If our funding proposal is approved, we are ready to go!
We have the following set out as our 'next steps':
Overview of project to be funded:
This project will bring together a team of researchers from Rhodes University, University of Venda and Lancaster University with 10 academics working in South African Universities to research the relationship between quality and social justice within the higher education system. The project will not only support these staff members to achieve their doctoral degrees, it will enable the development of supervisory capacity in these universities, and allow for the development of alternative models of doctoral education. It will also allow the collaborative partnerships between the three institutions to be strengthened and entrenched.
The project will build on the experiences of running large, structured doctoral programmes at Rhodes University and Lancaster University to enable the attainment of a number of objectives, aligned to those of the UCDG. In particular, the project addresses the transformation imperative not only through the selection of doctoral candidates but also through the topic of the project itself: quality and social justice in/through higher education. The project is based firmly on the principles of equal partnership and mutual benefit where all members of the project team, whether as researchers, supervisors or doctoral candidates, are active participants whose contributions are valued. We have collectively developed this proposal to ensure it meets the needs and contexts of all three institutions and are committed to working together with an emphasis on respect and collegiality. The UCDG principles of cost-effectiveness, economies of scale and cost-sharing are also all explicitly attended to in this proposal with the project utilising a number of existing initiatives to support its activities, such as the “Doc Weeks” at Rhodes University and the national “Strengthening Postgraduate Supervision” programme.
The project will provide an alternative to the one-on-one supervision model which continues to dominate in the Humanities and Social Sciences in South Africa (ASSAf 2010, CHE/CREST 2009). The institutional visits undertaken with the initial funding allowed for a thorough engagement with a number of colleagues at the three universities (see Phase 1 report) to discuss the different models of doctoral education in our institutions and to consider which could best meet the needs of the project while complying with national legislation. Because the HEQSF (2013) specifies that no credits can be awarded to coursework in the PhD, this project will use a modified version of the coursework doctorate of the Centre for Higher Education Research and Evaluation (CHERE) at Lancaster University, whereby coursework is used to support the PhD candidates through the first two years alongside their full-thesis studies. Expectations and deadlines will be explicitly built into the structure of the doctorate with significant scaffolding and support. The model allows more opportunities for collaboration and structured development for both the novice supervisors and the doctoral candidates are also built into the project. The entire project is thus developed around the idea of collaboration and mutual support, which is best explained through a brief overview of the proposed structure.
In the first two years of study, the doctoral candidates will be expected to work through eight modules. These will take place online and ensure that candidates are supported from the beginning to engage with the reading and writing tasks at the doctoral level and to support the students in developing the ability to make a “contribution at the frontiers of a discipline or field” (HEQSF 2013, p.41). To make such a contribution, candidates need to have a firm grasp of current debates and concepts such that they can identify where the frontiers of the field are. These modules also ensure that the scholars become well versed in the broader issues of quality and social justice beyond whatever narrower focus their own PhD study comprises.
For each module, candidates will be expected to undertake a series of activities and to submit an assignment. Each online module will be facilitated by two or three members of the project team. The online tasks include such activities as presenting an analysis of the core readings and making connections between the module concepts and their proposed research focus. The modules will utilise Moodle and Zoom as the platforms. Each module will include an assignment of a fairly significant piece of written work (3000 to 6000 words), which will be subject to peer-review. Peer-review not only benefits the person receiving the feedback to strengthen their work, but also inducts candidates into this important academic practice. The students will also be provided with formative and summative feedback on each assignment from the module facilitators. The assignments not only build the candidates’ abilities to work at doctoral level and develop an understanding of the literature underpinning their own PhD studies, they also build towards their particular dissertation work. This approach builds on the over 25 years of experience of developing structured doctoral programmes to support part-time PhD students in the Department of Educational Research at Lancaster University.
On successful completion of the Year One modules, the candidates will be allocated their supervisors. This will be done on the basis of expertise in the specific topic and capacity. Each candidate will have two or three supervisors. While each module in Year Two will again be facilitated by two or three of the project team who will be responsible for guiding the online tasks and overseeing the assessment thereof, each candidate will have closer engagement with their supervisors to ensure that the Year Two module assignments lead to the development and approval of a proposal.
In Year Two, the candidates will also be expected to complete the “Introduction to Research Design” short course offered at Rhodes University. Those supervisors in the project team who believe this will be beneficial to them will also be invited to attend.
In Years Three and Four, the supervisors will work in teams of three or four such that each person has an opportunity to be a main supervisor and a co-supervisor. The main supervisor will be responsible for the day to day feedback and support and the co-supervisors will participate in reviews of all written work and feedback on an oral presentation by the candidate at least once every six months. In Year Five, those who have completed their PhD studies will participate in writing for publication work. This will include their completion of an online course, “Plan to Publish” and participation in a writing retreat.
Alongside the modules in Years One and Two, and the thesis writing in Years Three and Four, the candidates will attend three residential weeks or “Doc Weeks” per year. These comprise intensive periods of workshops, seminars and candidate presentations. The candidates benefit from the strengthening of a sense of community and support that such events bring. The Centre for Higher Education Research, Teaching and Learning (CHERTL) at Rhodes University has a ten-year record of running such “Doc Weeks” and the project funding will also allow a colleague from Lancaster University to attend one Doc Week per year to meet with the team and to offer seminars. The “Doc Weeks” will continue throughout the project so that the collaborative approach is built into the process. In Years One and Three, one of the “Doc Weeks” will take place at Lancaster University, combining with the Higher Education Close Up (HECU) conference in Year One and with other on campus opportunities in Year Three. HECU is offered every second year alternating between the United Kingdom and South Africa. It is a high-quality international conference which will enable candidates to network in the Higher Education studies community right from the commencement of their studies and expose them to the cutting-edge research being done in the field. It also will offer the project team an opportunity to publish their work, as an edited book will be published based on selected papers from the conference.
Through this innovative approach to doctoral education combining a project team, structured modules, and shared supervision alongside a deep engagement with a critical research issue, we believe this will be a most important and significant initiative. The partnership between the three institutions is developed in ways that ensure mutual responsibility, participation and development. We bring very different institutional contexts and experiences but a shared concern with the role of higher education in society and the development of doctoral education. We will collaborate through shared offering of modules and Doc Weeks, through shared supervision and through opportunities for shared research across the institutions.
In conclusion, the research question identified as a broad focus for this project could be used to hold together a range of studies drawing on a variety of disciplines or subject areas. This sort of ‘project team’ approach to doctoral research contrasts with traditional approaches that pair a doctoral candidate with an individual supervisor in what can be a very lonely process. The project team approach is common in the sciences but not in the humanities and social sciences and research is needed in order to explore the extent to which it can result in improved retention and throughput.
The broad research question allows for a large number of specific focus areas. One candidate might look at how the emergence of managerialism in South African higher education impacts on its social justice role, another might look at the ways in which the funding model intersects with issues of quality and social justice, yet another might look at teaching and learning issues in relation to these dual concerns, and so on.
The focus on a common research question is not the only way this project could lead to benefits other than the ten doctoral theses that will result. The aim in the project is to use learning technologies as well as face-to-face meetings to ‘hold’ candidates together in the course of their doctoral journeys and to include a significant coursework component. It would thus provide support in addition to that offered by the supervisor(s) assigned to each student. Understandings of the way project support/supervision could be used to enhance the doctoral experience in South Africa are needed urgently.
Yet another 'spin-off' from the programme is the inclusion of a component focused on the development of supervisors. Academics involved in the supervision of candidates recruited to the project will be expected to engage with a course on postgraduate supervision as, indeed, will candidates themselves who, in terms of the Higher Education Qualifications Sub-Framework (HEQSF), are required to be ready to supervise at doctoral upon completion of the qualification. An existing course, ‘Strengthening Postgraduate Supervision’ developed under the auspices of NUFFIC and offered at all South African universities thanks to NUFFIC and DHET funding will be used for this purpose. The inclusion of a component aimed at enhancing doctoral supervision will not only contribute to the quality of the guidance that the candidates enrolled in the project receive but to supervision in the system more generally because they will go on to supervise future PhD candidates. We will make the offering of the course open to all academics at both University of Venda and Rhodes University.