Over the decades, postgraduate studies have evolved and expanded to become more complicated than ever. Without the right support tools, research teams may find it difficult to overcome these obstacles, ultimately bringing projects to a standstill. By leveraging technology, research administrators have the opportunity to turn things around and revive their efforts.
Challenges of today’s postgraduate research
As research projects continue to branch out and become more multidisciplinary, so does the number of stakeholders involved. This growth poses a significant challenge in managing communication and collaboration among researchers, supervisors, and administrators.
The lack of communication between stakeholders is not just a problem for planning and scheduling tasks. It is also a serious barrier to clarifying research goals and deadlines as well as monitoring progress. Without clear objectives, your research projects can become confused and mismanaged, wasting time and resources.
Even if communication channels are available and open, they may not be transparent or prompt enough, resulting in inaccurate information and miscommunication. Not only does this make it difficult to resolve disagreements and maintain accountability, but it also requires more effort to untangle the issues, distracting researchers from their higher-priority tasks.
Another side effect of the ever-growing nature of research is the exponential increase in documentation and reporting needs of large-scale projects. While reporting is necessary to track progress, it can quickly become an administrative burden if not managed effectively. Moreover, if the research team does not have the skills or resources to handle the additional efforts, repetitive paperwork can quickly bog down the entire project.
All of these hurdles build upon one another, stressing researchers to the point where they run out of time and energy to deal with the project’s high-priority aspects.
Leverage the power of technology
While the current challenges are far greater than before, today’s postgraduate studies have a major advantage over research projects of yesteryear — technology. Gone are the days of manual reporting and tracking, with inboxes filling up with email after email.
Digital solutions are changing the game through specialized automation, providing a centralized platform to manage repetitive tasks and track changes. Less time is wasted sifting through old reports and emails to determine where a project stands. Research administration software reduces the workload and boosts overall efficiency, so more time and energy can be spent moving projects forward.
The latest digital tools can also improve accessibility, visibility, and accountability, ensuring everyone is up to date on planning and scheduling. At a glance, anyone on the team can quickly gauge how their project is progressing in real-time, with minimal back and forth. This further facilitates communication and collaboration. With researchers, supervisors, and administrators all on the same page, there is less confusion and miscommunication, making it easier and faster to settle disagreements.
But while technology can reduce the administrative burden for institutions, not all digital solutions are equal. For software to be beneficial, it must be designed with the unique needs of research departments in mind.
Level the playing field with Cayuse
To overcome the challenges delaying research projects, higher education institutions need tailored research software like Cayuse’s Graduate Education Manager. These types of solutions can easily integrate into existing student record systems and enable researchers, supervisors, and administrators to quickly create comprehensive, up-to-date records on research projects while making them instantly visible to team members.
With Graduate Education Manager, records are saved in a central location, enabling extensive reporting on every aspect of a postgraduate research program. Additionally, this solution permits researchers and supervisors to record meetings and share them with the entire team for reference in the future.
From saving time and optimizing processes to enhancing communication and minimizing administrative overhead, digital solutions like Cayuse’s Graduate Education Manager can enable more efficient management of research projects from inception to completion.
