A new doctoral programme led and coordinated by Stellenbosch University's Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences to support university staff members to complete their PhDs was launched recently.

The South Africa-UK University Staff Doctoral Programme (USDP) also involves Fort Hare University's Faculty of Management and Commerce and the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of the University of Bath. The African Doctoral Academy will lend its support and experience in delivering short courses for doctoral students across the SADC region.

Upping PhD numbers

With funding support from the South African Department of Higher Education and Training and the British Council, the USDP programme aims to increase the number of academic staff with PhDs, while enhancing the overall quality of doctoral qualifications in South Africa.

To date, only around 40 per cent of academic staff at South African universities have a PhD and staff undertaking doctoral research often face significant challenges in completing their degrees. This is particularly true at historically disadvantaged universities like the University of Fort Hare and among disadvantaged demographics, including black, working-class and female staff.

To address this issue, the USDP concept was launched by the South African government in the context of wider Higher Education reform for widening participation, encouraging both new international links and stronger connections between research-intensive and disadvantaged universities within the country. In 2017, a pilot call was launched for consortia with US universities, followed in 2018 by a second call for partnerships with the UK.

Prof Christo Boshoff, Vice-Dean of Research in the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences, gave a brief overview of the state of PhD education in South Africa.

“At the moment South Africa has 46 PhDs per one million citizens, compared to 465 In Switzerland and 406 in the UK.  We are still a long way off from the goals that were set by the (South African government's) National Planning Commission to produce more than 5 000 PhD graduates every year by the year 2030. I can with a reasonable amount of confidence say that South African academics are not as qualified compared to other countries, with only about 34% of academics with doctoral degrees."

​Boshoff said PhDs are important for the economic and reputational welfare of universities.

“Without PhDs we lose postgraduate students and research subsidies, because only academics with PhDs can supervise PhD students. By not having adequately qualified academics staff we compromise our reputation as a top university. It is important to us because we want to contribute to addressing and hopefully solving national and even international problems. We want to contribute to economic policy, public health issues, social economic problems, business-related issues, management-related issues. Universities should be a key role player in any knowledge economy."

Prof Munacinga Simatele, Deputy Dean of Research and Internationalisation at Fort Hare, said:  “I think it is going to be a very good programme for our students, because having a tripartite relationship comes with the benefits of networking which is extremely important at the PhD level. We also welcome the involvement of additional supervisors, which will also expose our students to a different way of thinking on this journey."

Prof David Galbreath, Dean of the Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences, commented: “I am very excited about the launch of the USDP programme. Building on our successful partnership with Stellenbosch University, this innovative consortium will see Bath contribute to staff doctoral training in South Africa and join forces to revitalise and strengthen the links between academia and policy-making in the country. As a partner to this programme, we will benefit from new, interdisciplinary links in international development studies, while building new policy research networks for our students and staff."

First intake

Ten excellent candidates at Stellenbosch University and the University of Fort Hare have been selected to join the programme from 2021-2026 to study towards a PhD degree in the field of public policy and inclusive development.

All candidates are current academic or administrative staff at their home institutions, and bring prior experience in academia, industry or the public sector.

Through the USDP project, they will benefit from a part-time, blended programme, including cohort-based research training, professional skills development, and international mobility for research visits, conferences and summer schools. Tailored support will further include teaching buy-outs, virtual interactive platforms, and a programme structure bridging the formats of academic and professional doctorates.

Academics from Stellenbosch, Bath and Fort Hare will provide co-supervision, mentoring and support for the cohort-building activities.

• The following SU staff members have been selected for the programme: Jacomien van der Merwe, Mosima Ngwenya, Kurt Marais, Ashlene van der Berg Ross and Megan Bruwer.
  
  
• Photo supplied: Bath, Stellenbosch and Fort Hare colleagues at the USDP scoping workshop in Stellenbosch in 2019.