Roles and responsibilities of stakeholders

NUS Supervisors

The NUS Supervisor plays an advisory role, and is to:

• Advise students on possible areas of research study.
• Guide students in narrowing, in refining and deciding on the research topic, and in designing the research.
• Recommend relevant resources for students to pursue research.
• Provide only verbal critique of students’ drafts (students’ drafts may be submitted in soft or hard copy; as a full or partial drafts as deemed appropriate for specific student needs in time); rewriting or editing students’ drafts are not permitted.
• Monitor the progress of the students, and suggest remedial action where necessary.
• Provide guidance on research ethics, where necessary.
• Advise on the presentation of the Extended Essay.
• Provide a maximum of six meetings (either face-to-face or video-conference) to individual students.
• Provide timely and appropriate guidance on the research skills the students would require in order to complete their research papers.
• Only approve candidate’s proposed topics that they are familiar with. They should not approve a candidate’s proposed topic for which data is limited as the NUS Supervisor would then not be able to provide sufficient guidance to the candidate.
• Explain to students how the Extended Essay will be assessed.

NUS Supervisors are required to provide the students with specific guidance in scoping their research and gathering literature reviews and data.

NUS Supervisors will ensure that the completed Extended Essay is an accurate reflection of the students’ individual effort. Assistance beyond what is stipulated will be considered “over-assisting” the candidates. They should be mindful that they should not provide feedback to student drafts that include editing or rewriting as the HSSR is meant to assess candidates’ independent research work.

All discussions of students’ essays are to be carried out during and confined to the six face-to-face consultations. There should be no email discussions of students’ research essays. All consultations with NUS Supervisors will end in May. The students and NUS Supervisors are encouraged to have at least one meeting close to the end of the mentorship period.

Teacher Coordinators

Each school with students offering NUS-MOE HSSR will be required to appoint a Teacher Coordinator whose role is mainly administrative.

Teacher Coordinators will:

• Ensure that successful student applicants complete the online registration and acceptance procedures.
• Collect and submit the essays.
• Monitor the students' progress, including their meetings with NUS Supervisors.
• Serve as the point of contact if the Supervisor needs to follow up on students' attendance, attitude, performance and other issues.

Teacher Coordinators will not be involved in the actual research and writing process.