PhD graduates' perceptions of supervision contact sessions at the University of Fort Hare, Eastern Cape, South Africa
- Authors: Muleya, Ekem
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: University of Fort Hare Graduate students Doctoral students
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSoc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/12914 , vital:39401
- Description: PhD supervision is mostly studied from the supervisor and education institutions’ point of view in South Africa. The role and what exactly transpires during supervision contact sessions, how it influences or contributes to the successful completion of a PhD degree has been under researched. The government of South Africa through the NDP has clear targets in terms of raising the annual number of people who graduate with PhDs, however the processes and the actual ingredients contributing to the increase are not being adequately examined. The purpose of this study was to investigate the contribution of supervision contact sessions in enabling a doctoral candidate to successfully complete a doctoral degree. Specifically this study sought to find out how supervision meetings enable a PhD candidate to finish the PhD degree successfully. This exploratory study sought to address the question through pin-pointing the specific benefits PhD candidates derive from supervision contact sessions and at the same time documenting the challenges faced in these meetings. Findings from this study point to the fact that supervision contact sessions are crucial in empowering a PhD candidate to finish his or her studies. Candidates benefit from both technical (professional) and social (emotional) support through supervision meetings with their supervisors and most importantly supervisors also assist and advise their candidates with regard to funding for their studies. In the main, PhD candidates prefer to meet frequently with their supervisors to discuss their PhD work however they in some instances encounter challenges in trying to set up meetings with their supervisors. Challenges also come during the actual supervision sessions due to the unequal relationship between supervisor and candidate. Given the role of supervision meetings in PhD completion, it is important to note some measures which can assist in terms of making supervision meetings more beneficial to a PhD candidate.
- Full Text:
Selected benefits, challenges and lessons experiences by the 2015-16 feesmustfall leaders at the University of Fort Hare (UFH), East London Campus (EL)
- Authors: Dyakumeni, Monica
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Student movements -- South Africa Universities and colleges -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Education, Higher -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSoc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/11075 , vital:37028
- Description: There is a high amount of journalistic and academic work that has been produced to highlight the various benefits, challenges and lessons the 2015-2016 #Feesmustfall movement (henceforth, FMFM) brought in its wake for South African universities affected and for South African society in general. Save for the University of the Witwatersrand (activists from Wits produced a book on their involvement in FMF), there is a dearth of academic research on the benefits, challenges and lessons of FMF as experienced by students from affected universities, in general, and student activists and leaders, in particular. The current research study was conducted to fill the above gap, and it adopted a qualitative research philosophy in the manner the research was conducted. For the purposes of this research, 10 male FMF activists from the University of Fort Hare, East London, Eastern Cape, were interviewed using an in-depth interview technique about what they regarded as benefits, challenges and lessons stemming from their involvement as leaders of the FMF protests in their campus. The findings largely set a tone of caution that there are important considerations to be made when looking at the issue of university-based protests such as FMF; in particular, the physical and psychological impacts of these protests on student leaders, or activists. The results in this study demonstrate that those who led the 2015/6 FMF protests at UFH, EL, experienced intellectual and political leadership growth as young student leaders, among some benefits. The benefits, however, were tempered by some of the traumatic and disturbing events, which exposed these leaders to, among other things, police violence, arrests and serious psychological discomfort during and even after the protests. The results also demonstrate some continuing positive impact of the FMFM on those who led the students at UFH, that is, they are today using the knowledge and lessons from FMF to make their workplaces and their political organization’s processes more robust and democratic. These findings are significant, especially for universities in South Africa, and in Africa as a whole, as there are researchers who caution that the South African university management is quick to resort to student repression during protests. The study then goes on to discuss the relevance of the findings for universities, the state and the student activists themselves. Areas for future research are also proffered.
- Full Text: