Higher education students' views of conducting traditional research projects under supervision

Universities compete for an increasingly diverse student population by utilising digital technology to meet educational requirements. The literature currently lacks an empirical assessment of undergraduate and masters students' views of research and academic writing skills teaching. We sought the views of business students in a mixed methods study utilising survey and focus group data underpinned by an interpretivist methodology. Our qualitative and quantitative findings and results demonstrate students' enthusiasm for our traditional approach to teaching research and academic writing skills. Students particularly benefit from supervisors' guidance in this endeavour. We therefore advocate retention of traditional approaches to teaching research and academic writing skills to meet students' needs to make universities competitive in an international market. Further research is now required to determine the views of university undergraduate and masters students in all disciplines. Supervisors, whose contributions are valued by students, need now to be equally recognised by their universities.