Doctoral Education in South Africa

Nico Cloete, Johann Mouton, Charles Sheppard

Description

Worldwide, in Africa and in South Africa, the importance of the doctorate has increased disproportionately in relation to its share of the overall graduate output over the last decade. This heightened attention has not only been concerned with the traditional role of the PhD, namely the provision of a future supply of academics. Rather, it has focused on the increasingly important role that higher education – particularly high-level skills – is perceived to play in national development and the knowledge economy.This book is unique in the area of research into doctoral studies because it draws on a large number of studies conducted by the Centre of Higher Education Trust (CHET) and the Centre for Research on Evaluation, Science and Technology (CREST) over the past decade. In addition to these historical studies, new quantitative and qualitative research was undertaken to produce the evidence base for the anbalyses presented in the book. The studies focused on a range of issues related to the growth, efficiency, quality and transformation of doctoral education, doctoral supervision, doctoral tracer studies as well as drawing on studies from the rest of Africa and the world.The book makes recommendations about strengthening traditional doctoral education, and proposes a paradigm shift. It concludes by raising three policy issues: reaching the National Development Plan 2030 target of 5 000 graduates per annum, South Africa as a PhD hub for Africa and differentiation among different groups of doctorate-producing institutions.

Informations

• Publié par: African Minds
• Date de parution: 16 janvier 2016
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781928331001
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

Doctoral Education in South Africa

Policy, Discourse and Data


Nico Cloete, Johann Mouton and Charles Sheppard
AFRICAN
MINDSFirst published in 2015 by African Minds
African Minds
4 Eccleston Place, Somerset West, 7130, Cape Town, South Africa
[e-mail]
www.africanminds.org.za
cc 2015 Nico Cloete, Johann Mouton and Charles Sheppard
All contents of this document, unless specified otherwise, are licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
ISBNs
978-1-928331-00-1 Print
978-1-928331-07-0 e-Book
Produced by COMPRESS.dsl | www.compressdsl.comContents
List of fgures and tables iv
Preface vii
About the authors xi
List of frequently used acronymsxii
Chapter 1
The demand for a doctorate: Global, African and South African contexts 1
Chapter 2
The demand to increase doctorates 27
Chapter 3
The demand for improved efciency 59
Chapter 4
The demand for transformation 81
Chapter 5
Improve the quality of doctoral education 101
Chapter 6
Multiple paths to success 125
Chapter 7
Incremental change and a paradigm shif t 173
Chapter 8
Policy choices and implications 195
Appendices
Appendix 1 Data sources and methodology 215
Appendix 2 Responses to the presentation of preliminary fndings
from the Study on the Doctorate in South Africa (May 2014) 225
Appendix 3 Current trends in PhD studies: A review of articles published
on the University World News website (2013) 246
Appendix 4 Government steering of doctoral production 261
Appendix 5 Additional data on the doctorate in South Africa 265
Appendix 6 Scenarios that will produce doctoral graduates by 2030 270
References 272List of fgures and tables
Chapter 1
Figure 1.1 The rise of the doctorate: Percentage growth in doctoral output
(1998–2006) 4
Figure 1.2Doctoral enrolments at eight sub-Saharan African universities
(2001, 2007, 2011) 11
Figure 1.3Doctoral graduates at eight sub-S
(2001, 2007, 2011)12
Figure 1.4Masters graduates at eight sub-S 12
Figure 1.5 Discourses on doctorate production in South Africa 24
Chapter 2
Figure 2.1 Growth in PhD graduates in South Africa (1920–2012) 28
Figure 2.2 Average annual growth rate of PhD graduates (1920–2012) 29
Figure 2.3 Masters and doctoral headcount enrolments (1996–2012) 39
Figure 2.4 Student enrolments (1996 and 2012) 41
Figure 2.5 A verage shares of the doctoral enrolments in the various felds of
study (1996–2012) 42
Figure 2.6 The distribution of doctoral enrolments by institution type
(1996–2012) 43
Figure 2.7Distribution of doctoral enrolments across major felds of study and
institution categories (1996 compared to 2012) 45
Figure 2.8Average shares of the doctoral graduates in the various felds of study
(1996–2012)49
Figure 2.9Percentage distribution of doctoral graduates per institution type and
feld of study with SET subdivided further (2012) 52
Table 2.1 PhD enrolments per institutional type (1996–2012) 44
Table 2.2 ‘Top 5’ factors infuencing students’ choice of their current degree
programmes 46
Table 2.3Total number of doctoral graduates per institution (2012) 48
Table 2.4Distribution of doctoral graduates per institutional type and feld of
study (1996–2012)50
Table 2.5Comparison of PhD production in South Africa with a number of
selected OECD countries (2000 and 2011) 53
Chapter 3
Figure 3.1 Comparison of doctoral enrolments and graduates
(1996–2012)62
ivFigure 3.2 P ercentages of new doctoral intakes who graduated after fve and six
years respectively (2003–2007) 64
Figure 3.3 Progress of 2006 intake of new doctoral students af ter seven years by
bands of performance 65
Figure 3.4
felds of study 66
Figure 3.5 Dropout and completion rates of the 2006 new entering doctoral cohort 66
Figure 3.6 Progress of 2006 intake of new doctoral students at universities after
seven years 67
Figure 3.7 Progress of 2006 intake of new doctoral students at comprehensive
universities after seven years 68
Figure 3.8 Progress of 2006 intake of new doctoral students at universities of
technology af 68
Table 3.1 Number of PhDs and staf with doctorates by university (2011–2013) 78
Chapter 4
Figure 4.1 Doctoral enrolments by race (1996–2012) 87
Figure 4.2 Percentage of doctoral enrolments by race (1996–2012) 88
Figure 4.3 Doctoral graduates by race (1996–2012) 89
Figure 4.4 Percentage of doctoral graduates by race (1996–2012) 89
Figure 4.5 Percentage of doctoral enrolments by gender (1996–2012) 90
Figure 4.6 Graduates by gender (1996–2012) 90
Figure 4.7 PhD enrolments by nationality: Foreign vs South African
(2000–2012) 92
Figure 4.8: Rest of Africa, international and
South African (2000, 2004, 2008, 2012) 92
Figure 4.9Disaggregation of doctoral enrolments by nationality (2012) 93
Figure 4.10Proportion of PhD graduates by nationality: Foreign vs South African
(2000, 2004, 2008, 2012) 93
Figure 4.11PhD graduates by nationality (2000, 2004, 2008, 2012) 94
Figure 4.12 Average annual growth rates by nationality and gender (2000–2012) 95
Figure 4.13 Doctoral graduates by nationality (2012) 95
Figure 4.14 South African doctoral graduates by race (2012) 95
Figure 4.15 African doctoral enrolments by nationality and gender (2000 and 2012) 96
Figure 4.16 African doctoral graduates by nationality and gender (2000 and 2012 ) 96
Table 4.1 Doctoral graduates by race and gender (1971–1979) 85
Table 4.2 Doctoral graduates by race and gender (1986–1995) 85
Table 4.3 African doctoral enrolments and graduates from S outh Africa and the
rest of Africa by gender (2000–2012) 97
Table 4.4 African and white doctoral graduates 1996 and 2012 compared to
30-to-49-year-old age cohort 98
vDOCTORAL EDUCATION IN SOUTH AFRICA
Chapter 5
Figure5.1 Responses on supervisor guidance (2000) 110
Figure 5.2 Selection methods of PhD students supervised, by scientifc feld (2000) 111
Figure 5.3 Perceived importance of specifed criteria for the selection of PhD
students (2000) 112
Figure 5.4 Percentage of academic staf with doctorates (1996–2012) 113
Figure 5.5 Extent of agreement with statement ‘I sometimes have to supervise PhD
work that lies outside my area of expertise’, by scientifc feld (2011) 117
Figure 5.6 Extent of agreement with statement ‘I lack sufcient time to give each
PhD student the attention that he/she deserves 117
Figure 5.7 Assessment of the quality of supervision by students (% rated as
‘excellent’ or ‘good’) (2000) 118
Figure 5.8 How doctoral studies prepared students for the world of work (2009) 121
Table 5.1 Academic staf with doctoral degrees and ratios of academic staf to
doctoral students and graduates (1996–2012) 115
Table 5.2 A
doctoral graduates by institutional type (2012) 115
Chapter 6
Table 6.1 Departments selected to explore the quantitative report on the
HEMIS data 127
Chapter 8
Figure 8.1 2030 scenarios: Current (2%) average annual growth rate in student
enrolments 201
Figure 8.2 2030 scenarios: High (4%) average annual growth rate in academic
capacity 201
Table 8.1 Indicators for performance in doctoral production (2012)  209
Appendix 5
Table A1 PhD enrolments per institution type and broad feld of study
(1996 and 2012) 266
Table A2 PhD graduates per institutional type and broad feld of study 267
Table A3 PhDs by race and gender (1996–2012) 268
Table A4 Countries of origin of the 2012 international graduates 269
viDOCTORAL EDUCATION IN SOUTH AFRICA
Preface
This book draws on a large number of studies conducted by the Centre for
Higher Education Trust (CHET) and the Centre for Research on Evaluation,
Science and Technology (CREST) over the past decade. In addition to these
historical studies, primary research was also undertaken specifcally to
produce the evidence base for the statistical data referred to in the book.
The historical studies focused on a range of issues that afect the growth,
efciency, quality and transformation of the doctorate in South Africa,
doctoral supervision, and doctoral tracer studies as well as drawing on
studies from the rest of Africa and the world.
Although CREST’s frst study on postgraduate studies dates back to
2001 when it did a case study of doctoral graduates at Stellenbosch
University, its frst major investigation into the state of the doctorate in
South Africa began in 2008 when it was commissioned by the Academy of
Science of South Africa to conduct fve studies on the doctorate: (1) a study
on systemic blockages in postgraduate education and training; (2) a
statistical profle of doctoral students in South Africa; (3) an employer
study; (4) a study on doctoral attrition; and (5) a destination study of doctoral
students. These fve studies would eventually be integrated into a consensus
report (‘The PhD: An evidence-based study on how to meet the demands
for high-level skills in an emerging economy’) which was published in 2010
(ASSAf 2010)