‘There are other people out there!’ Successful postgraduate peer groups and research communities at a New Zealand university

Abstract

Recent research has highlighted the various benefits of postgraduate peer support, including timely degree completion. This article describes and considers an initiative that sought to manufacture postgraduate peer-support groups and communities at a New Zealand university. It intends to further understanding of this area and, in particular, to discuss positive characteristics of postgraduate peer groups and the role of the institution in supporting them. Drawing on interviews with 12 postgraduate peer leaders, key findings include: the possibility of manufacturing peer-support groups, with a legitimising function coming from overt institutional support; that peer groups can be made up of students from across a wide range of postgraduate courses and disciplines; that, given an open mandate from the institution, peer leaders can contribute to the challenge of creating a positive research community; and that a collaborative institution-wide approach to postgraduate support provision is achievable.