tag:theconversation.com,2011:/ca/topics/postgraduate-degrees-17665/articlesPostgraduate degrees – The Conversation2023-05-18T20:01:40Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2034182023-05-18T20:01:40Z2023-05-18T20:01:40ZThese 5 equity ideas should be at the heart of the Universities Accord<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526151/original/file-20230515-15-e5zzmo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C162%2C4521%2C2842&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>This article is part of our series on <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/universities-accord-big-ideas-137143">big ideas for the Universities Accord</a>. The federal government is calling for ideas to “reshape and reimagine higher education, and set it up for the next decade and beyond”. A review team is due to finish a draft report in June and a final report in December 2023.</em></p>
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<p>Decades of <a href="https://www.ncsehe.edu.au/equity-data__home/">research</a> shows how the higher education system has failed to give Australians a “fair go”. For example, young people in major cities are <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/education/education-and-work-australia/latest-release">much more likely</a> to have a university degree than those from regional or remote areas. This is despite an increase in <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/612854/australia-population-with-university-degree/#:%7E:text=Over%20the%20past%2020%20years,reaching%2050.8%20percent%20in%202022.">overall university participation</a> over the past 20 years. </p>
<p>The Albanese government says it is aware of such discrepancies. “Greater access and participation” for students from underrepresented backgrounds is one of <a href="https://www.education.gov.au/australian-universities-accord/resources/terms-reference">seven key areas identified</a> for the University Accord review.</p>
<p>But how can we move from good intentions to long-overdue change? </p>
<p>The accord review team can begin by making recommendations that prioritise five key ideas: address student poverty, make it easier to study near home, properly understand disadvantage, support teaching staff and help marginalised students get a job when they graduate.</p>
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<h2>1. Address student poverty</h2>
<p>Many Australian university students experience devastating poverty. A 2017 Universities Australia survey found <a href="https://www.universitiesaustralia.edu.au/media-item/one-in-seven-uni-students-regularly-go-without-food/">one in seven</a> regularly go without food or other necessities. This pre-pandemic figure increased to almost one in five for those from lower income backgrounds. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/god-i-miss-fruit-40-of-students-at-australian-universities-may-be-going-without-food-156584">'God, I miss fruit!' 40% of students at Australian universities may be going without food</a>
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<p>We know the prospect of debt also <a href="https://www.ncsehe.edu.au/publications/perceived-risks-of-going-to-university/">deters some students</a> from studying in the first place, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds. </p>
<p>Changes to course fees <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-universities-accord-should-scrap-job-ready-graduates-and-create-a-new-multi-rate-system-for-student-fees-203910">in 2021</a> under the Job-ready Graduates scheme mean some undergraduates are now accruing record levels of debt. </p>
<p>So poverty does not end with graduation. According to a 2023 Melbourne University report, average debts are now <a href="https://melbourne-cshe.unimelb.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/4509852/Gender-equity-and-policy-neglect-in-student-financing.pdf">as much as A$60,000</a>. Former students can take more than nine years to repay their fees, with repayment times trending upwards. </p>
<p>We urgently need a national review of financial support for students separate from the accord process. </p>
<p>This should not just tinker around the edges but interrogate everything from <a href="https://changetheage.asn.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Locked-out-of-youth-allowance-student-poverty-and-centrelink-in-Australia-1.pdf">student benefits</a> such as Austudy, to the HELP scheme and the number of scholarships and bursaries available. </p>
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<h2>2. Make it easier to study near home</h2>
<p>My <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1755458618302226">research on Australian students</a> has shown students in rural areas may be reluctant to go to university if it means leaving their communities.</p>
<p>According to the <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/rp2122/Quick_Guides/RegionalRemoteHigherEducation">Australian Bureau of Statistics</a>, 48.6% of 25 to 34-year-olds in major cities had a university degree as of May 2021. This figure drops the further away someone is from a city, from 26.9% (inner regional) to 21.1% (outer regional) and approximately 16% (remote and very remote). </p>
<p>If we want more students outside of urban areas to go to university, we need to give them more opportunities to study close to where they grew up. This is sometimes referred to as a “<a href="https://www.ncsehe.edu.au/publications/moving-from-community-to-university/">place-based pathway</a>”. </p>
<p>We can do this through a nationally consistent approach to recognising studies undertaken across <a href="https://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/completed/productivity/report">different education providers</a>. This would see people able to move between universities, technical colleges, community colleges and regional university centres to complete their qualifications. </p>
<h2>3. Properly understand disadvantage</h2>
<p>The university sector continues to rely on an outdated approach when it comes to understanding disadvantage among its students. </p>
<p>Most students with a disadvantage are assigned into six blunt equity groups: low socio-economic status, students with a disability, rural and remote students, Indigenous students, women in non-traditional areas of study and students with English as a second language. </p>
<p>But about 50% of Australian students from underrepresented or marginalised backgrounds fall into <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1360080X.2021.1933305">more than one equity group</a>. For example, someone could be from a low socioeconomic background and have a disability.</p>
<p>A 2019 Queensland University study <a href="https://issr.uq.edu.au/case-study-investigating-effects-cumulative-factors-disadvantage">showed</a> experiencing many types of disadvantage reduces a student’s chances of entering or completing higher education.</p>
<p>Australia needs a national approach to understanding and responding to this complexity. </p>
<p>A 2020 federal government-commissioned <a href="https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:2a76ba9">study</a> has already proposed how to do this. The University of Queensland team developed five prototype measurements to capture multiple disadvantaging factors. We need these types of measurements to properly support the diverse needs of our most vulnerable learners. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/1-5bn-has-gone-into-getting-disadvantaged-students-into-uni-for-very-small-gains-so-what-more-can-be-done-186630">$1.5bn has gone into getting disadvantaged students into uni for very small gains. So what more can be done?</a>
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<h2>4. Don’t forget academics as part of this</h2>
<p>The accord <a href="https://ministers.education.gov.au/clare/release-australian-universities-accord-discussion-paper">discussion paper notes</a> 50–80% of undergraduate teaching in universities is done by casual or contract staff. </p>
<p>This means the delicate work of supporting, engaging and teaching students from diverse backgrounds is often done by staff on temporary, precarious contracts. </p>
<p>Recent Australian studies show these staff often feel <a href="https://theconversation.com/some-of-them-do-treat-you-like-an-idiot-what-its-like-to-be-a-casual-academic-201470">stressed, excluded</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/australian-unis-could-not-function-without-casual-staff-it-is-time-to-treat-them-as-real-employees-203053">over-worked</a> because of the nature of their work. </p>
<p>We cannot expect people to behave inclusively when they themselves are not <a href="https://ro.uow.edu.au/sspapers/2280/">included or valued</a> in an institution.</p>
<p>Creating sustainable and secure employment options for academic staff would benefit staff and positively impact student outcomes and experience.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australian-unis-could-not-function-without-casual-staff-it-is-time-to-treat-them-as-real-employees-203053">Australian unis could not function without casual staff: it is time to treat them as 'real' employees</a>
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<h2>5. Supporting graduates to get jobs</h2>
<p>Assuming a student from a diverse background makes it to and through university, we need to support them when they <a href="https://www.ncsehe.edu.au/publications/post-graduation-outcomes-first-family-university/">look for a job</a>.</p>
<p>Students from underrepresented groups can take longer to, or in some cases, are <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-12224-8_7">are less likely to find a job</a> compared to their more advantaged peers. According to the <a href="https://www.qilt.edu.au/surveys/graduate-outcomes-survey-(gos)#anchor-2">2022 Graduate Outcomes Survey</a> 79.8% of undergraduates from a high socioeconomic backgrounds were in full-time work within six months of graduating, compared to 76.6% of students from low socioeconomic backgrounds. </p>
<p>Undergraduates with a reported disability had a full-time employment rate of 68.4%, compared to 79.5% for those with no reported disability. Those who spoke a language other than English at home have a full-time employment rate of 66%, compared to 78.9% of students whose home language was English. </p>
<p>There are many reasons for these differences, including less <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1360080X.2023.2180161">access to professional and social networks</a>. These differences perpetuate ongoing cycles of disadvantage.</p>
<p>We need a targeted national graduate employment strategy to level the playing field in a congested and competitive graduate employment environment. This should include ongoing support and advice offered to students to assist job-seeking activities even after graduation. </p>
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<h2>What now?</h2>
<p>The accord promises to be a vast document with many recommendations. But if it really wants to live up to its promise to reshape and reimagine Australian higher education, equity can no longer be regarded as an add-on, bolted onto existing activities or structures. </p>
<p>Instead, it needs to be embedded across all the changes proposed by the University Accord.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/203418/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sarah O' Shea receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the Department of Education. She is affiliated with University of Wollongong (Honorary Fellow) and the Churchill Trust.</span></em></p>Decades of research shows how the higher education system has failed to give Australians a “fair go”. How can we move from good intentions to long-overdue change?Sarah O'Shea, Professor and Higher Education Researcher, Curtin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/996502018-07-12T20:01:49Z2018-07-12T20:01:49ZPhD completion: an evidence-based guide for students, supervisors and universities<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/226833/original/file-20180709-122265-nliw74.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by Philipp Mandler/Unsplash</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Many students enrol in a Master or PhD postgraduate research degree, but few complete them. <a href="http://highereducationstatistics.education.gov.au/">From 2010-2016</a>, 437,030 domestic and international students enrolled in postgraduate research programs in Australian public universities. Only 65,101 completed within the same six year period.</p>
<p>This discrepancy does not necessarily mean postgraduate research students “failed” their degree. Common <a href="http://grad.uga.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Haynes.pdf">reasons</a> not completing a degree include changes of career goals, work-family conflicts, poor health or financial strain. Alternatively, some students remain enrolled in their degree for long periods without making significant progress.</p>
<p>Even so, the discrepancy is large enough for universities to be concerned. Nobody wants a student to suffer through years of hard work and frustration without achieving their goal.</p>
<h2>What does research say about completion rates?</h2>
<p><a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-2456-8_11">Research</a> has identified several factors that make students more likely to persist with their degrees. These factors are related to the students themselves, their supervisor, and the university environment.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/226889/original/file-20180710-70063-baqlf7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/226889/original/file-20180710-70063-baqlf7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226889/original/file-20180710-70063-baqlf7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226889/original/file-20180710-70063-baqlf7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226889/original/file-20180710-70063-baqlf7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=601&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226889/original/file-20180710-70063-baqlf7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=601&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226889/original/file-20180710-70063-baqlf7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=601&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Many students enrol in a Master or PhD postgraduate research degree, but few complete them.</span>
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<p>Psychological studies of postgraduate students find the more successful ones tend to <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cedpsych.2015.03.004">perceive themselves as competent</a> and be <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2015.05.006">intrinsically motivated</a>. These are students who enjoy their topic area, perceive their postgraduate studies as a valuable learning experience, and who strongly identify with being a career researcher. Students who are motivated by external factors (such as pursuing a prestigious academic role) are more likely to say they want to quit.</p>
<p><a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2017.1298717">Scholarship holders</a> are more likely to complete their degrees. This is likely because they are academically stronger than non-scholarship holders and are less vulnerable to financial strain. Students can support themselves financially through teaching, research assistant roles or other work, but this must be balanced carefully. Part-time students are less likely to complete their degrees.</p>
<p>Students’ <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-2456-8_11">field of study</a> also affects completion rates. A higher proportion of students in sciences tend to complete their degrees than those in arts and humanities. This is likely because students working in the sciences are more often involved in laboratory-based work in teams, where there is greater social support and knowledge exchange. People studying humanities more often work on their research alone.</p>
<p>A positive student-supervisor <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/03098770701424983">working relationship</a> is critical. A good supervisor should be an expert in the student’s subject of choice and a supportive mentor. They should help the student navigate through the frustrations and uncertainties of writing a thesis, and help students adjust to the world of academia.</p>
<p>Students are also more likely to finish their research degrees if they have <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-2456-8_11">strong connections with their peers</a>. Such connections help students develop their <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03075070903501887">professional identity</a> as researchers, as well as providing opportunities for social support and <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ace.5">informal learning</a>.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/226891/original/file-20180710-70057-fxf4je.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/226891/original/file-20180710-70057-fxf4je.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226891/original/file-20180710-70057-fxf4je.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226891/original/file-20180710-70057-fxf4je.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226891/original/file-20180710-70057-fxf4je.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226891/original/file-20180710-70057-fxf4je.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226891/original/file-20180710-70057-fxf4je.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Students are also more likely to finish their research degrees if they support from their peers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/university-students-sitting-together-table-books-508251865?src=fNMfdmWJ2YNAJcXJOzRmzw-1-3">Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>The <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-2456-8_11">quality of associated coursework</a> is also important. Ideally, postgraduate programs should provide students with a sound foundation of research skills and content knowledge, and facilitate ongoing communication with their faculty.</p>
<p><a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cedpsych.2015.03.004">Involvement</a> in formal and informal professional activities is also important. Students who complete tend to participate in departmental events, such as research seminars and professional development workshops. They also tend to participate in academic conferences. These events allow students to learn and expand their networks.</p>
<h2>What students and their supervisors should do</h2>
<p>First, given the importance of the student-supervisor relationship, universities can provide advice to students about <a href="http://www.iotimlabs.com/2018/06/22/how-to-approach-a-potential-phd-supervisor/">locating and approaching</a> a suitable supervisor. Specifically, students should consider the research area they wish to work in and locate a supervisor with relevant expertise. They should approach supervisors with an openness to negotiating a research topic.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/ten-types-of-phd-supervisor-relationships-which-is-yours-52967">Ten types of PhD supervisor relationships – which is yours?</a>
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<p>Both students and supervisors should be upfront about their expectations about how the supervision will work. An excellent starting point for discussion is the <a href="https://www.adelaide.edu.au/graduatecentre/forms/supervision/docs/scales.pdf">Expectations in Supervision</a> questionnaire. Students and supervisors sometimes have mismatched expectations about how often they should meet, the amount of feedback the supervisor should provide on drafts, and how much counselling and emotional support the supervisor should provide.</p>
<p>Supervisors have an important role in providing a realistic preview of academic life. One useful exercise is to review an academic competency model, such as the <a href="https://www.vitae.ac.uk/researchers-professional-development/about-the-vitae-researcher-development-framework">Vitae Researcher Development Framework</a>, to discuss which skills academics need. In addition to knowledge of their topic area and research methods, academics increasingly need to be good at managing complex projects, working in multidisciplinary teams, and engaging with industry and media.</p>
<p>This discussion should enable supervisors and students to plan how students will develop their capabilities. Alternatively, it could prompt some students to opt out of a research degree if they think an academic role is not compatible with their goals.</p>
<h2>What universities should do</h2>
<p>As well as providing research training, universities can also increase the capabilities of students by helping them understand self-handicapping patterns. These include busyness, procrastination and disorganisation. </p>
<p>Students can be guided to replace these with more helpful actions such as scheduling dedicated writing time, reframing difficult tasks as learning opportunities, and developing a work routine. This could be done as part of a <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07294360701658781">workshop</a> or supervisory relationship.</p>
<p>Universities should also encourage greater connectedness between research students to build social support. This could be accomplished through team-based activities or face-to-face events. </p>
<p>For instance, some universities offer <a href="https://threeminutethesis.uq.edu.au/">Three Minute Thesis</a>, a research communication competition where students present their work in under 180 seconds. </p>
<p>Some universities organise <a href="https://thesiswhisperer.com/shut-up-and-write/">Shut Up and Write</a> sessions, which turns writing into a social experience and limits distractions. These activities can be complemented by encouraging students to become involved in <a href="https://theconversation.com/doing-a-phd-can-be-a-lonely-business-but-it-doesnt-have-to-be-19192">supportive online communities and blogging</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-rise-of-writing-events-gives-phd-students-the-support-often-lacking-in-universities-50250">The rise of writing events gives PhD students the support often lacking in universities</a>
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<p>Finally, universities should be dedicated to helping academics develop as supervisors through ongoing training and coaching. Departments could consider <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/04/13/improve-phd-completion-rates-australian-universities-use-metrics-their-supervisors">tracking the progression of students</a> and ensuring supervisors have the time and skills to take on new students. </p>
<p>Completing a dissertation can be richly rewarding, but it’s the endpoint of a process that’s often long, frustrating and uncertain. Helping students achieve their research aspirations makes academic life a better experience for all involved.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/99650/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Timothy Colin Bednall does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Completion rates for PhD courses are very low. Here are some things students, supervisors and universities can do to help support these students through to completion.Timothy Colin Bednall, Senior Lecturer in Management, Fellow of the APS College of Organisational Psychologists, Swinburne University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/804972017-11-17T14:16:38Z2017-11-17T14:16:38ZOnline learning can prepare students for a fast-changing future – wherever they are<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/195198/original/file-20171117-7588-1rai1rs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The classroom of the future.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Take a moment to think back to the first classroom you ever entered, whether it was at school, or nursery, chances are there was a blackboard, with coloured chalk where you focused most of your attention. You were probably working from a booklet or on paper using pencil and crayons and drawing pictures by hand. </p>
<p>Now fast forward to the classroom of 2017 and everything has changed. Gone are the chalks and the crayons – which have been replaced by screens, social networks, cloud computing and augmented reality.</p>
<p>Technology has changed the way classrooms work, not just at school, but right throughout the education system. So from nursery to university, students these days engage with online learning from day one. And yet, despite this increased growth in technological advances, higher education institutions are operating in an increasingly competitive and unstable market. </p>
<p>In the UK, the introduction of <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-36856026">increased fees for undergraduate study</a>, the removal of the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/higher-education-network/blog/2014/sep/18/removing-cap-student-numbers-six-questions-hepi-report">recruitment cap</a> and the subsequent competition for good students has created an unprecedented era of “<a href="https://www.higheredtoday.org/2014/02/28/confronting-higher-education-consumerism-challenges/">education consumerism</a>”. </p>
<p>Students too, expect more from their learning. Feverish recent press coverage of the “<a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4790694/Top-universities-desperate-attempt-courses.html">clearing free-for-all</a>” where selective Russell Group universities offered places through clearing in traditionally highly selective courses has emphasised the view of students as consumers in a “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2017/aug/18/fewer-uk-students-degree-courses-ucas-clearing">buyer’s market</a>”. </p>
<p>The idea of a “typical student” <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/higher-education-network/blog/2014/jun/10/flexible-study-future-for-universities">is also changing</a>. With this comes a change in how these students prefer to learn. In particular, older students looking to obtain postgraduate qualifications want their education to be <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/jun/11/postgraduate-students-feel-overlooked">valuable and worthwhile</a>. But it must also be flexible enough to fit in with their existing commitments and responsibilities. </p>
<p>Universities are also in the market of preparing students for jobs <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/martin-boehm-preparing-students-for-jobs-that-dont-exist-yet">that don’t even exist yet</a>. Even after graduating from a first degree there is an increasing need and pressure on students to keep learning and adapting. </p>
<h2>Taking it online</h2>
<p>During the past decade, international student numbers have also rapidly grown at <a href="https://institutions.ukcisa.org.uk/info-for-universities-colleges--schools/policy-research--statistics/research--statistics/international-students-in-uk-he/">universities in both the UK and US</a>. But with the threat of Brexit on the horizon in the UK – as well as an altogether <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/11000084/Visa-rules-mean-UK-is-unwelcoming-for-foreign-students.html">not particularly welcoming visa system</a> – these are numbers that have recently <a href="https://www.ucas.com/corporate/news-and-key-documents/news/applicants-uk-higher-education-down-5-uk-students-and-7-eu-students">started to dwindle</a>.</p>
<p>Given these political issues – and increased difficulties for international students in terms of getting visas – one solution could be to change the way education is actually accessed. In a post-Brexit world, online education could provide an important method for international students to move ahead with their education. It could also enable them to study for a degree at a UK university from <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/ryancraig/2015/06/23/a-brief-history-and-future-of-online-degrees/">the comfort of their own home</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/195199/original/file-20171117-7603-1qiqcmb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/195199/original/file-20171117-7603-1qiqcmb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/195199/original/file-20171117-7603-1qiqcmb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/195199/original/file-20171117-7603-1qiqcmb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/195199/original/file-20171117-7603-1qiqcmb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=693&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/195199/original/file-20171117-7603-1qiqcmb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=693&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/195199/original/file-20171117-7603-1qiqcmb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=693&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">How to reinvent the classroom for the internet generation.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shuttertsock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In this way, a carefully constructed online learning programme that also has lots of support built in provides an international experience for students. But on top of that it also can provide an experience that is relevant and gives students a valuable skill-set for their future working life. The online classroom and the sense of collaborating across <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ellen_Kossek/publication/234021856_Managing_the_Global_WorkforceChallenges_and_Strategies/links/5626b91a08ae4d9e5c4d4630.pdf">international and cultural boarders</a> mirrors the workplaces these students are in or aspire to work in. </p>
<h2>Future classrooms</h2>
<p>It is clear then that online programmes can and should be viewed as an innovative platform through which access to higher education can continue.
This is important because <a href="http://oro.open.ac.uk/44281/3/Meeting%20the%20needs%20of%20disabled%20students%20in%20on-line%20distance%20education%20%28Final-English%29.pdf">online learning breaks down barriers</a> that are otherwise difficult to overcome and helps to share knowledge across the globe. This provides students with new knowledge that is enriched with international insights and cultural awareness. </p>
<p>It also ensures that learning can continue to be accessed remotely from across the globe, no matter how uncertain the future higher education landscape becomes. But, for this to happen, higher education institutions must continue to adapt, and develop new ways to deliver programmes and courses. This will not only ensure they follow global trends and advances, but also make sure that <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2013/apr/28/disabled-students-use-e-textbooks">education truly is accessible to all</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/80497/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Helen O'Sullivan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The future of education is in the clouds.Helen O'Sullivan, Associate Pro Vice Chancellor for Online Learning, University of LiverpoolLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/865522017-10-31T13:16:19Z2017-10-31T13:16:19ZSouth Africa can’t afford to see its universities pitch over the precipice<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192447/original/file-20171030-18700-cdgn8j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">South Africa boasts world class universities. It must not allow their quality to drop.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>For the past two years the actions of <a href="http://chet.org.za/data/sahe-open-data">government</a> and protesting <a href="http://www.sahistory.org.za/article/student-protests-democratic-south-africa">students</a> have slowly started squeezing South Africa’s universities into a shadow of their former selves.</p>
<p>In his book “<a href="http://nb.bookslive.co.za/blog/2017/05/23/as-by-fire-an-urgent-and-necessary-book-on-the-south-african-student-protests-crisis/">As by Fire</a>” prominent educationalist Jonathan Jansen argues that South Africa is witnessing the end of its universities. He explains that this doesn’t mean the doors will close. Registration will not stop. The day to day business of universities will continue. But, he warns, the excellence evidenced by the rankings of South African universities will slowly dip into oblivion.</p>
<p>South Africa is the only country in Africa with ten universities that regularly feature on at <a href="https://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/world-university-rankings/2018">least one</a> world <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/2017/world-ranking#!/page/0/length/25/sort_by/rank/sort_order/asc/cols/stats">ranking list</a>. These ten are institutions that South Africans can be hugely proud of and whose achievements could serve as models for expanding excellence to other institutions.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.uct.ac.za/usr/news/downloads/2016/UniversitiesFundingSouthAfrica_FactSheet.pdf">decline in government funding</a> to South African universities has meant that institutions have had to look elsewhere to cover costs. This has inevitably included <a href="http://www.uct.ac.za/usr/news/downloads/2016/UniversitiesFundingSouthAfrica_FactSheet.pdf">increasing student tuition</a>. In turn, this contributed to student protests in 2015 and 2016. In some instances those protests shut down institutions – suspending their normal functioning for days or weeks at a time. </p>
<p>Shut downs have knock-on effects, some of them long lasting. If universities have to close their doors terms are delayed. Students don’t graduate and don’t pay fees. Universities cannot balance their budgets and infrastructure is not maintained. Staff salaries can’t be paid and academics have to work two or three jobs to survive. </p>
<p>The impact is also felt when it comes to funding. Funding agencies have deadlines and if research outputs are not met grants get cancelled. If grants are cancelled there is less money for equipment. Post graduate student bursaries are cancelled. Post graduate students drop out and go elsewhere and even if new research grants are awarded the students are no longer available to do the research. Then the research outputs cannot be met - again. </p>
<p>Universities elsewhere – in <a href="https://theconversation.com/when-politics-and-academia-collide-quality-suffers-just-ask-nigeria-67313">Nigeria</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/kenyas-universities-are-in-the-grip-of-a-quality-crisis-54664">Kenya</a> and, as Jansen <a href="http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=2017082408304974">himself writes</a>, Zimbabwe and Uganda – stand as a stark warning. South Africa must act to halt the decline and save its universities’ well deserved global reputation of excellence.</p>
<h2>Sustaining universities</h2>
<p>Who cares about universities’ world rankings? Isn’t this just an elitist system in which South Africa cannot afford to compete given its <a href="http://www.statssa.gov.za/?p=9989">declining economy</a>? </p>
<p>No, it’s not. Excellence in academia is a self perpetuating cycle. Break this cycle and universities dive into a spiral of decline. </p>
<p>Excellent students complete their degrees in the minimum time. They drive excellence in an institution’s research programmes. They then become top quality post graduate students who in turn become top class academics and a university’s research machine benefits. These graduates have the ability and the interest needed to engage with a university’s research activities. Because they excel academically, they are often keen to get to grips with more advanced research.</p>
<p>What I’ve found is that getting students involved early on in research often inspires them to study further, equipping them to be future lecturers and professors. Many research programmes – including <a href="https://www.fabinet.up.ac.za/index.php/research-groups/dst-nrf-centre-of-excellence-in-tree-health-biotechnology">my own</a> and that of the faculty in which I work – offer opportunities for undergraduate students to work in their laboratories. In this way students can participate in an institutions’ research activities. </p>
<p>In turn, increased research output <a href="http://www.dhet.gov.za/Policy%20and%20Development%20Support/Research%20Outputs%20policy%20gazette%202015.pdf">benefits universities financially</a>. </p>
<p>Keeping a steady flow of research output will ensure that South Africa can continue to boast some of the world’s top ranked research programmes. The universities of Pretoria, the Witwatersrand and Cape Town are considered <a href="http://www.heraldlive.co.za/news/2017/04/10/three-sa-universities-score-top-marks-world-subject-rankings/">world leaders</a> in mycology, ornithology, anthropology and area studies. The research programmes that earned them these rankings depend on access to top quality postgraduate students. These bright young minds drive world class research – and they come from all over the world.</p>
<p>My own programme has attracted students from Australia, China, Iran, Kenya, Korea, Nigeria, Vietnam and Zimbabwe who are now studying with me. I have in the past also had the privilege of supervising students from Cameroon, Colombia, Chile, Ethiopia, Germany, Lesotho, Namibia, Oman, Switzerland, Uruguay, Venezuela and Zambia. This internationally rich group of students benefits my research and is hugely stimulating to the South Africa students in the programme. </p>
<h2>Preventing brain drain</h2>
<p>The common thread here is engaging students and providing them with the facilities and environment that will keep them in South Africa. Brain drain is <a href="https://businesstech.co.za/news/general/120211/this-map-shows-where-all-south-africas-skilled-workers-are-going/">a reality</a>. The country <a href="https://mg.co.za/article/2016-06-10-00-scarce-skills">needs more</a> doctors to staff its hospitals and engineers to build its power stations. Losing skilled professionals is <a href="https://businesstech.co.za/news/wealth/193764/how-the-rush-to-leave-south-africa-is-starting-to-hurt-business/">bad for the economy</a>.</p>
<p>In addition, university students the world over have changed the direction of business, governments and politics because they are a country’s intellectual leaders. When the strongest of these students choose not to study at universities in their homeland the country is robbed of its next generation of leaders.</p>
<p>Universities must maintain their excellence – or watch their best and brightest minds <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/r/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2016/07/13/Editorial-Opinion/Graphics/KF_Report.pdf">choosing to study</a> and perhaps settle elsewhere.</p>
<p>The role of universities is to educate. They need to produce research and attract brilliant young thinkers who will, ultimately, contribute to a stronger economy and society. South Africa’s universities have long fulfilled these roles. The country cannot afford to see its tertiary education sector pitch over the precipice.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/86552/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brenda Wingfield is a Professor in Genetics at the University of Pretoria
She holds the DST-NRF SARChI chair in Fungal Genomics
She is one of the vice presidents of the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) </span></em></p>South Africa must act to halt the decline and save its universities’ well deserved global reputation of excellence.Brenda Wingfield, Vice President of the Academy of Science of South Africa and DST-NRF SARChI chair in Fungal Genomics, Professor of Genetics, University of PretoriaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/862552017-10-26T10:42:53Z2017-10-26T10:42:53ZThe university must be the site of the next Reformation – here’s why<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/191812/original/file-20171025-25518-1go77ut.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Piotr Wawrzyniuk / Shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Legend has it that Martin Luther nailed his <a href="http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/martin-luther-posts-95-theses">95 theses</a> to the church door at Wittenberg Castle on October 31 1517, sparking the Protestant Reformation. Regardless of <a href="http://www.al.com/living/index.ssf/2014/10/reformation_day_did_martin_lut.html">whether the event itself actually happened</a>, the target was clear: the practices of the Roman Catholic Church. As we commemorate the <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/reformation-500-45049">500th anniversary</a> of Luther’s protest, there is a comparable institution whose practices might be targeted by a latter-day Luther: the university. But first we need to examine what bothered Luther and his followers back then – and then ask what might cause a similar bother today.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/191815/original/file-20171025-25565-11cz396.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/191815/original/file-20171025-25565-11cz396.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/191815/original/file-20171025-25565-11cz396.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=604&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/191815/original/file-20171025-25565-11cz396.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=604&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/191815/original/file-20171025-25565-11cz396.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=604&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/191815/original/file-20171025-25565-11cz396.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=759&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/191815/original/file-20171025-25565-11cz396.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=759&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/191815/original/file-20171025-25565-11cz396.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=759&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Martin Luther, 1529.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:1529MartinLuther.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>At the outset, it is worth recalling that Luther was committed to the religion against which he protested. He was Professor of Moral Theology at a university under Roman Catholic authority when he came to the conclusion that the Church’s own institutions had abandoned the spirit that had led him to join it in the first place.</p>
<p>Luther’s protest focused on the practice of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/indulgence">indulgences</a>, which provided a means by which Christians could increase their chances of salvation by confessing their sins and paying some money to a priest. It would be tantamount to cancelling a debt, which was often how sin was portrayed to believers at the time. But Luther believed that this practice corrupted not only the Church to which he had dedicated his life – but also people’s relationship to God.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/191817/original/file-20171025-25502-1ed08gd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/191817/original/file-20171025-25502-1ed08gd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/191817/original/file-20171025-25502-1ed08gd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=739&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/191817/original/file-20171025-25502-1ed08gd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=739&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/191817/original/file-20171025-25502-1ed08gd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=739&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/191817/original/file-20171025-25502-1ed08gd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=928&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/191817/original/file-20171025-25502-1ed08gd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=928&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/191817/original/file-20171025-25502-1ed08gd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=928&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Pope as the Antichrist, signing and selling indulgences, 1521.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Antichrist1.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Church was obviously corrupted by indulgences because the money usually did not go to relieve the material conditions of the believers <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/indulgence">but to improve those of the Church officials</a>. The believers themselves were perhaps more insidiously corrupted because they were left with the impression that they could simply buy their way to Heaven.</p>
<p>I would like to suggest that the dispensation of academic credentials performs the same function in 2017 as the dispensation of indulgences did in 1517. </p>
<h2>Credentials as corruption</h2>
<p>Credentials are a form of payment and ritual that students are told they must undergo at university in order to be absolved of their ignorance and be permitted to enter a world of lifetime employment – the proverbial “Heaven on Earth”. I use the word “proverbial” deliberately: it is by no means clear that universities can, or should, promise any such thing.</p>
<p>Credentials come in the form of degree certifications, which students receive once they have paid tuition fees and have submitted themselves to a set of examinations. Traditionally students have also had to attend lectures and seminars, though these have been <a href="https://theconversation.com/should-all-university-lectures-be-automatically-recorded-39158">increasingly made optional</a> thanks to reliance on information technology. Just as attendance in church came to be seen as optional once believers acquired access to the Bible in their native languages, the same applies to students nowadays who turn to online sources to replicate what might otherwise be of value in live performances.</p>
<p>Here’s a way to assess the value of credentials. Suppose you hire someone with a good degree in physics. Are they capable of constructively contributing to an engineering project, let alone to the solution of a longstanding problem within physics itself? The answer is bound to be mixed because physics degrees are in the first instance what economists call “virtue signalling” devices. The employer is invited to trust a candidate’s competence because they have somehow managed to pay enough money (perhaps with the help of sponsors) and passed enough tests (presumably <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-stop-cheating-in-universities-85407">by their own efforts</a>) to be in a position where a potential employer can take them seriously.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/191819/original/file-20171025-25497-15eqwxa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/191819/original/file-20171025-25497-15eqwxa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/191819/original/file-20171025-25497-15eqwxa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/191819/original/file-20171025-25497-15eqwxa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/191819/original/file-20171025-25497-15eqwxa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/191819/original/file-20171025-25497-15eqwxa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/191819/original/file-20171025-25497-15eqwxa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Are degrees less meaningful than we believe?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>What is missing from this blaze of credentials – aside from the potential mismatch to the job at hand – is any sense that the candidate understands either the limits of the applicability of her field’s knowledge or how the very basis of her field’s knowledge might be constructively extended. After all, students are not formally examined on either. Rather, they are tested on “state of the art”, of the moment knowledge, which, inevitably, changes over time as the field and its examiners change.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, both students and their potential employers are led to believe that academic credentials confer on students that what they have learned at university constitutes knowledge that is more durable than it really is. And all of this is made possible simply because self-certifying “knowledgeable” people – in other words, academics – have said so.</p>
<h2>Hints of a second Reformation?</h2>
<p>The financial interest of academics in continuing to promote this idea – from the beleaguered lecturer to the over-remunerated vice chancellor – should be obvious. Perhaps only slightly less obvious is why students continue to believe it. After all, no sound theory of knowledge, or <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-do-you-know-that-what-you-know-is-true-thats-epistemology-63884">epistemology</a>, backs this modus operandi, which reeks of a mindless deference to authority. This is especially apparent in societies where people are presumed to be literate, have been given the right to vote for generations and for the past generation have been given free access to the internet. </p>
<p>To be sure, the tide has begun to turn. One of the world’s leading accountancy firms, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2016/01/07/ernst-and-young-removes-degree-classification-entry-criteria_n_7932590.html">Ernst & Young</a>, and the UK’s leading right-leaning intellectual magazine, the <a href="https://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2017/09/the-spectators-48-year-old-intern-shows-why-its-time-to-dispense-with-cvs/">Spectator</a>, have begun to administer their own in-house examinations, which are open to anyone who wishes to apply. More aggressively, the Silicon Valley venture capitalist Peter Thiel launched his “<a href="http://thielfellowship.org/">Thiel Fellowship</a>” in 2011, whereby top-flight high school graduates are lured from elite universities to spend time developing innovations to bring to market. In all these cases, the employer or funder takes full responsibility for certifying candidates, without any formal academic mediation.</p>
<p>So: a new Reformation is slowly happening. But how should universities respond? Luther’s anniversary should remind us that we are living in an increasingly competitive environment for the providers and consumers of knowledge. Universities cannot presume to hold an institutional monopoly over it. This may require academics to engage in a more direct appeal – both in terms of curricular offerings being justified more explicitly and academics presenting themselves in person and print less formally – to demonstrate that a university-based education can provide some added value that cannot be provided elsewhere. </p>
<p>In Luther’s day, this was called “evangelism”.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/86255/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Steve Fuller does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>University degrees perform the same function in 2017 as indulgences did in 1517.Steve Fuller, Auguste Comte Chair in Social Epistemology, University of WarwickLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/728992017-03-01T15:00:29Z2017-03-01T15:00:29ZA degree with a difference: using South African sign language instead of the written word<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/156912/original/image-20170215-19591-13yqzvy.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Nyeleti Nokwazi Nkwinika acknowledges the applause after graduating with her Masters degree.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wits University</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Nyeleti Nokwazi Nkwinika was a year into her Master’s dissertation in English, and she was struggling. This has nothing to do with her work ethic: the problem lay with her hearing. Nyeleti was born deaf and like many others in her situation, she battles with written language.</p>
<p><a href="https://benjamins.com/#catalog/books/z.199/main">Most deaf people</a> are born into hearing families who don’t have any skills in Sign Language. In Nyeleti’s case, she only learned to use <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iesx_3euFO0">South African Sign Language</a> fluently at school. When she got to high school she attended a mainstream hearing school with several other top performing deaf pupils from her previous school. </p>
<p>By then, she had missed out on too many years of access to English. South African Sign Language and English are differently structured. This can make it hard to learn for deaf people who’ve only ever used sign language to communicate. It’s also very difficult to learn written English when one has never heard the language or used it for conversational purposes.</p>
<p>Nyeleti was so frustrated and disheartened by the end of 2014 that she considered dropping out. Instead, we came up with a radical idea that would put Nyeleti, ourselves as her supervisors and a number of university structures to the test: she would submit her proposal and, ultimately, her dissertation, entirely in South African Sign Language.</p>
<p>In November 2016 Nyeleti graduated with her Masters degree. Her achievement is remarkable. It sets a precedent in South Africa and is one of only a few in the world – other signed postgraduate degrees have been completed in the UK, Japan and the US. We hope our experiences might offer some ideas and lessons to universities that wish to be truly inclusive.</p>
<h2>Forging new paths</h2>
<p>Neither of us had ever supervised a Deaf student producing a signed South African Sign Language MA. Both of us are hearing and Andrew doesn’t know any South African Sign Language. But his expertise as a co-supervisor were necessary because of his background in historical linguistics, the topic of Nyeleti’s dissertation. </p>
<p>Once we’d decided to go ahead with this ambitious plan and Nyeleti’s proposal had been approved by the external reader, we put together a video proposal for the university’s ethics committee. This body approves all postgraduate research proposals. </p>
<p>We arranged for Nyeleti to submit a DVD of her proposal as well as the standard written ethics application form. Initially the committee asked for an English translation of the proposal. It didn’t specify if this should be written by Nyeleti or spoken by someone else. We agreed to organise this – on condition that the committee paid the bill, which would have come to at least R2 000.</p>
<p>They let it go. Nyeleti’s ethics application was approved on the basis of her written abstract and completed forms.</p>
<p>Then the real work began. </p>
<p>It came with challenges we couldn’t have anticipated, like the length and nature of supervision sessions; the need to have an interpreter at each session and how best to film Nyeleti as she presented her work in South African Sign Language. Later on, we had to find a suitable external examiner and work out how best to present footnotes. And what about organising data into tables? </p>
<p>We suggested that Nyeleti initially create her tables with written words for signs on a flip chart and then sign each row while standing next to the flip chart. This was very lengthy (four hours of filming) and we later suggested she move these signed tables into the appendix and insert word document tables into the video with a short summary explanation of her findings while cross referencing the appendix.</p>
<figure>
<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/205891236" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen="" mozallowfullscreen="" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Nyeleti in action, outlining her literature review in SASL.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The challenges all three of us faced along the way may offer valuable lessons for others in future. Deaf people still represent a tiny fraction of South Africa’s university students. There are no hard figures, but an informal survey among our colleagues at other institutions suggests there are around 24 SASL students – those who cannot hear enough to access spoken language – and around 44 non-signing oral deaf students who have sufficient hearing through hearing aids or cochlear implants to access spoken languages.</p>
<p>Hopefully these numbers will climb at all universities in future. South African Sign Language was introduced as a <a href="https://journals.co.za/content/perling/32/2/EJC197015">school subject</a> for Deaf learners in 2015. The first Grade 12 cohort will write their final year exams in 2018.</p>
<h2>Lessons learned</h2>
<p>Nyeleti’s success comes down to a number of factors. She showed extraordinary resilience and perseverance. The supervision process was non-conventional, but it was also team based, which added valuable support to a tough process.</p>
<p>Those who want to follow a similar path should bear in mind how important it’s to have a person with an academic background or an academic interpreter present during filming. Deaf students who want to take this approach also need more sophisticated editing training. </p>
<p>It’s also crucial to have engaged, understanding university departments involved. The involvement and understanding of different university departments in how to deal with a South African Sign Language proposal such as the ethics committee and the library in terms of uploading the completed filmed dissertation has also been highlighted. There’s also the time factor to consider – the supervisors need to be willing to put in the increased time needed and recognised for this at department and school level.</p>
<p>We had discussed the issue of signing rather than writing an MA before and the other side of the debate was that using South African Sign Language as the language to document research narrows the number of people who then have access to the research. It’s too expensive to get a translator to translate the sign language version into a written version. We are not sure it’s even possible as the translator would have to have an in-depth knowledge of the topic at hand. </p>
<p>Our response to this issue is that we as supervisors will co-publish a journal article with Nyeleti about her research.</p>
<p><em>Authors’ note: Deaf with a capital ‘D’ refers to being culturally Deaf while small ‘d’ deaf refers to audiological deafness. Oral deaf people are referred to with a small ‘d’ as they don’t use any sign language.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/72899/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>This Masters degree sets a precedent in South Africa and gives universities that want to be truly inclusive a lot to think about.Ruth Zilla Morgan, Lecturer South African Sign Language, University of the WitwatersrandAndrew van der Spuy, Senior lecturer, Linguistics, University of the WitwatersrandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/662232016-09-29T17:23:42Z2016-09-29T17:23:42ZSouth Africa’s research output will be the biggest victim of student protests<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/139759/original/image-20160929-27042-dn2yk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The costs of student protests are far higher than imagined.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Rogan Ward/Reuters</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>It will cost <a href="http://businesstech.co.za/news/government/138169/damage-to-sa-universities-hits-r600-million-and-counting/">around R600 million</a> to repair the damage caused by student protests across South Africa. That’s according to the country’s Minister of Higher Education and Training.</p>
<p>I’d suggest that this figure is merely the tip of the iceberg. The true cost of these protests is far higher. This cost can’t be measured in hard currency – yet. The higher education sector is being held to ransom and universities could lose the ability to do their core work: to teach and to conduct research. </p>
<p>This will have dire consequences for the entire country. South Africa is already struggling to produce enough skilled labour to meet demand. If universities cannot complete their academic years, as <a href="http://www.politicsweb.co.za/opinion/uct-stop-feeding-the-crocodile">some fear</a>, some students may miss out on the chance to graduate on time. They may choose to drop out entirely rather than trying to fund another expensive year of study. </p>
<p>Bright academics and postgraduates are likely to seek work or study opportunities elsewhere and major research projects could stumble as higher education’s crisis deepens.</p>
<h2>Damaging the research machine</h2>
<p>I have been an academic for more than 30 years. I have taught students; I still supervise postgraduates and I run a very successful <a href="http://www.fabinet.up.ac.za/">research programme</a>.</p>
<p>I have a deep understanding of the value of education and what it takes to establish a vibrant research culture at a university. I’m also keenly aware of what it takes to do internationally leading research in a developing world environment. I hold a <a href="http://www.nrf.ac.za/division/rcce/instruments/research-chairs">research chair</a> in Fungal Genomics. These chairs are designed to attract and retain research excellence at public universities. My research focuses on understanding tree pathogens, predominantly fungi which cause tree disease. I have trained almost 100 Masters and PhD students and currently supervise 10 post graduate students. </p>
<p>Such postgraduate students are the lifeblood of research programmes. The quality of research done in any country is hugely influenced by the quality of postgraduate students in these programmes. In recent years, more South African students in my research programme have chosen to stay in the country to carry out postgraduate research; they know that the quality of our research is internationally <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/best-universities-in-africa-2016">competitive and respected</a>.</p>
<p>These local students are joined by postgraduates from elsewhere in the world. They are also drawn by South Africa’s globally competitive research culture.</p>
<p>International postgraduates are an important asset in South Africa’s bid to produce more scientific PhD holders in the coming years. The country’s department of science and technology has identified a need to <a href="http://www.sagreenfund.org.za/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/10-Year-Innovation-Plan.pdf">graduate more PhD students</a>.</p>
<p>The department has set a very ambitious target for universities to graduate 3000 Science and Technology PhD graduates by 2018. South Africa doesn’t have the academics to train this many PhDs. But research intensive universities have been increasing their supervisory capacity by attracting post doctoral students from around the world to help train postgraduates.</p>
<p>Will these post doctoral students and foreign postgraduates still come to South Africa if protests persist? Will local students choose to stay and study towards their PhDs – or will they look for university systems that are not rocked by disruptions?</p>
<h2>The potential for brain drain</h2>
<p>Research is a global activity. Top researchers in South Africa annually host leading researchers from elsewhere in the world. These research leaders interact with academics and graduate students. In this way South African researchers are inspired by the best in the world and will then go on to produce internationally leading research. </p>
<p>But why would these international guests come to campuses racked by protests? As I write this a number of seminars by overseas visitors at my own institution have been postponed and in some cases cancelled. South Africa is poorer for this.</p>
<p>Much of the research I’m referring to here is focused on the country’s own, often unique problems. If this research machine is compromised South Africa will have to “import” – at a significant cost – researchers from other countries to solve its problems.</p>
<p>Local academics, too, are unsettled by what’s happening. Many of my colleagues are very concerned about their futures. Some have told me they are looking actively for positions elsewhere. Young academics who’ve grown up and trained in South Africa could well look for opportunities elsewhere and, given the quality of education they’ve received, they will probably succeed.</p>
<h2>Research programmes do not develop overnight</h2>
<p>Much has <a href="http://www.aau.edu/research/article.aspx?id=15486">been written</a> about the <a href="http://www.dsm.com/corporate/science/science-can-change-the-world.html">value of research</a>. For those who remained unconvinced, it’s useful to think of research as the equivalent of an insurance policy. In doing research you insure that a country and its people are able to understand and deal with future challenges.</p>
<p>A research programme is not something that appears overnight. It takes years to develop, nurture and grow. It often involves the life time endeavour of the researchers concerned. Running a research programme involves a commitment that is essentially 24 hours a day and 365 days of the year. A research programme cannot be switched off for a day, week or a month and then restarted where you left off.</p>
<p>Any breaks mean that you have to restart many activities, often from scratch. This results in delays in delivery and this is very problematic as research is most often done using grant or industrial funding. Granting agencies expect annual reports and that one delivers on what was promised. Industry funding often requires quarterly reporting and funding can be cut if the research outputs are not achieved.</p>
<p>The current student protests are already having a negative impact on research across South Africa. Some universities are suggesting that the academic year will have to be extended into 2017. If campuses are closed and post graduate students and lecturing staff told to go home, the cost to the research machine is incalculable – certainly far more than R600 million.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/66223/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brenda Wingfield receives funding from industry and government granting agencies to support her research. She is the DST-NRF SARChI research chair in Fungal Genomics.</span></em></p>There is a very real risk that South Africa’s major research projects will stumble and the whole research machine will be shut down by ongoing student protests.Brenda Wingfield, Member of the Academy of Science of South Africa and Professor of Genetics, University of PretoriaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/652842016-09-20T18:13:30Z2016-09-20T18:13:30ZAfrica’s universities can shrug off history and stage science revolutions<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/138073/original/image-20160916-6342-1c5hkqx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The sky is the limit for African science when universities work together.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah/Reuters</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>South Africa’s <a href="https://www.uwc.ac.za/Pages/default.aspx">University of the Western Cape (UWC)</a> has been ranked <a href="http://www.timeslive.co.za/scitech/2016/09/07/Sky-science-sees-University-of-the-Western-Cape-beat-big-names-in-Nature-ranking">number one</a> for Physical Science in Africa by top journal <a href="http://www.nature.com/nature/index.html">Nature</a>. Nico Orce, an associate professor with UWC’s nuclear physics and nuclear astrophysics group, tells The Conversation Africa what lessons there are for other universities on the continent – and why there’s more work to be done.</em></p>
<p><strong>UWC still serves a historically disadvantaged community and is less well-funded than many previously white universities in South Africa. Against this backdrop, what did it take for you, your colleagues and your students to get this far?</strong></p>
<p>Being ranked number one on the continent is strongly linked to the <a href="https://www.ska.ac.za">Square Kilometre Array (SKA)</a> telescope being built in South Africa. A number of UWC’s scientists are very involved in this project. </p>
<p>Smart strategic planning and a real push for funding helped to stimulate the physical sciences at UWC. That energy attracted more and more talented researchers, including post-doctoral candidates. This is a crucial way to speed up transformation: bringing in highly skilled researchers from all over the country and the world to train a new generation of local scientists.</p>
<p><strong>The sciences have had a good year at UWC. Your group is also about to become the first from an African institution to <a href="http://www.netwerk24.com/ZA/Tygerburger/Nuus/uwc-students-on-the-way-to-cern-20160830-2">lead an experiment at CERN</a>, the <a href="https://home.cern/about">European Organisation for Nuclear Research</a>. How did that happen?</strong></p>
<p>When I was finishing my degree in Fundamental Physics back in Spain I convinced some of my friends to attend a summer school at CERN. We asked the professor in charge of international exchange programmes to sign our applications. He told us with malicious pleasure that, “Only the crème de la crème goes to CERN – students from Harvard, Oxford or Cambridge. You come from the University of Granada. I cannot believe you even thought of it.” He wouldn’t sign it, so there went our slight chance of working at CERN.</p>
<p>Since then, I promised myself that one day I would go to CERN through the big door and open it up to the ones behind me: young hopeful students.</p>
<p>That promise came to fruition in September 2013 when our group’s proposal to run an experiment at CERN was approved. Our work, which will finally be conducted in November 2016, involves measuring the nuclear shapes of very rare nuclei. Some of our postgraduates have already received training, and did so well that they were awarded a prestigious CERN fellowship.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/138236/original/image-20160919-11108-es00iq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/138236/original/image-20160919-11108-es00iq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/138236/original/image-20160919-11108-es00iq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138236/original/image-20160919-11108-es00iq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138236/original/image-20160919-11108-es00iq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138236/original/image-20160919-11108-es00iq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138236/original/image-20160919-11108-es00iq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138236/original/image-20160919-11108-es00iq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">UWC students (bottom from left to right) Kenzo Abrahams, Makabata Mokgolobotho and Craig Mehl. They are with CERN employees, including (back, second from left) Professor Maria Garcia Borge.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Supplied</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This experiment will open the doors of CERN to all African institutions. We walked through first. Now others will be able to follow.</p>
<p><strong>Enrolling more women students, as well as those who are not white and those from poor backgrounds, is a huge imperative for South African universities. Are you getting that right in the Physics department?</strong></p>
<p>One of the Physics and Astronomy Department’s highest priorities is to attract and enthuse South African students. We have strong outreach programmes to achieve this. One that I like very much is when we give talks to high school students; those in Grades 10, 11 and 12 who are close to finishing school. Our staff members and postgraduates present examples of the work we do.</p>
<p>It’s especially amazing when one of our postgraduates returns to their own school. You should have heard the eruption when one postgraduate, Sivuyile Xabanisa, told kids at his Khayelitsha high school that he was studying the oldest stars in the universe – and going to Oxford University as part of his training.</p>
<p>We also invite high school groups to events organised at the university. In 2013 <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/2012/haroche-facts.html">Serge Haroche</a> visited our Science Research Open Day. He was the 2012 Nobel Laureate in Physics. The auditorium practically shook with excitement when he handed over a new microscope to pupils from a high school in Wallacedene, a poor area quite close to UWC.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-ipl6CLiLnc?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Nobel Laureate Serge Haroche visits the University of the Western Cape.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Another really valuable initiative has been the MaNus/MatSci programme for Nuclear Science and Material Science. In the same way that the SKA is driving strong growth in astronomy, this Honours and Masters programme is attracting growing numbers of future nuclear physicists. It trains about 25 South African students each year, most of them black and from poor backgrounds. These students are drawn from historically disadvantaged institutions like the universities of Fort Hare, Venda, Limpopo and the North West – and from UWC’s undergraduate programmes.</p>
<p>All of this work and outreach has produced impressive results. Today there are more than 100 postgraduate students in the Physics and Astronomy Department. Most of them are black South Africans from historically disadvantaged backgrounds. </p>
<p><strong>What are the lessons other African institutions’ science faculties and individual departments can learn from UWC’s recent successes?</strong></p>
<p>We need to break history to change things dramatically. And we must do it the South African, or African way – using our own strengths and methods, not adopting European approaches.</p>
<p>Universities need to work harder to make sure women and all races are equally represented in their science classrooms. At UWC we’ve got a number of postgraduate women students who are doing great science, winning awards and raising the bar for everyone. Having women there makes other women realise the door is open for them. In the same way, having postgraduates like Sivuyile Xabanisa visiting schools in poorer communities makes pupils realise they also have a place in science labs. Role models are so important.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/138237/original/image-20160919-11090-sfbdlu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/138237/original/image-20160919-11090-sfbdlu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/138237/original/image-20160919-11090-sfbdlu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138237/original/image-20160919-11090-sfbdlu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138237/original/image-20160919-11090-sfbdlu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138237/original/image-20160919-11090-sfbdlu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138237/original/image-20160919-11090-sfbdlu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138237/original/image-20160919-11090-sfbdlu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">UWC’s Dr Nico Orce with pupils from Khayelitsha’s Zola High School.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Supplied</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Ultimately, UWC wants to be number one for physical science not just in Africa but in the world. To do that, we cannot constantly fight among ourselves as individual researchers or with other institutions on the continent. The only competition we need is the healthy sort that improves everyone’s performance. </p>
<p>Collaboration is really crucial. UWC applied for about R30 million from country’s the National Research Foundation and its Department of Science and Technology to build a new detector system called <a href="https://www.uwc.ac.za/Faculties/NS/NuclearPhysics/Pages/Gamka.aspx">GAMKA</a>.</p>
<p>The construction will happen at iThemba LABS in Cape Town and involves a consortium of both wealthy and less well resourced universities. We’ll all have to work closely together, with the same aim, to be successful. That’s the key to making African science soar: knowing that if you try to do it alone, you won’t have all the skills or equipment. Together we can lead science worldwide through work done right here on the continent.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/65284/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nico Orce receives funding from the National Research Foundation (NRF), the South African-CERN Collaboration (Department of Science and Technology) and the University of the Western Cape.</span></em></p>Collaboration is one of the keys to making African science soar: when the continent’s universities work together, they can produce amazing results.Nico Orce, Associate Professor in the Department of Nuclear Physics and Nuclear Astrophysics, University of the Western CapeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/622322016-07-13T20:56:54Z2016-07-13T20:56:54ZWant to do your PhD in Africa? Here’s what you need to know<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/129845/original/image-20160708-24067-lrhpc7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Embarking on the path to a PhD is a scary business.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>A Doctor of Philosophy, which most people know as a PhD, is the highest academic accolade. It demands a substantial investment of time, equipment, meticulous supervision and conscientiousness.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.scidev.net/global/education/multimedia/map-phd-enrolment-africa.html">More and more students</a> are registering for doctoral studies across Africa. They’re doing so in pursuit of higher qualifications and better future career opportunities. But many are left floundering when they try to actually get working on their PhDs. Masters’ programmes simply don’t equip students with the research skills they need, nor the conceptual thinking and critical analysis that’s so important for PhD study.</p>
<p>So what is holding Africa’s PhD candidates back and what can be done differently? To answer these questions, I’ve drawn from lessons learnt while working with a group of fellows in the <a href="http://cartafrica.org/">Consortium for Advanced Research Training in Africa</a> (CARTA). This is a consortium of nine African public universities that supports 140 fellows who are pursuing PhDs in population and public health. Their experiences and concerns may help others who are embarking on the tough, sometimes lonely journey to obtaining a PhD.</p>
<h2>The dark alleys of research</h2>
<p>The CARTA fellows are mostly full-time faculty members, usually assistant lecturers or lecturers. They are talented, well respected and have the potential to be developed into research leaders. But evaluations conducted with the latest cohort reveal that none of these factors keep them from battling with even the basics of starting their PhD work.</p>
<p>One of the problems lies with the structure of masters’ programmes in Africa. These tend to last for two or three years. They’re traditionally assumed to be the foundation for career advancement in academia. But their focus tends to be on a strong component of course work, with limited opportunities for serious research. And research, of course, is the backbone of any PhD degree.</p>
<p>When research is included in masters’ programmes, the scope of the work is narrow and the quality of supervision is poor. Candidates are left to flounder in the dark alleys of research. In Kenya, where I am based, it is very rare for masters’ students to produce work that’s good enough to publish in peer-reviewed journals. Their work doesn’t influence policy- and decision-making. Masters’ graduates get a feather in their cap, but that’s really all.</p>
<p>During their evaluations, the fellows said they were struggling to comprehend the philosophical underpinnings of their research topics. They seem not to know that research methodologies are informed by diverse paradigms. Those from “hard” sciences backgrounds indicated that they didn’t understand philosophy nor see its value to research.</p>
<p>Most have difficulty in identifying the research gap in their topic of interest and insist that the topic has not been studied in the geographical area they’re focusing on. They fail to appreciate that the essence of PhD research is to generate new knowledge and that one cannot contribute to this without a clear understanding about the current state of affairs in their subject.</p>
<p>Our work has found that many PhD students are apathetic about searching for and reading relevant articles. They don’t have the basic software skills needed to search databases and often haven’t heard of open-source software that might make their task easier and cheaper.</p>
<p>Without reading and a critical appraisal of sources, the students really battle to develop a workable research question. A good number end up joining sentences derived from various journals conveniently to create what is submitted as the literature review. The write-up lacks logic and coherence, and is marked by high levels of plagiarism.</p>
<p>One problem leads to another: most students struggle to understand and develop theoretical and conceptual frameworks for their proposed study.</p>
<p>Some of the approaches we’re trying through CARTA might really improve people’s experiences of their PhDs. They have certainly boosted the fellows’ experience of this challenging academic journey.</p>
<h2>Jump-starting the journey</h2>
<p>CARTA has developed a month-long residential seminar during which new students are equipped with the necessary skills and competencies to jump-start their doctoral journey.</p>
<p>Topics in the curriculum include knowledge philosophy; reading, writing and referencing; and how to develop a good research question and a conceptual framework. The seminars are learner-centred, with space for group work and one-on-one consultations. Since the seminars are residential, the fellows also get to spend lots of time with each other, sharing ideas and advice, and with mentors.</p>
<p>Feedback from previous seminars has suggested that this approach is really working. Fellows say that they find the sessions very helpful and this is obvious in the quality of their work. Some have even changed their PhD topics because of the seminars and are comfortable defending their new ideas when they return to their institutions.</p>
<p>Of course, PhD students must bear a great deal of the responsibility for bringing their research to life. They ought to know that one cannot lead a pedestrian life and expect to receive the highest possible academic accolade. It requires hard work, commitment and developing the skills I’ve outlined here.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/62232/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter Ngure is the Programme Manager of the Consortium for Advanced Research Training in Africa (CARTA) at the Africa Population and Health Research Center (APHRC) in Nairobi.</span></em></p>Many people are left floundering when they try to get working on their PhDs. In Africa, this is often because the skills they need haven’t been developed earlier in their academic careers.Peter Ngure, Associate Professor of Parasitology and Entomology, African Population and Health Research CenterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/515502015-12-14T10:54:22Z2015-12-14T10:54:22ZWhy today’s long STEM postdoc positions are effectively anti-mother<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/105571/original/image-20151213-16329-1t9dhgp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Does it need to be so hard to be a mom and a professor?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/quinnanya/4328012789">Quinn Dombrowski</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The fallen leaves remind, once again, that the Hunger Games of securing coveted tenure-track academic jobs have begun. This is my second year serving on the Northwestern University Department of Neurobiology Search Committee, and we’ve received nearly 300 applications for a single faculty position this time around. Less than a third are from women.</p>
<p>We often hear about the leaky STEM pipeline, and the data bear this out, both at the <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/495022a">national levels</a> and within our local search. From what I see as a recent female postdoc with children and now an assistant professor making hiring decisions and advising postdocs seeking academic positions, there are some serious problems uniquely faced by women in academic STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) fields.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/105608/original/image-20151213-9591-jlhi6l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/105608/original/image-20151213-9591-jlhi6l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/105608/original/image-20151213-9591-jlhi6l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=559&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/105608/original/image-20151213-9591-jlhi6l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=559&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/105608/original/image-20151213-9591-jlhi6l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=559&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/105608/original/image-20151213-9591-jlhi6l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=702&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/105608/original/image-20151213-9591-jlhi6l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=702&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/105608/original/image-20151213-9591-jlhi6l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=702&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Demographic data for this year’s applicants to a tenure-track position at Northwestern.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Yevgenia Kozorovitskiy</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Here’s who I see applying</h2>
<p>Our applicants are impressively accomplished, and their age matches their scientific contributions. On average, this group – both men and women – defended their PhDs a little before 2008. </p>
<p>That means that now at the close of 2015, the bulk of our applicants have lingered in postdoctoral limbo for more than half a decade. A postdoc position used to be an optional step toward independence in my field of neuroscience. Eventually, a year or two of research experience after receiving a doctoral degree and before winding up in a faculty job became expected. But now, seeing strong candidates with less than five years of high profile post-PhD work is rare.</p>
<p>The lengthening of this training period is reflected in the aging pool of recipients of R01 grants, the key funding mechanism for biomedical science laboratories, administered by the National Institutes of Health. The average age of first-time recipients has <a href="http://nexus.od.nih.gov/all/2012/02/13/age-distribution-of-nih-principal-investigators-and-medical-school-faculty/">crept up to 42</a>, while the proportion of R01 holders younger than 36 has dropped from 16% in 1980 to 3% by 2010. </p>
<h2>Stretching the STEM career path affects women disproportionately</h2>
<p>The National Science Foundation <a href="http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind14/index.cfm/chapter-2/c2s2.htm">reports</a> that women have comprised half of STEM undergraduate degrees since the 1990s. Yet, a gender gap emerges during the long years of academic training, and it grows substantial in time for faculty appointments. As seen in our representative pool of applicants, the average applicant age for tenure-track assistant professor positions is now past the peak age of <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22082792">female fertility</a> (think a PhD at 28-29 years of age, plus a 5-7 year long postdoc).</p>
<p>Here’s where things get sticky for those who think the advances of feminism mean women should be able to cobble together some version of “having it all.” Building a family while pursuing a STEM career has pitfalls. Delaying childbirth until reaching a tenure-track job could mean long years trying to conceive and expensive assisted reproductive technologies – average price of an IVF cycle is over <a href="http://www.resolve.org/family-building-options/making-treatment-affordable/the-costs-of-infertility-treatment.html">US$10,000</a> – with no guarantee of success. So, a female scientist who wants a family must seriously consider childbirth during her postdoc.</p>
<p>However, postdoctoral salaries are low, and the days are long. The recommended starting salary for a new research fellow is below <a href="https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/research/funding/general/nrsa-fund-guide">$43,000</a>, per National Institutes of Health. A year of high-quality childcare for two kids at daycare centers near prominent research institutions costs more than a postdoc salary – even before taxes are taken out.</p>
<p>While high daycare costs in US cities (even surpassing <a href="http://www.babycenter.com/0_how-much-youll-spend-on-childcare_1199776.bc">$2,000</a> per child per month in some places) seems like a problem for male and female postdocs, it disproportionately affects aspiring female academics. As described in the <a href="http://gender.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/DualCareerFinal_0.pdf">Dual-Career Research Report</a> from the Clayman Institute for Gender Research at Stanford University, academic females are more likely to be partnered with academic males. The same is not true for the more numerous males. Many successful academics acknowledge the <a href="https://theconversation.com/workaholism-isnt-a-valid-requirement-for-advancing-in-science-44555">importance of stay-at-home partners</a>, or partners with flexible jobs, in their rise to academic fame. As described in the same Stanford report, 20% of male academics, but only 5% of females, have a stay-at-home partner. These gender differences, together with the fact that even in our egalitarian society, accomplished women in leadership positions still tend to be responsible for the <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.7326/M13-0974">majority of childcare</a>, mean that the careers of women in STEM are hindered by the choice to have a family.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/105572/original/image-20151213-16329-1sjwmuu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/105572/original/image-20151213-16329-1sjwmuu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/105572/original/image-20151213-16329-1sjwmuu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/105572/original/image-20151213-16329-1sjwmuu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/105572/original/image-20151213-16329-1sjwmuu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/105572/original/image-20151213-16329-1sjwmuu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/105572/original/image-20151213-16329-1sjwmuu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/105572/original/image-20151213-16329-1sjwmuu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Here come the professors… but were they on a level playing field?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/cliffspics/149470906">Jack Duval</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Institutional support needs to change</h2>
<p>Universities today are doing more for the families of their faculty and, increasingly, many are expanding benefits programs to cover all of their staff. But postdoctoral fellows, often classified as trainees, can fall through the cracks, receiving different, lesser benefits than faculty and staff. Sometimes, they receive no benefits at all. Recently, the National Postdoctoral Association released a large <a href="https://npamembers.site-ym.com/?page=policy_report_databa">Institutional Policy Survey</a> that highlighted considerable variability in benefits and programs available to postdocs in responding institutions. Postdoctoral training features benefits that are remnants of an earlier time when postdocs were rare and transient positions. </p>
<p>How do we upgrade to Postdoc 2.0, a version of life for young academics that plugs the leak of talented women in STEM? Prestigious female-targeted postdoc awards, like the glamorous <a href="http://www.lorealusa.com/Foundation/Article.aspx?topcode=Foundation_AccessibleScience_Fellowships">L'Oreal Fellowship</a> that supports only five STEM female postdocs every year, are woefully few. Yet, research universities themselves have the power and the funding structure to implement a variety of strategies that would support women in STEM. Here are concrete examples I think would be valuable to consider:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Award several thousand dollars to female postdocs with children when they go on the academic job market. This can cover high-quality childcare, travel with children or living costs for family caretakers.</p></li>
<li><p>Create competitive internal scholarships to fund a research technician for a year, when a female postdoctoral fellow is pregnant, or with infant. The technician would carry on the fellow’s experiments during the time she must be away from the bench. </p></li>
<li><p>Ensure that postdocs’ benefits don’t vary based on salary funding sources (that is, grants, fellowships, etc), and that their benefits are comparable to faculty and staff.</p></li>
<li><p>Train and perhaps financially support the laboratory directors of female academics with families. University faculty are taught to <a href="http://www.northwestern.edu/newscenter/stories/2015/09/protecting-students,-faculty,-staff-from-sexual-misconduct.html">recognize and avoid misconduct</a>, but not how to help pregnant female trainees design flexible work schedules that advance their career while protecting family time. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>The cost of some of these programs would be pennies in the budget of our great research institutions, but the impact on gender distribution in STEM could be transformative. Moreover, such programs are likely to have immediate measurable impact on the success of women postdocs transitioning to independence in academia. The institutions that take the lead will attract the top STEM postdocs. </p>
<p>For sure, designing programs to advance women in STEM will take careful consideration, when even a Supreme Court justice takes a stand against affirmative action, <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/09/politics/affirmative-action-supreme-court-university-of-texas/index.html">suggesting</a> that minority students might fare better at less-advanced, slower-track schools.</p>
<p>But let us not silence half our voices. Diverse companies and institutions are <a href="http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/organization/why_diversity_matters">more efficient and more creative</a>. Both pragmatic and social justice considerations support striving toward a STEM workforce that mirrors US demographics. We should ensure that the odds in academia, however low overall, aren’t stacked against female aspiring scientists who hope to have families.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/51550/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Yevgenia Kozorovitskiy does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The limits of fertility and an elongated academic career path are currently at odds. If the choice to bear children contributes to the ‘leaky pipeline’ of women in STEM, what can be done?Yevgenia Kozorovitskiy, Assistant Professor of Neurobiology, Northwestern UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/465492015-08-27T03:58:39Z2015-08-27T03:58:39ZFive things to think about if you’re considering a doctorate<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/93065/original/image-20150826-15421-gw6lhs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Sometimes it'll be tough going, but there's great joy in working towards a PhD.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>I was chatting recently to a group of PhD scholars who are about midway through their journey. They are all studying part-time, juggling this with full-time jobs, family commitments and other responsibilities. All agreed that the PhD is a difficult process which requires an enormous amount of time and energy.</p>
<p>But I noticed that they could be roughly categorised into two groups. Those in the first group spoke of their PhDs only in negative terms and viewed them as a constant burden that offered little gratification along the way. Their PhD was a boulder they were bound to endlessly push up a steep hill without ever being able to stop and contemplate the view. </p>
<p>The second group expressed pride in their work. They had a strong sense of being part of something important and contributing to something meaningful. They spoke enthusiastically about what the PhD had already offered them in terms of self-development and improved skills.</p>
<p>Some of these scholars probably moved between the two groups depending on how they were progressing at the time. But I wondered whether there might be a way to spend more time in the second, happier group - after all, four or more years of satisfying and challenging engagement sounds great but the idea of spending all that time feeling grim and despondent is perfectly horrible.</p>
<p>I decided to do a bit of sleuthing to figure out what might lead people to the second group and way of thinking. To do so, I collected reflections on the PhD journey from 28 doctoral scholars. Each discussed their own ways of working, their views of their own doctorates and their experiences of getting stuck and then unstuck again. </p>
<p>None of the findings are earth shattering, but there’s some good advice within their responses about how to do a doctorate and actually enjoy it.</p>
<h2>1. Make sure you’re doing it for yourself</h2>
<p>There are lots of <a href="http://mg.co.za/article/2013-06-07-postgraduate-study-passion-or-peril">reasons to do a doctorate</a>: the status, the improved employment opportunities, as a requirement for a position or promotion, to advance a field of study, to answer an important question and to make new knowledge. </p>
<p>All those who said they’d really enjoyed their PhDs had a strong sense of the doctorate as being part of developing their own identity. They were deeply invested in their growing capacity to contribute meaningfully in their disciplinary community. </p>
<p>There was also a sense from these scholars that the doctorate was their own space. It was the place in their lives where they could make the decisions, be creative and for which they could legitimately fence off time from other responsibilities for their own growth. They framed the PhD as something they did for themselves.</p>
<h2>2. The magic of momentum</h2>
<p>Nobody can sustain an enormous PhD workload relentlessly over the duration of the degree. This was especially true for these scholars who squeezed the doctorate into the gaps between work meetings and after getting families fed. </p>
<p>But those who enjoyed the PhD all referred to working on the doctorate almost every day. Sometimes the only input that was possible on a given day was an hour spent reading through an article or 20 minutes writing a brief reflection note in a research journal. </p>
<p>The regularity of input, more than the quantity and quality, seems to be key.</p>
<p>Those who bemoaned their PhD as a constant liability admitted that weeks often went by without them working on it. Rather than enjoying the respite from the doctorate, all this time was spent feeling guilty - and when they finally did get to it, it took hours or even days to get back into what they had been thinking and writing about.</p>
<h2>3. Celebrate small successes</h2>
<p>Some scholars spoke of sharing the completion of a chapter with their PhD colleagues through a Whatsapp message. Others stuck a list of milestones to the fridge and their family made celebratory dinners whenever one was met.</p>
<p>The notion of deadlines was closely linked to the idea of regular successes. The PhD is a massive project with no clear deadlines along the way, which is why some are able to put off working on it for days and weeks at a time.</p>
<p>Many of the same scholars who trumpeted their small successes set very clear deadlines for themselves and shared these with supervisors, relatives or academic colleagues. Some also used external deadlines like seminar and conference presentations as a way of forcing themselves to engage with a particular aspect of their study by a certain date.</p>
<h2>4. Be kind to yourself</h2>
<p>Some scholars seem to be able to keep looking ahead instead of beating themselves up about poor progress or <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/features/10-truths-a-phd-supervisor-will-never-tell-you/2005513.article?page=0%2C1">less than positive feedback from a supervisor</a>.</p>
<p>They constantly expect better of themselves and then put in the hours needed to attain these goals. Rather than berating themselves for what they haven’t managed to do, they happily share what they have achieved and what they are working on.</p>
<h2>5. Find a community</h2>
<p>One thing was very clear: even though it’s an individual piece of work, the doctorate doesn’t have to be a lonely endeavour. Those who seemed to be most enthusiastic about their doctorates had found fellow travellers and developed ways to regularly engage with them. </p>
<p>Sometimes these were <a href="https://theconversation.com/doing-a-phd-can-be-a-lonely-business-but-it-doesnt-have-to-be-19192">virtual friendships online</a> with others researching in the same area. Sometimes people met other scholars over coffee and cake to share readings and support each other. It seems that sharing the process increases the chances of enjoyment - and since you’re giving years of your life to this enormous academic project, it seems important that you should enjoy large parts of it.</p>
<p><em>A version of this article originally appeared on the <a href="https://doctoralwriting.wordpress.com/">blog</a> Doctoral Writing SIG.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/46549/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sioux McKenna does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Completing a PhD is a process that takes years. There are several ways to make this a happy, productive time rather than a period of endless misery.Sioux McKenna, Professor and Higher Education Studies PhD Co-ordinator, Rhodes UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/446862015-07-30T04:13:06Z2015-07-30T04:13:06ZHow African doctorates and doctoral candidates are changing<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/90105/original/image-20150729-30854-1c6p4go.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Africa's doctoral graduates have a different role to play across the continent than they did in the years immediately after independence.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Siphiwe Sibeko/Reuters</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>People’s attitudes towards and expectations of doctoral candidates have changed several times in Africa. During the 1960s and 1970s, as many colonial powers <a href="http://africanhistory.about.com/library/timelines/blIndependenceTime.htm">left the continent</a>, doctoral graduates were valued as sophisticated scholars.</p>
<p>They were hailed as indigenous shapers of their countries’ democratic break from colonial practices. Their education was seen as being about equity, redress and autonomous voice.</p>
<p>My own interest in pursuing different ways of designing doctoral studies developed against this backdrop in the 1990s. At the time, South Africa was heading towards its own independence - not from traditional colonialism, but from apartheid rule. </p>
<h2>Doctoral education as protest</h2>
<p>The senior professors in our conservative South African faculty of education refused to support the recruitment of postgraduate students. They argued that prospective students were not prepared for this form of abstract theoretical work at such a high level. They suggested that there were more practical issues for South Africa’s teachers to deal with and insisted that pursuing a doctoral study was a “luxury” for those who should focus on their work in classrooms.</p>
<p>Their arguments exposed a great deal about these professors’ resistance to broadening the base of their exclusive club. They also betrayed the belief that doctoral studies should be about cloning the professors’ own world views. These attitudes led me to embrace doctoral education as a project of resistance to <a href="http://reference.sabinet.co.za/webx/access/electronic_journals/high/high_v14_n3_a8.pdf">apartheid exclusion</a>. </p>
<p>International influences brought a shift in attitudes. The global benchmarks of a quality education system were <a href="http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/leading-the-international-agenda/education-for-all/efa-goals/">redirected</a> towards increasing the enrolment of primary and secondary learners. Multinational institutions supported developing countries to invest exclusively in these targets. </p>
<p>In recent years there has been another shift. Some have <a href="http://sun025.sun.ac.za/portal/page/portal/Arts/CREST/SciSTIP%20launch%20presentations/6.%20Nico%20Cloete%20-%20Performance%20in%20knowledge%20production%20in.pdf">argued</a> that revitalising education in Africa relies on respecting and guarding the relationship between learning at all levels. This includes learning at <a href="http://www.opportunitiesforafricans.com/2015-african-higher-education-summit-revitalizing-higher-education-for-africas-future-dakar-senegal/">universities</a>.</p>
<p>This shift has seen PhD studies <a href="http://www.topuniversities.com/student-info/careers-advice/why-phd-worth-it">revalued</a>. They can be used to develop planning systems, generate critical thinking about current practices, form the backbone for policy development and help with monitoring and evaluation. </p>
<p>If PhD graduates are to fulfil these roles, PhD education’s structure and form must be reformed. How can this be done?</p>
<h2>Change at all levels</h2>
<p>One aspect of the system that needs to be challenged is the traditional model of a master-apprenticeship relationship between supervisor and student. Some institutions are already exploring newer models of learning that have cohorts of students working collaboratively with their supervisor. It is also becoming common to have more than one supervisor helping an individual or group of doctoral students. </p>
<p>Doctoral supervision relationships now span departments, institutions and borders. Partnerships have been formed between and across African universities. They have European and Asian counterparts. </p>
<p>For example, my institution – the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban, South Africa – has two such programmes. One <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03057925.2013.795100#abstract">involves</a> the Mauritius Institute of Education. The university also offers a PhD in Higher Education in partnership with the universities of Tampere and Helsinki in Finland, Uganda’s Management Institute and Makerere University, and Yaounde I in Cameroon. These partnerships allow different institutions to share theoretical, financial and human resources.</p>
<p>The profile of the <a href="http://www.idea-phd.net/files/8213/9886/4628/IAUFinal_Report_Doctoral_Programmes_Phase_I.pdf">African doctoral student</a> is also changing. Increasingly, obtaining a doctorate isn’t about qualifying to enter a single disciplinary department in academia. Candidates are no longer conventional students who have recently completed their masters studies in the same discipline. They are usually older and probably studying part-time while working with specific family and career path needs. </p>
<p>The student brings a range of practical experiences from years of service within particular fields. Often, though, they are crossing over into other areas of study. This cross-pollination can create new directions for alternative knowledge production.</p>
<p>New forms of doctorates have emerged to cater for such diversity. These include a <a href="http://www.findaprofessionaldoctorate.com/advice/">professional doctorate</a>, which draws industry, professions and academic knowledge together. Students can also pursue a doctorate by publications, such as books or monographs, or through other arts-based genres.</p>
<p>Universities are becoming more comfortable with the idea of a doctoral thesis that uses creative fictional writing, paintings, photographs and performing arts like dance and music.</p>
<h2>Next steps</h2>
<p>New business, government, community and university <a href="http://chet.org.za/files/uploads/books/CHET%20HERANA%20Synthesis/CHET%20HERANA%20Synthesis%20Text%20WEB.pdf">partnerships</a> are needed to fund and encourage these changes. Universities must create programmes, develop governance strategies and set up academic support structures to bring more doctoral students into the fold.</p>
<p>The future doctoral graduate must connect these multiple influences. They all compete for dominance in their present concerns and future aspirations. It is the responsibility of future doctoral education designers to bear this in mind.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/44686/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael Anthony Samuel does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Doctoral studies are valued as an engine for development in Africa. If doctoral graduates are to meet this challenge, the very structure of the doctoral programme must change.Michael Anthony Samuel, Professor of Teacher Development Studies , University of KwaZulu-NatalLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/427472015-06-05T03:53:16Z2015-06-05T03:53:16ZCurriculum reform at Sydney uni - separating the glitz from the grit<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/84028/original/image-20150605-3387-1pca72j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The big news here is the changes to culture and curriculum, not degree length. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dylansworld/16980212029/">Dylan's World/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The University of Sydney has announced an overhaul of its undergraduate teaching. A <a href="https://intranet.sydney.edu.au/content/dam/intranet/documents/news-initiatives/strategy/Strategy-Discussion-Paper-Education.pdf">discussion paper</a> proposes reducing the number of degrees, increasing the length of degrees, and a host of other curriculum and cultural reforms. If achieved, some of these reforms could be revolutionary, but much of the media attention has focused on the less important aspects.</p>
<p>That there’s a domestic and international marketing element to this is without question — <a href="http://sydney.edu.au/news/84.html?newscategoryid=15&newsstoryid=15056">Vice-Chancellor Michael Spence has talked about</a> “restoring” the university’s “historic” position as “indisputably the best university in the nation”. He referred to Sydney as one of the two best universities in the country. Coming from the University of Melbourne, I naturally assume he is referring to Melbourne as the other, but I’m not sure how Australia’s other universities, notably the other Group of Eight members, would feel about that assessment.</p>
<p>Is this symptomatic of a university seeking to differentiate itself within a sector under pressure? Well, yes, and from one point of view, that’s not a bad thing. But is this an interesting new riff from an established performer, or just an upbeat cover of an old song?</p>
<h2>Fewer, longer degrees?</h2>
<p>The headline act, so far as much of the media coverage is concerned, is the reduction in the number of degrees. This was the main aspect of reports by the <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-06-02/sydney-university-looks-to-cut-undergraduate-degrees/6514194">ABC</a>, <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3107583/Sydney-Uni-considering-ditching-100-degrees-make-students-employable.html">Daily Mail</a> and <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/national/education/sydney-university-to-introduce-fouryear-degrees-and-reduce-double-degrees-20150601-ghe5f7.html">Fairfax media</a>.</p>
<p>Reducing the number of degrees offered may offer efficiences from the administrative and marketing points of view, but the impact on students of this change at least is likely to be minimal. At best, the new system will be less confusing (perhaps if only from the outside) and maybe more flexible if you change your mind about your study interests part-way through your degree. Otherwise, this proposal will likely have little impact on the student experience.</p>
<p>The change in degree length will lead to “more expensive” degrees, according to the <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-06-02/sydney-university-looks-to-cut-undergraduate-degrees/6514194">ABC</a>, and “better employment outcomes”, according to the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Education), Pip Pattison. </p>
<p>The discussion paper <a href="https://intranet.sydney.edu.au/content/dam/intranet/documents/news-initiatives/strategy/Strategy-Discussion-Paper-Education.pdf">presents some data</a> that shows a four-year degree probably doesn’t have a negative effect on international enrolments.</p>
<p>A student has more opportunities for meaningful educative interactions with a university in four years than three. However, given the high numbers of students who previously went on to Honours study, and that an Honours equivalent will be more or less embedded within the four years, this won’t change much for a lot of students.</p>
<p>What does potentially change the cost burden for students is an increased focus on vertical degree structures - having generalist undergraduate degrees, followed by professional postgraduate degrees. Increasing the number of postgraduate degrees financially supported by the government would be necessary to avoid an increased financial burden for aspiring professionals whose accrediting degrees have been shifted from undergraduate to postgraduate.</p>
<h2>Curriculum change</h2>
<p>For the sector, though, this might be one of those nights out where the supporting acts are more interesting than the headline.</p>
<p>What <em>is</em> worth watching in all this are the more fundamental changes the university is proposing for its classroom experience and culture. An elite program for high-achieving students would be almost unique in Australian higher education. It could be a good drawcard for prospective gifted students here and internationally.</p>
<p>The university also proposes offering professional skill-building and industry-based experience in the final year in some courses. This would also be valuable considering graduate employability is never far from people’s thoughts. </p>
<p>Perhaps even more importantly, Dr Spence <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/higher-education/sydney-university-to-get-a-major-makeover/story-e6frgcjx-1227380173810">calls</a> the university a “white bread institution” with “old, white and male” leadership. The discussion paper suggests that staff believe not enough is done to attract and support promising students from a diverse range of social and cultural backgrounds.</p>
<p>Confronting and changing the relative lack of diversity and issues (or at least perceptions) of privilege and background that still afflict a lot of the universities, particularly the Group of Eight, would be a remarkable achievement, if it were achieved.</p>
<p>The discussion paper also proposes some <a href="http://www.itl.usyd.edu.au/graduateAttributes/policy_framework.pdf">changes to the university graduate qualities</a>. Graduate qualities are (often vague) statements about the attributes students should possess upon graduating, like “depth of disciplinary expertise”, “critical thinking and problem-solving skills” and “cultural competence”. </p>
<p>The new graduate qualities are actually quite similar to the current set. What <em>would</em> be revolutionary is if the university uses these proposed changes as an opportunity to embed these attributes in a meaningful, assessable and quantifiable way.</p>
<p>Until now, universities have been more or less left to their own devices in training graduates to an appropriate standard. Some industry groups have input into course content via accreditation, but the public has had to take on trust that graduates have their supposed qualities.</p>
<p>If graduate attribute statements are ever to be more than just aspirations, or more than just marketing nonsense - and they should be, as a key part of the contract institutions make with students and society - universities need better processes to evaluate and ensure the standards of their graduates.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, the sector’s ability to do that is still in its infancy. If the University of Sydney can develop clear and concrete measures of graduate qualities, one would think that there would be significant commercial advantage for them in producing that evidence and marketing it to prospective students. That would be a show worth seeing.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/42747/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ryan Naylor does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The University of Sydney has announced an overhaul of its undergraduate teaching. If achieved, some of these reforms could be revolutionary, but much of the media attention has focused on the less important aspects.Ryan Naylor, Lecturer in Higher Education, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.