Course Description:
This three-day event will involve doctoral candidates and supervisors of doctoral studies in at least three aspects of doctoral education. Firstly, the doctoral education context and the process of doctoral education prior to embarking upon studies and actual supervision will be discussed. Questions that will be addressed include: What are the possible frameworks and models for research education? How are candidates for doctoral studies selected? What are the roles and responsibilities of doctoral candidates and supervisors? How does one deal with an increasingly diverse doctoral population? What roles do research integrity play in conducting and supervising doctoral studies?
Secondly, the doctoral education process will be looked into. Questions that will be focussed on include: How is a doctoral research proposal approached, written and supervised? What constitutes a good literature review and how does supervisors facilitate such a review? What is the value and use of a conceptual framework in doctoral research? How is formative feedback sought and given in doctoral education? What are the characteristics of a good conclusions chapter in a doctoral thesis?
Thirdly, the completion of the doctoral education process will be highlighted by addressing questions such as the following: How are examiners of doctoral theses selected and what examination criteria are crucial? How does a supervisor help a candidate with the internal auditing of a thesis before submission for examination? How can doctoral work be best disseminated by publications?
Please contact Ms Rhoda Van Rensburg at vanrensburgrhoda@sun.ac.za for more information on each short course, as well as registrations or simply click on the registration button above.
Information on the facilitators
Ruth Albertyn is currently involved in research and development in the field of postgraduate supervision, doctoral education, research methodology and scientific writing. She is a research associate in the Centre for Higher and Adult Education in the Faculty of Education, Stellenbosch University. She lectured and supervised postgraduate students for seventeen years in the Faculty of Community and Health Sciences at the University of the Western Cape. She teaches research methodology in various disciplines and supervises students on a master's and doctoral level. She has published in the field of adult and higher education both nationally and internationally.
Eli Bitzer is a past Director of the Centre for Higher and Adult Education in the Faculty of Education, Stellenbosch University (SU). He has worked for nineteen years in academic staff development at Free State University and for the past eighteen years he has taught at the master’s level and has successfully supervised a total of more than 60 master's and PhD students in higher education studies. He has published extensively in the field of higher education and his current fields of interest are postgraduate supervision, doctoral education and different aspects of quality promotion in higher education.
Liezel Frick is Director of Centre for Higher and Adult Education and associate professor in Higher and Adult Education at Stellenbosch University, where her research focuses on creativity in doctoral education and doctoral pedagogy. She has successfully supervised master's and doctoral graduates, published various scholarly articles and book chapters related to this topic internationally, and has contributed to continuous professional development, assessment and recognition of prior learning and improving students' learning outcomes. She is involved in various projects in the academic community related to continuing professional development, the development of scholarship, creativity and building research networks.