Our PhD scholars do not need to travel their doctoral journey on their own. We have a range of support mechanisms to ensure that they are part of a collaborative community.
To begin with, we have significant supervision expertise. Scholars choose or are allocated a supervisor (or more than one) with whom they work on an ongoing basis.
We host three 'Doc Weeks' per year. These face-to-face research weeks happen on campus in Makhanda and provide opportunities for candidates to participate in a range of activities designed to support their own research process. The structure and content of the research weeks are negotiated between the coordinator and the candidates and can include guest seminars on particular topics of interest, discussions around key texts, skills workshops, meetings with supervisors and presentations in which candidates report on progress and benefit from feedback from other students and supervisors. Some of the Doc Weeks are higher education studies specific, and some are shared with the broader Education Faculty at Rhodes University.
We also run a fortnightly online work-in-progress seminar series using Zoom. These seminars are led by PhD candidates who share their research journeys with the community and get formative feedback from peers and the supervisory team.
We also have a number of research clusters which bring candidates using the same theoretical framework together on a regular basis. These candidate-led meet-ups happen online using Zoom.
The Faculty of Education facilitates an excellent Research Design course. This intensive course (currently offered both in-person and online) exposes candidates to the expectations of doctoral research in education and to the range of methodological choices available for such study. The course is focused on supporting proposal development. We strongly encourage candidates to complete the course, particularly if you are new to higher education studies or have not conducted research in a while.
Between seminars, candidates maintain contact with their supervisors through email, Zoom meetings, or face-to-face contact. They also participate in the online community on RUConnected set up specifically for them. This virtual space allows for discussions and sharing of resources.
PhD rules and regulations, including completion timelines are set out in the Rhodes University Higher Degrees Guide. Scholars are expected to produce a research proposal within the first 18 months of candidature. The maximum candidature for a PhD is five years.
Last Modified: Thu, 06 Jun 2024 09:19:52 SAST
