The PhD conundrum in South African academia

Breier, Mignonne; Herman, Chaya

doi:10.1111/hequ.12134

Cited by 20 publications

(22 citation statements)

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“…Moreover, the differences in PhD students' success found across the program clusters and the modes of study may raise the necessary enquiry and understanding to the causes of the differences in success and hence allow the university stakeholders to design appropriate strategies to improve PhD success per specific domain. Similar findings to this study have been reported in other countries, such as South Africa, USA, and Australia, and, therefore, they are not unique to Kenya (Bair & Haworth, 2004;Breier & Herman, 2017;Cloete et al, 2015;Council of Graduate Schools, 2009;Gittings et al, 2018). In addition, this study paves way for more research on PhD education in developing countries and especially in Kenya.…”

Section: Implications Of the Studysupporting

confidence: 89%

“…However, the PhD graduates supply presents a gloomy picture as Kenyan universities graduated a total of 1,203 PhDs in four years; 2012-2015, an average of 300 per year (CUE, 2016). For comparison, South Africa graduated 1,878 (in 2012), 2,051 (in 2013) and, 2,258 (in 2014) PhDs respectively (Breier & Herman, 2017;Cloete, Mouton, & Sheppard, 2015). This mismatch of the economy's demand and supply of PhD holders presents a great challenge to planners and policy makers in the Kenyan university sub-sector.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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PhD Students’ Background and Program Characteristics as Related to Success in Kenyan Universities

Matheka

Jansen

Hofman

2020

IJDS

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Aim/Purpose: Kenya plans to be a middle-income country by the year 2030. To achieve this development target, the country has rapidly expanded its university sub-sector in order to produce the requisite skilled professionals. This has put a strain on the available PhD holders thus heightening the pressure on universities to produce more PhD graduates to meet the required larger pool of highly qualified professionals to service the academia and other sectors of the economy. However, the PhD graduation rate per year is very low and unexplained. This study sought to explain the factors influencing PhD success rates in Kenyan universities. Background: This cross-sectional study set out to establish how PhD students’ background and program characteristics are related to their success. This knowledge will inform policies and strategies to enhance PhD training and success in Kenya. Methodology: Data on 1,992 PhD students was collected from 10 universities by using the Microsoft Excel data tool to collect administrative data. The researchers utilized the data collection to construct a quantitative research design. The PhD students were enrolled in the following program domains/clusters: Humanities and Social Sciences, Business and Economics, Physical and Life Sciences, Applied Sciences and Medical Sciences. Contribution: PhD success factors have been extensively studied in developed countries. This paper builds on this body of knowledge with a specific focus on developing countries like Kenya. Findings: Students’ background characteristics (age, nationality, gender, financial support and marital statuses) were not related to PhD students’ success, however, full-time employed PhD students had better progression than their part-time colleagues. Program characteristics (program cluster and mode of study) were significantly related to students’ success. Students who had delayed for two years or more years had limited chance to graduate. Recommendations for Practitioners: To improve the PhD education system, practitioners should endeavor to monitor and track the progress of their PhD students. To do this, the researchers recommend that the universities collect and keep good records of these types of data. Universities should come up with strategies to build on or mitigate against the factors that have been identified to influence PhD success. Recommendation for Researchers: The researchers recommend further research, especially in developing countries, to understand the PhD study systems and inform effective interventions. Impact on Society: To identify, conceptualize or mitigate against the factors which influence PhD success lead to higher success in PhD training in order to enhance knowledge to solve societal problems. Future Research: Further research is recommended especially in the context of developing countries to establish how supervisor–student interactions, availability of infrastructural resources, and students’ motivation, efficacy and well-being relate to PhD success in Kenyan universities

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Section: Implications Of the Studysupporting

confidence: 89%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

PhD Students’ Background and Program Characteristics as Related to Success in Kenyan Universities

Matheka

Jansen

Hofman

2020

IJDS

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“…Similar to the USA's situation (Johnson, 2017), in South Africa, women outnumber men as holders of bachelor's degrees and PhDs (Breier & Herman, 2017). There are also more women at entry level in the academy's junior ranks and support services.…”

Section: Women Academics In South African Universitiesmentioning

confidence: 90%

Views from below the glass ceiling: Women’s intentions to become full professors

Singh¹,

Subbaye²

2021

Knowledge Beyond Colour Lines: Towards Repurposing Knowledge Generation in South African Higher Education

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Section III | Academic staff development and the knowledge question epistemological transformation, "a re-orientation away from the apartheid knowledge system, in which curriculum was used as a tool of exclusion, to a democratic curriculum that is inclusive of all human thought" (Soudien, 2008:89). While it is a commonly held perception that academics generally determine or inform curriculum decisions, Subbaye's (2018) analysis of academic promotion policies at South African universities reveals that full professors, in particular, have often been charged with curriculum design. Therefore, it can be argued that increasing the number of women in the professoriate is one way of achieving both representational and epistemological transformation while working towards curriculum reform. Thus, this chapter considers transformation in a broad sense, going beyond race and gender to encapsulate epistemological transformation through academic staff development. We explore women's experiences on the road to full professorship, their intentions to become full professors and the challenges that limit or prevent them from achieving this rank. Gendered constructions of barriers to academic career advancementNumerous studies have investigated why women are less frequently promoted to highlevel positions within universities and the professoriate (Baker, 2010;Ortega-Liston & Soto, 2014). Research findings show several influences that may prevent them from applying for these positions or being promoted within universities:

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“…In Africa, and in other developing countries, the argument is made that there is an urgent need for doctoral graduates to take up academic posts to compensate for the relatively low numbers of academic staff with doctoral qualifications. 8 For example, only 43% of all permanent academics in South African universities had doctorate degrees in 2014 19 , limiting the capacity of the system to supervise future doctoral candidates. Jørgensen 20 found that 33% of staff had a doctorate in 28 sampled institutions in Southern Africa in 2012, compared with 31% of staff in 29 institutions in Latin America and 49% of staff in 28 institutions in East Asia.…”

Section: Reproduction and Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Brain circuity: The case of South Africa as a hub for doctoral education

2021

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The production and reproduction of knowledge are important components of national development. As student mobility increases, globally and within Africa, so does the national diversity of students as they seek to further their postgraduate studies at the limited number of research universities in Africa. Knowledge migration is inevitably a relationship between nation states because migration is driven by push factors (such as the socio-economic conditions and opportunities) in the country of origin as well as by pull factors (such as the rules and incentives for entry, participation in postgraduate education and post-study residency), which are prerogatives of the host nation. In other words, migration and development must be understood in comparative terms. The brain drain perspective on migration and development takes mainly the perspective of the origin country into consideration. Migration and the loss of high-level skills are seen as detrimental to the development prospects of the country of origin. The brain circulation perspective moves the discussion forward by suggesting that there are residual returns to the country of origin. However, relatively little attention has been given to the impact of knowledge migrants on the host nation when the host is facing its own post-colonial development challenges. This is the dilemma facing South Africa as a hub for doctoral students from the rest of Africa: attracting top doctoral students from the rest of the continent to contribute to the country’s knowledge capacity but at the expense of developing local talent, thereby setting up a complex tension between underdevelopment and development. Here we establish whether South Africa is maintaining its position as a PhD hub on the African continent and explore the extent to which the brain circulation argument holds up in the African context. We suggest that, given the current policy environment in South Africa, brain circuity is a more likely outcome, where brain circuity describes the flow of knowledge characterised by indirection and undesirable intricacy.

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The PhD conundrum in South African academia

Cited by 20 publications

References 9 publications

PhD Students’ Background and Program Characteristics as Related to Success in Kenyan Universities

PhD Students’ Background and Program Characteristics as Related to Success in Kenyan Universities

Views from below the glass ceiling: Women’s intentions to become full professors

Brain circuity: The case of South Africa as a hub for doctoral education

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