents here refer to individuals' capabilities to act as repayors to their families, contributors to the workplace, innovators within the scientific community, and as active, responsible citizens at the state level. Such virtue moulding and talents developing are seen as integral to the individual's success as well as societal good (Tu, [<reflink idref="bib36" id="ref120">36</reflink>]). From there, doctoral supervision facilitates students' realisation of internal sagehood and external kinghood (Yang, [<reflink idref="bib49" id="ref121">49</reflink>]) through research training.</p> <p>The dotted arcs represent the emerging autonomous self in the dimension of individual goals, seen as a new ripple in competitive job markets. This suggests the imperatives for modern doctoral supervision to guide doctoral students towards readiness in job markets, while ensuring these future professionals carry with them a sense of collective responsibility, being stewards of society who understand their broader social role within the anthropocosmic framework of Confucianism.</p> <p>However, the dotted arcs in red reveal challenges that China's modern doctoral education faces in bringing the anthropocosmic view of Confucian humanism back to cultivate '<emph>REN</emph>' in a holistic sense, especially through strengthening humanism education towards the relationships between humans, the world, and nature. This represents an area for further exploration and development within the supervisory framework in China's doctoral education, pointing to the need for a more comprehensive approach that encapsulates the entirety of the Confucian vision of <emph>Ren</emph>.</p> <p>From the above constructs, the contributions of this article are two-fold.</p> <p>First and in the theoretical and global sphere, this article contributes to the increasing and ongoing efforts to develop a theoretical lens for understanding doctoral supervision and doctoral education, beyond simply describing the contents of doctoral supervisors' work (Maxwell & Smyth, [<reflink idref="bib29" id="ref122">29</reflink>]). This is achieved through interpreting how social and cultural contexts shape doctoral supervisors' understanding of supervisory goals in China. China owns the largest doctoral education system in the world and has become one of the significant actors in global doctoral education (Zheng et al., [<reflink idref="bib51" id="ref123">51</reflink>]). This article can not only offer the basis for comparative studies on doctoral education, but also call for global researchers to reflect on their social and cultural embeddedness when understanding doctoral education and supervision generally and supervisory goals specifically.</p> <p>Second, the practical implications for practitioners include but not limited to: broadening the criteria for assessing doctoral success to include metrics for virtue moulding and personal development, not just research output and job market readiness; reviewing and updating doctoral program curricula to integrate humanism education, such as community engagement, social responsibility, and sustainable practices; and enhancing supervisors' professional training programs, especially regarding how to integrate anthropocosmic view of Confucian humanism into supervision practices.</p> <p>For future research, it will be interesting to understand doctoral students' perceptions of China's doctoral education goals through synthesising the social and cultural dynamics, and to investigate impacts of social-cultural contexts on supervisory relationships. Additionally, international comparisons will facilitate our understanding of contemporary doctoral supervision globally.</p> <hd id="AN0191500327-15">Acknowledgements</hd> <p>The authors would like to warmly thank Professor Ruth Hayhoe for her enlightening comments and generous support and guidance for this article.</p> <hd id="AN0191500327-16">Funding</hd> <p>This work was supported by the National Social Sciences Fund of China on Educational Sciences Planning Project of the year of 2022 for National Youth Scholars—"International Comparison of the Organisational Models and Synergistic Mechanisms of the Research-Teaching Nexus" under grant number CIA220288.</p> <hd id="AN0191500327-17">Data Availability</hd> <p>The dataset will be available on reasonable request.</p> <hd id="AN0191500327-18">Declarations</hd> <p></p> <hd id="AN0191500327-19">Competing interests</hd> <p>The authors declare no competing interests.</p> <hd id="AN0191500327-20">Supplementary Information</hd> <p>Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.</p> <p>Graph: Supplementary file1 (DOCX 13 KB)</p> <hd id="AN0191500327-21">Publisher's Note</hd> <p>Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.</p> <ref id="AN0191500327-22"> <title> References </title> <blist> <bibl id="bib1" idref="ref8" type="bt">1</bibl> <bibtext> Åkerlind G, McAlpine L. 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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Doctoral+Programs%22">Doctoral Programs</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Doctoral+Students%22">Doctoral Students</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Supervision%22">Supervision</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Supervisor+Supervisee+Relationship%22">Supervisor Supervisee Relationship</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Goal+Orientation%22">Goal Orientation</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Foreign+Countries%22">Foreign Countries</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Confucianism%22">Confucianism</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Humanism%22">Humanism</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Supervisory+Methods%22">Supervisory Methods</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Individualism%22">Individualism</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Collectivism%22">Collectivism</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Moral+Development%22">Moral Development</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Talent+Development%22">Talent Development</searchLink>
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  Data: Limited academic attention has been paid to doctoral supervisors' understanding of multiple supervisory goals and social-cultural factors influencing their understanding. This has inhibited the theorisation of the multiplicity of modern doctoral supervision. Drawing on theoretical perspectives synthesising the ripple-like structure of societal orders as concentric circles and the anthropocosmic idea of Confucian humanism in China, this qualitative study interviewed Chinese doctoral supervisors in two research-intensive universities to understand doctoral supervisors' understanding of their supervisory goals. The findings first identified the ultimate supervisory goal: to cultivate REN through research training, which includes virtue moulding and talent developing. To realise the ultimate goal, two dimensions of supervisory goals dominate: the individual and collective. These illustrate that supervisory goals in China's doctoral education extend beyond individual academic achievements and moral developments to include collective contributions to the family, community, and larger societal circles. However, the missing of supervisory goals in the anthropocosmic view makes the meaning of 'REN' incomplete from the holistic sense of Confucian humanism. This article first contributes to understanding supervisory goals in modern China and offers a basis for international comparison. Second, it contributes to developing theoretical tools for understanding doctoral supervision by offering a social-cultural interpretation.
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        PageCount: 18
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      – SubjectFull: Doctoral Programs
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Doctoral Students
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      – SubjectFull: Supervision
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      – SubjectFull: China
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              Value: 91
            – Type: issue
              Value: 1
          Titles:
            – TitleFull: Higher Education: The International Journal of Higher Education Research
              Type: main
ResultId 1