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The 7th Postgraduate Supervision Conference (26-29 March), hosted by the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa, takes research about supervision from strength to strength. This year the conference took 'The Global Scholar: Implications for Postgraduate Studies and Supervision' as its theme.

Focusing on the 'global' led to rich and engaging presentations and discussions that explored a huge range of topics from the perspective of supervisors, postgraduates and administrators.

Read more about this event on the Doctoral SIG blog..

A new online course for doctoral supervisors is aimed at building the capacity of higher education staff in the face of growing demand for PhDs throughout the African continent and concomitant low completion and high student dropout rates.

The Centre for Research on Evaluation, Science and Technology (CREST) and the Centre for Higher and Adult Education, both at Stellenbosch University in South Africa, and the Centre for Higher Education Research, Teaching and Learning at Rhodes University in South Africa joined forces to develop the course.

'If you want PhDs, you need supervisors', Professor Jan Botha, one of the training facilitators based at CREST, told University World News.

Read more about this course on the University World News blog..

Stellenbosch Professor Extraordinary Nick Hopwood was awarded a Doctor of Medicine honoris causa by Linköpings University (Sweden). This reflects his longstanding collaboration with researchers from the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, focusing on curriculum and health professional education, interprofessional practice, and learning in the context of health practice.

He is pictured wearing the top hat (symbol of freedom) and gold ring (symbol of fidelity to scholarship) that accompany the award.

Read more about this award on Linköpings University blog..

Various aspects of doctoral supervision in the African context came under the spotlight when a selected group of 18 supervisors of doctoral candidates representing universities in 13 African countries gathered at Stellenbosch University (SU) recently.

The doctoral supervisors participated in the DIES/CREST Alumni Networking Seminar at SU from 5-8 November 2019. The initiative is under leadership of Prof Jan Botha of SU's Centre for Research on Evaluation, Science and Technology (CREST).

The participants were selected from 155 (mostly novice) supervisors affiliated to African universities who have successfully completed the 100% online DIES/CREST course for doctoral supervisors at African universities offered since 2018 by CREST, based in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Also collaborating in the offering of the course are the Centre for Higher Education Research and Teaching and Learning (CHERTL) at Rhodes University and the Centre for Higher and Adult Education (CHAE) based in SU's Faculty of Education. The course forms part of the Dialogue for Innovative Higher Education Strategies (DIES) Programme of the German Rector's Conference and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.

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