Stellenbosch University
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Graduate School welcomes PhD students of 2020
Author: Daniel Bugan
Published: 06/02/2020

The Graduate School of Economic and Management Sciences (GEM) welcomed its 2020 intake of PhD students at a function in Stellenbosch on Tuesday.

Home of a full-time residential doctoral programme, GEM was established as part of the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences' (EMS) research strategy. In 2014, the first full-time PhD students started work on their three-year research projects. The initiative was further expanded in 2015 with the Graduate School for Staff in Economic and Management Sciences (STEM).

GEM offers financial aid coupled with a partially structured support programme and helps students with the substance of their studies in order to obtain a PhD over three years. STEM provides a similar support programme which gives faculty staff an opportunity to work part-time on their PhDs over four to five years.

Although most of the full-time students are from elsewhere in Africa, the School has hosted students from China, Austria, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Germany.

EMS Faculty Dean Prof Ingrid Woolard told the new cohorts that GEM's focus is to produce well-adjusted, successful PhD graduates.

“This journey is not just about producing the thesis, it is about producing the best possible graduate, about you becoming a stellar researcher and setting yourself up for a good career. Yes, your thesis is important and one of the most beautiful things you will ever create, but it's not everything. Gem offers amazing opportunities for development, so make the most of them," she said.

Manager of the School Dr Jaco Franken, said, “We try to take in about 10 students every year. It is a fairly sustainable number to fund through donor funding, and to supervise.

“This year we have a candidate from Germany, two South Africans and six from African countries Ghana, Zimbabwe, Kenya and Uganda."
Since 2014, the School has taken in 69 students of which 35% is South African and the rest from 17 countries around the world. A total of 31 students have graduated from the programme so far.

Franken said the School receives around 200 applications every year.

“It (the scramble for places) is immensely competitive. That is a large part of the success of the programme. We have consistently been able to bring in the very best students, thereby creating a great environment for these students to work in. They are also able to build influential connections for the rest of their lives."

Two of the nine 2020 PhD programme inductees opened up on their reasons for choosing GEM and their plans for their doctoral studies.

German student Carolin Welser, who previously completed part of her BCom studies at SU, said it is the quality of the education and support at the institution that convinced her to apply for her PhD at GEM.

She said the proposal that she put forward for acceptance into the programme and on which her doctoral studies would be based, involves corporate social responsibility and its effect on consumer behaviour.

Christer Anditi, a graduate from the University of Nairobi, Kenya, said her thesis aims to focus on the implications of gender on energy innovations.

“The reason why I chose to do this is that innovations in general are failing, and energy innovations in particular fail to be adopted by people who need them the most. One of the factors that has not yet been fully addressed is gender, and my aim is to work out how best we can include gender as part of innovation processes to enhance and promote adoption of energy technologies."

Local and international donors who have come on board because of the success of the GEM programme, include the Millennium Trust and the German Academic Exchange Service.

  • Photo by Anton Jordaan: Students of the Graduate School of Economic and Management Sciences with the Dean, Prof Ingrid Woolard (in a black dress in the front row), their study leaders and Dr Jaco Franken, Manager of the School (in the back row with a blue shirt and beard).