Are you in the 'smart set'? Supporting group scholarship and learning in higher educationThe teaching of university based higher degrees depends on a substantial amount of autonomous and proactive scholarship. Higher education has always demanded rigour in the search of literature, the presentation of a well-founded argument and a creative insight into new ideas and possibilities. However, the struggle to make good argument and to create new ideas needs a discursive impetus. A student who works alone with the intellectual interaction of one person i.e., the supervisor is surely disadvantaged. This is the normal situation for the majority of students doing higher degrees in universities. The tradition in Europe and elsewhere is that once students have registered for a higher degree they undertake their study through individual study and writing. This is primarily because the assessment of students rests upon an evaluation of their ability to engage in scholarship. Scholarship is related to a thorough understanding of the literature, especially research, in the area under study, and an ability to integrate previous and current ideas into a new construction of the educational issues and questions under scrutiny.My contention is that good scholarship and research needs the input of regular discussion and debate from a peer group to advance. I have developed strategies for the facilitation of peer support for students at MA and PhD level, from practice, that enable students to develop a deeper understanding of concepts, ideas and theories. An aspect of this theoretical development is a clearer self-understanding and self-evaluation which is integral to the 'group' process. The peer group I now wish to refer to as the 'smart set'. These are 'students', usually professional adults who share the chosen research interest or methodology with you. This 'set' are usually initially registered at the same time and share common academic interests. They may be allocated different supervisors yet meet together, in addition to their individual supervision to discuss their investigations. Research on my own practice in facilitating a 'smart set' has led to the discovery of certain principles which support a successful conclusion for the students which they attribute to their membership of a 'set'. This discovery has been of interest to many colleagues in higher education because it can enable the advancement of scholarship through peer support which has few cost implications for the university. The advantage of teaching adults is that they can act both autonomously and/or collectively. The university lecturer or tutor acts as organizer, director and facilitator of the 'smart set' to achieve their academic aims. The paper will outline the procedures learned from practice, the principles gained from the experiences and open up debate about the possibilities of its future use in higher education.