Dearth of doctoral students examined

THE Department of Higher Education’s ambitious target of producing 5 000 doctoral graduates a year is a long way off — but a set of “quick-fix” solutions may be the answer.

A committee headed by ANC deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa investigated funding at universities and proposed the creation of doctoral schools.

Others, including academics such as Professor Ahmed Bawa, vice-chancellor of the Durban University of Technology, support moves for bigger numbers of doctoral students to study abroad.

The latest available figures indicate that only 1 878 doctoral students graduated in 2012 — far fewer than the 5 000 target set in the National Development Plan for 2030.

Bawa agreed this week that doctoral schools would improve the quality of doctoral education. However, this would not increase the number of graduates because universities were not producing enough graduates on the doctoral path.

“The pipeline isn’t large enough to start with. Then we have a 50% dropout rate. On top of that, many young people feel once they have their first degree they want to start earning,” said Bawa.

“My view is we should send students out [of South Africa].”

He said it was almost impossible to find a doctoral student specialising in information technology, maritime studies or in certain fields of engineering.

The National Research Foundation favours the creation of doctoral schools, saying it is in line with global trends.

Romilla Maharaj, acting executive director of research chairs at the foundation, confirmed it was planning to send more students specialising in maths, physics, information technology and finance abroad because of the small number of local academics qualified to supervise their work.

Doctoral students must be supervised by academics who hold doctorates, but one of the major problems is that in South Africa only 34% have this qualification.

Last year, the foundation contributed R7.5-million towards the studies of 68 students abroad. It has approved funding for 47 students this year.

An encouraging sign is that more African students are now graduating with doctoral degrees. Of the 1 878 who graduated nationally in 2012, 804 were African and 817 white. — Prega Govender