Universities South Africa
CoP PGES News
An early-career scientist is chasing a breakthrough in African medicine
It begins in Maseru, Lesotho’s capital, a place surrounded by mountains and memory. Mr Carlos da Silva grew up watching the world change from the...
Senior scholars acknowledge the AECRS programme’s utility, and call for urgent other reforms to address systemic challenges
Senior academics and research leaders have called for deeper reform in South Africa’s higher education system to strengthen postgraduate pathways and improve research leadership. These...
Collaboration is advocated as the preferred strategy for strengthening SA’s pipeline of future scholars and researchers
Universities South Africa (USAf) convened national higher-education leaders, academics and policymakers in Johannesburg during late November to strengthen the pipeline of early-career researchers. The meeting...
Mentorship models must evolve to support academic success
Senior academics and research programme leads have urged South Africa’s universities to rethink mentorship structures and prioritise models that recognise the social, psychological and professional...
Everything Researchers need to know about Open Access publishing: A discussion
The USAf Community of Practice for Postgraduate Education and Scholarship (CoP PGES) webinar on 30 October 2025, titled Everything Researchers Need to Know About Publishing...
What researchers need to know about Open Access publishing, but are afraid to ask
On 30 October 2025, leading voices in scholarly publishing, research funding, and open scholarship practice enlightened southern African scholars on Everything researchers need to know...
Senior academics’ insights shared at the postgraduates and AI workshop
Universities and AI are such a hot topic, generating so many differing views and queries that a recent webinar on it triggered a stream of...
Open student engagement about AI would be more beneficial than policing them on its use – a senior Rhodes University scholar advises
Professor Sioux McKenna, a professor of Higher Education Research at Rhodes University, recently led an online workshop titled Future-Proofing Postgraduate Education in the Age of...
Emerging researchers and scholars encouraged to use available support tools for success – USAf CEO
"We cannot claim to have covered all the bases concerning the support and empowerment of early career researchers and academics, but we are getting there,"...
Postgraduate study leaders from SA universities assemble to share ideas
The round-table layout at the recent colloquium on Exploring Preparedness for Postgraduate Studies was distinct from the typical straight-seat-rows format that people tend to expect...
National Plan targets versus sector realities — Dr Nomakwezi Mzilikazi highlights provocative tensions
At the recent Enabling Quality Postgraduate Education (EQPE) colloquium, Dr Nomakwezi “Kwezi” Mzilikazi, Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Research, Innovation and Strategic Partnerships at Rhodes University, told...
Targeted PhD numbers raise many questions at a recent colloquium
Numbers are always a key focus in any discussion on postgraduate students: the currently enrolled numbers vs those to which the university sector aspires, within...
Happy students with well-being are more likely to graduate, says Professor Liesel Ebersöhn
The fruit bowl at the University of Pretoria’s Centre for the Study of Resilience is not incidental. It is an intentional part of the Centre’s...
AI may not do your literature review, but it will identify the gaps, says Dr Nompilo Tshuma
At the recent colloquium on Exploring Preparedness for Postgraduate Studies, Professor Sioux McKenna of Rhodes University interrupted keynote speaker Dr Nompilo Tshuma as she stood...
Research leaders develop an action plan for students and the sector’s well-being
One of the key features of the recent Exploring Preparedness for Postgraduate Studies colloquium was a two-hour breakaway session in which research leaders and organisational...
Early career academics talk about being mentored — what works and what could work better
When Dr Heike Lucht, a research assistant at the University of Pretoria, was paired with a mentor affiliated with Rhodes University (RU) through an online...
There are as many models of mentorship as there are mentors and mentees, says Professor Stephanie Burton
In the true spirit of a community of practice (CoP), which meets to share knowledge and information and support on common concerns, the recent meeting...
Effective mentoring can be about making people independent of any need for guidance
Mentoring does not have an end point - even if someone is on a specific mentoring programme with a cutoff date. “I hope when you...
Advancing doctoral assessment strategies; the importance of standardisation and the viva voce mode of assessment
Assessment standards as applied in postgraduate (especially doctoral) research proposals, dissertations and written and oral examinations were the subject of discussion at a recent meeting...
An urgent need for more PhD and post-doctoral graduates emerges from Tracer Study
A comprehensive strategy to massively increase the number of PhD and post-doctoral graduates in South Africa, given the pivotal role they play in the country’s...
Universities South Africa celebrates the launch of two digital platforms for emerging scholars
The way South African universities have joined forces to help emerging scholars is of historical significance, says Dr Phethiwe Matutu, the chief executive officer of...
Some key pointers on signing up on Thuso Connect
Comment after comment at last week’s launch of Thuso Connect reinforced how this online mentoring platform for early career researchers is fulfilling a need in...
Accolades for the two new digital platforms that offer help to emerging researchers
A new digital platform that connects early researchers with experienced mentors has been compared to the online dating app, Tinder. “But instead of a...
SA universities are reimagining postgraduate supervision in diverse ways
The student-supervisor relationship at universities is changing. It is no longer bound to the model where the post-graduate is the apprentice of the supervisor. Now...
Postgraduate supervisory models practised at CPUT and UCT
Speaking at the recent meeting of Universities South Africa’s (USAf’s) Community of Practice (CoP) for Postgraduate Education and Scholarship (PGES), Professor Dina Burger, Director: Research...
Emerging researchers in South Africa are about to get a big boost
Two new online platforms in higher education look set to change the face of early career researchers in South Africa. Inspired by the Sesotho word...
Universities express their support for new digital frameworks for emerging scholars
Dr Robin Drennan, Director of Research Development at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), expressed his appreciation for the work being done, after Dr Leandra...
Whose responsibility is it to inform students they don’t meet the doctoral standard?
Professor Andrew Leitch’s presentation on the Council on Higher Education’s (CHE’s) Doctoral Degrees National Report generated considerable discussion when he presented some of its key...
Putting the focus on the quality of South Africa’s doctoral qualifications
Are South African doctoral programmes educating the thinkers we need as a country? Professor Andrew Leitch (right), Emeritus Professor and former Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research,...
USAf’s new Community of Practice for Postgraduate Education and Scholarship has been hard at work
With just over three months in existence since its inaugural meeting on 31 March, Universities South Africa’s newly founded Community of Practice for Postgraduate Education...
Eminent scholars laud USAf’s newest CoP as an excellent platform for strengthening SA’s postgraduate scholarship
The newly formed Universities South Africa’s Community of Practice on Postgraduate Education and Scholarship (CoP PGES) held its inaugural meeting online on 31 March. It...
Postgraduate education and scholarship is not an easy ride
Discussions that ensued at the inaugural meeting of Universities South Africa’s Community of Practice on Postgraduate Education and Scholarship (CoP PGES) on 31 March, between...
USAf’s new Community of Practice on Postgraduate Education and Scholarship takes off today
A meeting set for today — Thursday, 31 March, will see a new community of practice beginning to shine a spotlight on South Africa’s public...