The PhD candidates

Themba Baloyi

Themba is a lecturer in the Department of Social Work within the Faculty of Humanities, Social Sciences, and Education at the University of Venda. He teaches undergraduate social work students and supervises and co-supervises students’ master’s social work. He obtained a Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) degree from the University of Venda, a master’s in social development and social policy from the University of Pretoria, and a Postgraduate Diploma in Teaching and Learning from the University of KwaZulu-Natal. He has published articles in peer-reviewed journals. He is an active member of the institutional quality assurance committee and serves as the secretary of the faculty quality assurance committee at Univen.

He is currently in the final stage of his PhD at Rhodes University. His study title is: A social realist analysis of the impact of external quality assurance on teaching and learning: A case study of a rural-based South African University.

Grant Cyster

My name is Grant Cyster. I'm a 50-year old single male with no kids - just a complicated relationship with my pretty kitty. I work as a communications professional at the University of the Western Cape, involved with the editing, writing and dissemination of various forms of content on behalf of the rectorate and the university at large.

The title of my doctoral study is: Taking on or leaving behind a doctoral identity - Analysing narratives of attrition in South African doctoral education

The study examines institutional-related factors that have influenced six doctoral candidates to withdraw from their programme of study. It does so via a narrative research approach, aimed at elevating the voices of the participants and illuminating issues of power, identity, inclusion and exclusion in doctoral study through the first-hand perspective of the candidates.

Dr Lyndall Kemm-Stols

I am a mother of three energetic 10-year-olds, based in Durban. For the past decade, I have been part of the Department of Visual Communication Design at the Durban University of Technology (DUT), where I contribute to both teaching and curriculum development. Prior to joining DUT, I gained valuable experience lecturing at various private higher education institutions, which shaped my interest in higher education. I am an alumni of DUT, where I completed my undergraduate studies, and later pursued a Master’s in Higher Education at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, driven by a desire to better understand the complexities of teaching and learning in the South African context. That journey ultimately led me to this PhD, through which I aimed to deepen my contribution to higher education transformation and social justice.

PhD title: Three decades of change: Exploring colonial legacies and shifts within processes of admission at South African Universities of Technology. Despite meaningful progress in expanding participation—particularly through Universities of Technology (UoTs)—access to higher education in South Africa remains contested and influenced by the country’s enduring legacy of inequality. UoTs have contributed significantly to redress efforts by offering more accessible admission pathways, yet they remain underexplored in academic literature. Marginalised communities still face systemic barriers, and this study examines how and why admission processes at UoTs have evolved over the past three decades within this context. Grounded in Critical Realism and Social Realism particularly the morphogenetic framework, and informed by decolonial theories of change, this research reveals how colonial legacies and underlying structures and cultures continue to influence the landscape of higher education. Using the metaphor of ‘The House Modernity Built,’ the study reveals that while surface-level transformation has occurred, entrenched systems and cultures persist, limiting redress. Furthermore, it argues that UoTs are structurally positioned at the bottom of a hierarchical sector influenced by neoliberal forces, such as funding models and global rankings. These pressures have informed changes such as the preference of English and the replacement of diplomas with degrees requiring higher entry standards. These developments work to undermine efforts toward social justice in higher education.

Neil Kramm

Neil Kramm is a Lecturer and Technology Enhanced Teaching and Learning Specialist based in the Centre for Higher Education Research, Teaching and Learning (CHERTL) at Rhodes University. Since 2015, he has worked at the intersection of teaching, academic development, and educational technology, supporting lecturers through workshops, formal qualifications, and consultation. His professional and research interests lie in the pedagogical integration of digital tools—particularly artificial intelligence—into university teaching and assessment practices. This interest forms the foundation of his doctoral research.

Building on his professional role, Neil’s PhD study— Generative AI, Assessment, and Knowledge Building in Higher Education: A Realist Understanding of Academics’ Assessment Design Decisions—investigates how generative AI tools, like ChatGPT, are reshaping academic assessment practices. Focusing on the Rhodes University context, the study draws on critical and social realism to explore how structural, cultural, and agential mechanisms influence academics’ decision-making about assessment in the face of rapidly evolving AI technologies. The research seeks to understand not only how assessment is changing, but how such changes can support deeper knowledge building and maintain academic integrity in higher education.

Dr Emily Mabote is the Acting Executive Director for Institutional Effectiveness and Technology at the Tshwane University of Technology in South Africa. She provides oversight for strategic planning, statutory reporting, and combined assurance services. Her portfolio includes Strategic Management Support, Quality Promotion, Risk Management, Internal Audit, Teaching and Learning with Technology, and ICT Services. With over two decades of experience in higher education, Emily leads initiatives that strengthen institutional performance, governance, and accountability.

Her doctorate is entitled : Mechanisms conditioning the implementation of an integrated quality assurance and enhancement approach at a South African University of Technology.

Dr Emily Mabote

Emily's study investigated the mechanisms that enable or constrain the implementation of an integrated approach to quality assurance (QA) and quality enhancement (QE) in teaching and learning at the Tshwane University of Technology. Grounded in critical realism and guided by Archer’s social realism, the research employed a case study design, using document analysis and semi-structured interviews with institutional stakeholders. The findings revealed a dominant culture of compliance and accountability, with limited emphasis on enhancement. Although structural and agential mechanisms to support QA were evident, transformative cultural mechanisms needed to promote QE were inadequate. The study concludes that an institutional context that encourages structural, cultural, and agential QA and QE mechanisms to work in tandem can enable an integrated QA and QE approach.

Asiphe Mxalisa

Asiphe Mxalisa was born and raised in a small town called Molteno. She is a Lecturer at the Centre for Postgraduate Studies at Rhodes University and a warden at Olive Schreiner House. She holds a Master’s degree in Political Science from Nelson Mandela University, where her research focused on electoral violence and democratic consolidation in the DRC. With experience as a Postgraduate Administrator, Lecturer, and Research Assistant, she is also the Founder and Executive Director of the Ukhozi Youth Development Programme, supporting rural youth in Molteno, Eastern Cape. Asiphe serves as a Director at both Evoke Research Primary Cooperative and SAPRI, and previously chaired the Gender Action Forum at Rhodes University (2022–2023). She is an Executive Member of the Nelson Mandela Alumni Association and a South African Youth Ambassador for Quality Education under the #Education2030UN agenda. Most recently, she was awarded a British Academy Grant as Co-Investigator for a project uplifting early career researchers in the social sciences.

PhD title: Students’ experiences of gender in higher education post #MustFall movements and during the COVID19 era.

Asiphe's study is about the gendered and intersectional experiences of students in South African higher education , set against the backdrop of the post-#MustFall movements and the COVID-19 pandemic. It looks at how identity markers such as gender, race, class, and sexuality intersect to shape student life within university spaces both physically and socially. Drawing on rich, experience-centred narratives, ukuncokola (dialogic conversations), and photovoice, the research engaged 18 students from the four historically and geographically diverse institutions in the Eastern Cape . It explores how the legacies of colonialism, systemic inequality, and more recent disruptions like the shift to online learning continue to affect students in uneven and often deeply personal ways. From gender-based violence and psychological trauma to racial microaggressions, digital exclusion, and epistemic injustice, the study reveals the layered realities students navigate daily. By centering lived experiences, it argues that genuine transformation and decolonisation require a deeper engagement with intersectionality as both method and praxis in reimagining more inclusive, just higher education futures. Key takeaway being for universities to understand decolonisation as a project of love engraved in everyday lives, policies and practises of the universities.

Simbongile Ntwasa

Simbongile Ntwasa is an Academic Advisor at Stellenbosch University. His work involves having conversations with faculty about teaching, learning, and assessment pedagogies that engage students' learning and success. He is passionate about the holistic development of students and youth in Africa.

The title of his PhD study is 'Student Development Programmes at Historically Black Universities in South Africa.' This study investigates how these universities conceive Black students when conceptualizing and implementing student development projects funded by the Department of Higher Education's University Capacity Development Grant. The research examines what conceptions these institutions have about Black students, what kinds of projects they design for them, and how the implementation of these projects unfolds.

Candice Rammanhor

I am a lecturer in the Department of Somatology at the Durban University of Technology, where I have been engaged in teaching, curriculum development and academic support since 2009. My professional interests include curriculum studies, knowledge structures in vocational education and strategies to support student success. Over the years, I’ve developed a deep interest in how knowledge is taught and understood in the field of Somatology. This interest has grown alongside the profession itself, which has steadily moved beyond its early focus on beauty therapy to include more preventative, rehabilitative and palliative approaches. Through my academic work, I hope to support this transition and contribute to the profession’s efforts to gain formal recognition and professional status in South Africa.

My doctoral study is titled “The Legitimation of Knowledge and Knowers in the Somatology Diploma at Universities of Technology in South Africa”. I have adopted a qualitative approach, drawing on Maton’s Legitimation Code Theory (LCT) to examine what forms of knowledge and which kinds of knower attributes are legitimized in the Somatology diploma. My research involves a document analysis of current curriculum content and in-depth interviews with academic staff at the Universities of Technology that offer the programme. The study contributes to curriculum enhancement by making explicit how success is constructed within the qualification. It also speaks to broader national debates about vocational learning and how workplace-oriented programmes can integrate principled, powerful knowledge.

Kelly Vorster

I am a Student Academic Development Lecturer at CHERTL (the Centre for Higher Education Research, Teaching and Learning) at Rhodes University. My work centres on creating inclusive, reflective academic spaces that support meaningful student success. This includes overseeing the development of student mentorship programmes, supporting tutor development, creating resources to enhance student learning, and consulting with academic departments on curriculum and teaching practices. I am deeply committed to an approach to education that is both responsive and personally transformative,one that values critical engagement, mentorship, and recognises the full humanity of every student.

My PhD is titled: What is a Degree Worth? Humanities Students’ Experiences of Identity, Knowledge, and Transformation in Higher Education

My study explores how studying the Humanities shapes students’ sense of self. By centering the student voice, it discusses how their expectations, identities, and understandings shift over time in response to their degree experiences,social pressures, family responsibilities, and cultural ideas of success. The study highlights the personal transformative potential of the humanities, showing that identity change is not a side effect of university, but a vital part of what it means to learn.

Dr Janét West

I am Janét West, born and raised in Potchefstroom. After school, I enrolled for a BCom Accounting degree at the Potchefstroom University (then PU for CHE, now North-West University) with the idea of becoming a chartered accountant. During my final year, my interest shifted towards management accounting. I then did an honours degree in Management Accounting, also at the Potchefstroom University. Upon completion of my honours, I moved to Rustenburg, where I worked at Impala Platinum and later Lonmin Platinum. While in Rustenburg, I obtained a Master's degree in South African and International Taxation from North-West University. During my time at the Platinum mines, I realised that I wanted to be a teacher and work with young people. In 2013 I was appointed at as a Lecturer in the Department of Commercial Accounting at the University of Johannesburg. As a newly appointed lecturer, I asked myself: ‘What am I doing? Am I teaching in a way that will help the students to understand and learn the content?’. I realised that teaching is no easy task, as teaching does not necessarily lead to learning. In the end, my own questions led to my PhD study.

The title of my PhD study is: Creating access to powerful knowledge in accounting education: A case study of pedagogies used in an accountancy diploma

This study focused on the challenges facing accounting education and asked: ‘What can higher education do to prepare students for an uncertain future?’ In this study I argue that access to powerful knowledge is essential for enabling lifelong learning and adaptability. Constellations and Semantics from Legitimation Code Theory were used to explore the knowledge that students need to acquire in an accounting diploma, and how lecturers through the pedagogies used, make this knowledge accessible to students. The study identified pedagogical approaches that are likely to provide students with epistemological access to powerful knowledge. The findings can help accounting lecturers and those in similar disciplines to reconsider their pedagogical practices related to teaching the target knowledge of their discipline.

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