This paper explores the transitions that a group of students, admitted from further education colleges as part of broader widening access initiative at a Scottish research-intensive university, made across the lifetime of their degrees. It investigates how they negotiate their learning careers beyond the first year, and how they (re)define their…

A developmental process consisting of four phases that emerged from graduate students' reports of their experiences in a course promoting self-direction is outlined and compared with research on similar processes in other groups. (MSE)

A discussion of the structure of the social sciences doctorate in the United Kingdom looks at the debate over whether the doctoral degree process should be viewed as education or training, the situation in other countries, graduate student learning and development processes, collegiality, the graduate student-advisor relationship, and student…