Perceived Assessment Requirements in the Contemporary Biomedical Doctorate: A Case-Study from a Research Intensive Australian University

The present work draws on semi-structured interviews with Ph.D. students and supervisors working at an Australian Group of Eight University and uses elements of constructive alignment as a lens to discuss perceptions of assessment requirements for a doctorate in the biomedical sciences.
Herein, we identify i) significant ambiguity among students regarding their understanding of learning objectives and the criteria on which they are assessed, ii) a large degree of agreement between supervisor perceptions of assessment criteria and the stated assessment criteria, and iii) a perception (common to both supervisors and students) that public ation of research findings is a key element of doctoral assessment. We suggest that improving the alignment of stated and perceived assessment criteria may assist socialising students to the doctoral learning environment and improve learning outcomes in the contemporary biomedical doctorate.