Judith MacCallum

This volume examines the diversified and challenging experiences of Chinese international STEM doctoral students at Australian institutes of higher education, exploring how intersections between research, personal life, and social experiences can be negotiated to achieve academic success and personal transformation. By drawing on a range of qualitative and longitudinal research methods, the book foregrounds student narratives and utilizes a novel three-dimensional multi-world framework as an effective approach for understanding student experiences in a holistic way. It integrates Chinese philosophical perspectives and theories in the fields of educational psychology, international education, and doctoral education to interpret the nuances, complexity, and particularities of the cross-cultural STEM PhD experience, highlighting the importance of the supervisor–mentee relationship and the role of students’ cultural, social, and philosophical values in supporting their successful completion of the PhD degree. The analysis thus provides new insights into the ways in which these experiences vary across students, and might apply in other national contexts, and to non-STEM student cohorts. This book will be a valuable resource for researchers and academics engaged in cross-cultural education, the sociology of education, and international and comparative education. It will be of particular interest to those with a focus on international doctoral education and cultural Asian studies.

This guide book was put together over 2006 and 2007 using some of the latest research about what makes mentoring programs work well. It is detailed and easy to read and understand, and gives practical ideas about planning a program, and training mentors as well as finding useful resources to make programs run well. It comes with a handy CD that contains material useful for getting a program off the ground. The authors of the book have worked as both researchers and practitioners and brought a wide range of mentoring experience to the task.

Mentoring is gaining popularity as a professional learning strategy for educators at all phases of their development. A majority of mentoring writers argue the importance of some kind of training for mentors. Training for mentees is mentioned less often. This training, which might be better referred to as preparation and support, needs to be considered as integral to the development and implementation of a formal mentoring program. In developing principles for the training of mentors and mentees for participation in mentoring, this review outlines the concept of mentoring and the implications of different conceptualisations for training participants. A number of training courses and programs are reviewed in the light of the principles identified.