Advisory Support System
Detalle BN6
- Inicio
- Advisory Support System
Advisory Support System
Accompaniment System
- Outline
ITESO graduate programs center the learning process around students as the main actors; they are seen as having sufficient autonomy to take on the double role of agents and beneficiaries of educational work, complemented by their interaction with peers and the program faculty.
The Jesuit educational model exalts human dignity and freedom, and therefore is sensitive to the individual, social and historical dimensions of the human person. For this reason, ITESO graduate programs seek the comprehensive development of the person. They do not focus only on the production, application and dissemination of knowledge, or on the mere intellectual development of those who enroll.
The centrality of students and their final projects is consistent with this educational vision. One implication is that ITESO professors take on the role of facilitators who recognize the value of the support they offer. Professors are fully aware that students are at the university to search for answers to concrete questions, which calls for the development of abilities to pose such questions, and to construct new paths of inquiry. Supporting this process, through a tutorial system or accompaniment, is the nucleus of academic work in ITESO graduate programs.
This tutorial system, developed through collective and individual strategies, seeks to promote a balance in the student-professor relationship, in a way that favors the construction of bridges between the research, innovation and development interests of students, and the lines of generation and application of knowledge of each particular graduate program and their connection to other graduate programs.
The academic accompaniment offered by this person-oriented system gives priority to collective production scenarios. It promotes interaction between students and professors as a kind of collaborative learning space where the dissonance created by constructive criticism can foster the reflective process and the collective construction of knowledge.
Accompaniment articulates the different formative dimensions (individual, social and historical) in each of the curricular periods that make up the graduate program. It is not limited to the professors' input, nor is it configured by individual moments disconnected from the program's overall academic activity. Instead, it seeks to integrate individual moments into a systemic vision that encourages pertinent decision-making in each student's project.
This accompaniment system is the foundation of the formation process of students enrolled in the PhD program in Engineering Sciences. The system favors the integration of each student's research interests, allowing them to choose and participate in a variety of learning scenarios and curricular content offered by ITESO graduate programs, while they follow a defined path towards the objective for which they entered the PhD program.
The institutional representatives who participate in the accompaniment system of the doctorate in Engineering Sciences are: a) the program coordinator, b) the admission committee, c) the tutor or thesis advisor, d) the doctoral faculty, and e) the thesis committee or supervisory committee.
- Distinctions and definition
Academic accompaniment is the name given to the comprehensive process of follow-up that students receive during their tenure in the graduate program in order to support their decision-making as it relates to their formation process and the development of the academic product for which they will receive their degree within the time set by the program.
Accompaniment is different from advisory support in that the former considers the process in its entirety; advisory support, in contrast, as one accompaniment mechanism implemented in collective or individual scenarios, addresses specific theoretical, methodological or operational aspects, and is provided by one or more professors to the students.
In the PhD program in Engineering Sciences, thesis supervision is the responsibility of the tutor, who assists the students in the development of their final projects in predefined curricular moments.
- Objective of the accompaniment system
To enhance students' overall formation based on accompaniment that facilitates the optimal construction of their academic paths, as well as the successful development and conclusion of their graduation project.
- Functions of the accompaniment system
- To ensure that students who are admitted into the program have a personal project that can be linked and addressed through the academic work developed within the research lines of the PhD program.
- To provide follow-up and academic orientation to students from the time they are admitted until they obtain their degree.
- To give orientation and support to students in the definition and systematic development of their research projects, so that they finish on time and in proper form.
- To supervise students' academic performance throughout their tenure in the program, so that they can solve problems and gain autonomy.
- To promote interdisciplinary work that helps students reach the objective they defined in their projects.
- To promote the development of the competencies, skills and attitudes included in the PhD graduate profile.
- To encourage students to participate in educational activities related to the problems addressed in their projects.
- To increase joint academic production among faculty and students (conference presentations, publications and internal research reports).
- To help increase terminal efficiency rates and motivate students to stay enrolled in the academic program.
- To give orientation to students regarding the appropriate and timely selection of academic scenarios to promote a comprehensive educational process.
- To map out, together with each student, the best path for researching or transforming the target problem they have chosen.
- To review, critique and make suggestions regarding the selected project as a way to encourage students to develop their own research capacity, and to promote innovation, independent work and the critical analysis of information.
- To create the conditions for students to deepen their knowledge about their project by consulting with experts and interacting with academic peers.
- To promote academic dialogue between professors and students from different educational levels (undergraduate, specialization, master's, and PhD), as well as the technical-scientific vitality of university life.
Some of these functions of the accompaniment system are performed primarily by the tutor or thesis supervisor.
- Operation of the accompaniment system
This accompaniment system gives priority to collective tutoring centered on a shared problem-object, and encourages dialogue and the construction of interdisciplinary knowledge. The collective approach is preferred because of the possibilities it offers for the social construction of knowledge and interdisciplinary work, due to the catalyzing effect it has on students' formation, and the motivation it gives students to create and develop their projects.
In most cases, collective accompaniment led by the thesis supervisor will be enough to solve theoretical-methodological issues. When it comes to training on very specific topics, students can also ask for individual advisory sessions.
To carry out the task of tutoring or thesis direction, the faculty includes experts in the selected problem who facilitate its theoretical-methodological solution. The thesis supervisor is a member of the program faculty, and can be either a full-time professor or a part-time professor who works in industry doing research and development. The admissions committee is the collegiate body that designates a tutor or thesis supervisor for each student. This designation considers each student's project, the faculty members' lines of research, and the results of previous dialogues between students and faculty, in the moments established for this purpose.
For the actual implementation of the accompaniment system, the PhD program offers several interrelated elements that constitute opportunities for learning and formation, with the participation of students and professors alike. They are:
- Admission Exam
- Research Seminar in Engineering
- RDI Seminars (research, development and innovation)
- Advisory Sessions
- Graduate Program Colloquium
- Thesis Committee Evaluation
- Doctoral Thesis Defense
Year |
Term |
Elements of the Accompaniment System |
||||||
Admission Exam |
Engineering Research Seminars |
RDI Seminars |
Thesis Committee Evaluation |
Advisory Sessions |
Graduate Program Colloquium |
Doctoral Thesis Defense |
Terms: Fall (August-December) Spring (January-May), or Summer. Students may start the doctoral program in any term.
Elements of the accompaniment system of the doctorate in engineering sciences. The shaded boxes indicate the timeframes for the implementation of each element.
The table above shows the time distribution of the different elements of the PhD accompaniment system. The orange shaded boxes indicate the timeframes for the implementation of each element, considering that 4 years is the ordinary duration of the program, with 3 years as a minimum, and 5 years as a maximum.
- 1 Admission Exam
The admission exam is one of the candidate selection instruments (see the Admissions section). The process is carried out by an ad casum admissions committee made up of the program coordinator plus 3 members of the faculty, who review the application and evaluate the candidate during a technical presentation following a pre-established format.
- 2 Engineering Research Seminar
This seminar is the only fundamentals course in study plan of the PhD program in engineering sciences. It is a required course worth 8 credits, and must be taken in any one of the student's first four terms in the program. The purpose of this seminar is to introduce students to the formal aspects of research, emphasizing those aspects with the greatest relevance in engineering and technological development, as well as their impact on economic growth and the alleviation of poverty.
- 3 RDI Seminars (Research, Development, and Innovation)
ITESO's doctoral program in engineering sciences focuses on research under the apprenticeship model. From the beginning, students work closely with their tutor or thesis supervisor, who is a member of the program faculty. The curricular implementation of the researcher-apprentice work occurs in the research, development and innovation courses (RDI), known as RDI Seminars, which are intended to be collective (involving students from other graduate levels who work on the same problem-object, and as far as possible, undergraduate students too). Each PhD student must enroll in at least one RDI Seminar in each term in order to complete a minimum of 9 seminars and a maximum of 13 (see Study Plan section), depending on the progress they have made on their research project, as well as their level of dedication to the program.
- 4 Advisory Sessions
Advisory sessions are for orienting students on specific theoretical, methodological, and technical-operational aspects of their academic project. Advisory sessions may be scheduled at any time from the beginning to the end of the program, and may be offered by any member of the program faculty. They are asynchronous to the school calendar, have no pre-established periodicity, and are scheduled as extracurricular activities according to the needs of each student and his or her research project.
- 5 Graduate Program Colloquium
The colloquium of the graduate program in engineering is conceived as a formal and open space where students share and discuss their research projects, receive academic feedback on them, and exercise and develop their academic communication skills. The expectation is that colloquium will become a setting for systematic discussion and academic reflection that promotes the recognition of diverse research problem-objects and different ways to approach them, stimulates academic dialogue and the construction of interdisciplinary knowledge, and facilitates communication and collaboration among students from different academic levels (undergraduate, specialization, master's degree, and PhD). The graduate program colloquium is an annual event.
- 6 Thesis committee evaluations
The thesis committee evaluations are designed to provide collective follow-up on students' research projects and periodic assessment of their performance. The thesis committee evaluates the progress made, analyzes the obstacles encountered, provides alternative solutions, and collectively grades the student's progress. These evaluations occur annually, starting from the student's first year of work in the program. The thesis committee may fail a student if s/he shows no progress on the thesis development, in which case the student is automatically dropped from the program. The thesis committee is made up of 3 program faculty members, including the thesis director, as well as a researcher from outside the program (from another educational institution or from industry). Each student's thesis committee is designated by the program coordinator considering the opinion of the thesis director.
- 7 Doctoral thesis defense
The purpose of the doctoral thesis defense is to make a comprehensive evaluation of students in terms of their ability to formulate, develop, and complete original research projects with a solid theoretical foundation, a methodology that is consistent with the problem being addressed, and with a verifiable scientific validation. It also serves to verify the students' ability to communicate the results of their research project, their ability to recognize opportunities for improvement and to identify future research lines suggested by their own work. The doctoral thesis defense is a public event, held before the thesis committee members who followed up on the student's project, and who serve as evaluators during the thesis defense. The date for the PhD thesis defense can be scheduled once the student has fulfilled the rest of the graduation requirements.