Fostering the resilience of graduate students

Abstract

This paper originates from research carried out by an international team of university professors interested in protective factors promoting the resilience of graduate students, in particular regarding the student-supervisor relationship. Following a literature review on the subject, the paper presents the resilience factors affecting the student and those relating to the supervisor. The main factors that appear to promote the resilience of graduate students are individual, family and environmental protective factors (as gender, temperament, cultural background, personal history of schooling, motivation, family support, being childless, wealth of the social support network, means offered by the supervisor and the university). For the supervisor, the main protective factors appear to be individual (experience, style and role assumed towards the student, support the student’s empowerment as his/her schooling progresses). The reciprocal adjustment throughout the studies between the supervisor and the student appears essential to promote their tuning for the resilience and the success in the graduate studies.