The purpose of this research was to analyse the relationship development and communication competence of MPhil/PhD supervisors. A confirmatory mixed-methods research design was used to conduct the study in two stages. For both phases, 360 MPhil/PhD graduates and 72 supervisors were selected from four public universities in Punjab using a multistage sampling technique. Data were collected electronically from 239 MPhil/PhD graduates during phase-I using an adapted questionnaire from ASHA's supervision model, while in phase-II, 72 MPhil/PhD supervisors were interviewed to cross-check the Phase-I findings. According to MPhil/PhD graduates, their supervisors have relationship development and communication competence. During interviews, most MPhil/PhD supervisors refute their supervisees' claims and offer suggestions to improve supervisors' competence. Based on supervisor suggestions, the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan should revise the supervision structure, provide Postdoctoral fellowships to all supervisors, and promote international conferences. This study may be helpful to supervisors in self-evaluation as well as understanding relationship development and communication competence.

This qualitative study has been conducted under the interpretivist paradigm to explore the research difficulties faced by the MPhil Scholars during their MPhil Thesis phase. There were 25 MPhil Scholars studying in five Universities based in the Punjab who have been selected purposively for this study. These Scholars were enrolled in the MPhil, Education program. The data have been collected with the help of a semi-structured interview protocol comprising 12 questions. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the collected data. The results revealed that the majority of the students were not forced to select their supervisor on teachers’ referrals. However, the majority of the students were not given the opportunity to select their topics for research, rather their supervisors allotted them the topics. Similarly, their supervisors and even the chairperson(s) of the department(s) were not easily available to them. The students also have faced issues regarding access to the university E-library, needed books from the library and paid content, etc.