Factors related to student success

Factors associated with student success – the experiences from the CARTA pan African PhD training programme

Sharon Fonn, Frances Griffiths and.......

CARTA has a particular pedagogic approach and uses the JAS and the inter-JAS tasks to provide a structured framework to guide students and promote on-time and quality graduates. It also recognises the importance of the institutional context for supporting students to success in their PhD and the process of selection of the Fellows.

This paper will explore the degree of student involvement in the JAS processes (as measured by their performance in the JAS, compliance with inter JAS tasks (completed all tasks in full, completed some tasks, completed on time, and did not comply and relate this to their outcome. Outcome here will be defined by: completion of thesis, publications, success in grant applications, success in being accepted for conferences locally in their institutions,  internationally.

We will describe the support and training provided to Faculty and Staff of the CARTA institutions and the process of selection of Fellows.

Using both these quantitative measures as well as discussions/interviews with supervisors, mentors, CARTA committee members (and/or written comments) we aim to describe those factors that have a positive/negative impact on student throughput  and success both directly from the CARTA JAS process and indirectly via institutional support and identify how and why the success (or not) was achieved.

The paper would be  based on the theoretical framework for the pedagogic approach and - for evaluating the CARTA approach impact  we could use the realist approach (what works for whom, where, when and why).

Notes from Griffiths: This paper would be aimed at a high impact journal and provide a description of the whole CARTA approach and what it has achieved (or not). It may be necessary to undertake some form of survey/interviews with faculty and Fellows. I realise this might pull in topics from other possible papers but by making it a major collaborative paper we are likely to achieve higher impact.