This article provides a quantitative picture of doctoral education in South Africa up to 2010, from the time the first doctorate was awarded in 1899. It identifies the different institutional profiles and emphases of doctoral graduation in South African universities at various periods of time in the context of economic, political and social change. In addition, it analyses the progress that has taken place in attaining the national goal of equity, redress and increased research production to allow South Africa to become a player in the knowledge economy.The article is based on a comprehensive database of all the doctoral degrees awarded by South African universities for over a century. This database was compiled by triangulating various data sources.

With globalisation and the rise of the knowledge economy, there has been a worldwide increase in demand for higher education (HE) which has resulted in the proliferation of private higher education institutions (PHEIs). Subsequently, quality assurance (QA) and the management of the QA processes of these institutions have become increasingly important.QA of PHEIs in South Africa is a contested area. On the one hand, it aims at protecting the public from unscrupulous providers, on the other, the complexity of the QA legislative framework has become a major concern to private providers. This qualitative study focused on the experiences of PHEIs in South Africa in the management of QA, while at the same time complying with QA and accreditation processes.Based on the Octet of Quality in Higher Education, a model adapted from Zaki and Zaki Rashidi (2013); the findings identified three major categories related to the barriers and challenges particular to PHEIs as they engage in the management of QA; namely, resources, such as physical and financial resources; capacity development, such as staff roles and responsibilities, academic leadership and development, and research; and programme design, including curriculum design.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss both the status of the PhD in South Africa and the feasibility of the country's aspiration to increase by fivefold the production of PhDs by 2025. Based on the first empirical studies on doctoral education in South Africa, it is argues that in order to move towards this target an expanded and coordinated effort is necessary.This includes the removal of barriers that hinder the expansion of the South African higher education system. In particular the paper highlights insufficient funding, policy that stands in the way of expansion, scarcity of students and limited supervisory capacity, lack of recognition in the value of the doctorate and higher learning as well as limited and inadequate partnerships. The main question is whether South Africa can achieve the desired outcome by following international trends or whether the expansion target is merely a pipedream.

South African universities need more academics with PhDs, from historically disadvantaged population groups in particular, but they face a conundrum. In order to have more staff with PhDs, they need to produce more PhD graduates. But in order to produce more PhD graduates, they need more staff with PhDs to supervise. This article explores this conundrum by comparing academic qualifications with national policies and targets, by developing a quantitative profile of staff without PhDs and describing government and institutional measures to improve academic qualifications. An institution's supervisory capacity is found to be closely related to institutional history. Four main factors are identified: (a) whether or not the institution was originally established as a traditional university or as a technikon; (b) whether or not it was advantaged or disadvantaged under apartheid, which was closely related to the racial group for which it was established; (c) whether or not it was merged post 2004; and if so, (d) with what type of institution it was merged.

This qualitative case study explores the integration of entrepreneurship education (EE) across the curricula in two public universities in Tanzania. Based on Shapero’s model of the entrepreneurial event, the feasibility and desirability of EE in the selected universities are analysed. In-depth interviews and document analysis were used for data collection. The findings show that cross-curricula EE remains limited, largely because its implementation does not fit the pedagogical needs of some disciplines. However, the study highlights the significant role of donor support in enhancing the feasibility of fostering EE across the curricula.