Educational institute celebrates graduation of 50 PhD students
THE National Institute of the Humanities and Social Sciences (NIHSS) has celebrated the graduation of 50 new PhD students whose studies it helped fund.
This brought the number of graduates the NIHSS has funded in just five years to 100.
The 50 were the second batch of doctoral students it has funded since inception of the NIHSS scholarship programme.
The graduation ceremony took place during a gala dinner at the NIHSS’ fourth Annual National Doctoral Conference, in Johannesburg, from October 28 to November 1.
The conference was also a platform for second- and third-year PhD students from 19 universities to present their abstracts to more than 200 delegates, with winning abstracts also to be announced.
It also introduced a platform for published authors such as Tjieng Tjang Tjerries author Jolyn Phillips: Sol Plaatje’s Native Life in South Africa: Past and Present, Nomkhosi Xulu-Gama’ author of Bhekizizwe Petersen and the author of Hostels in South Africa to present their work, which is shaping the Humanities and Social Sciences curriculum.
What the conference noted as interesting was that the country’s National Development Plan proposed that 100 new PhDs were needed to graduate annually, but that the NIHSS had funded 600 scholars already and planned to introduce another 300 new doctoral graduates by the year 2020.
Fort Hare University Dean Baba Tshotsho said: “People with doctoral degrees are considered a valuable national resource to address challenges.
“Doctoral education is the business of identifying the gap, asking questions and trying to provide solutions to some of the questions.”
She noted that graduates were able to make a difference and contribute to the world of knowledge.
PhD fellow Dr Kagiso T K Pooe from the University of North West was among the first doctoral students to receive funding from the NIHSS to complete his PhD.
He was the 100th to graduate at the dinner.
“The real pay-off for the NIHSS is not what you (graduates) are today, but what you are going to be when you assume a position of influence and power,” he said.