Welcome to the Postgraduate School – some notes on our goals and what we believe
The University of the Free State’s Postgraduate School was launched in May 2011 as part of the University’s commitment to academic excellence and its orientation towards becoming a research-led institution.
Although established primarily as an academic project, the Postgraduate School was conceived also to undertake advocacy for postgraduate issues across a range of administrative units in the University. Its goals are to:
- Enhance the quality of postgraduate student research, helping to situate master’s and doctoral theses and dissertations at the frontiers of global field and / or disciplinary knowledge, while reflecting simultaneously local, regional, national or continental concerns or insights;
- Produce graduates who are global citizens, research literate and able to reflect ethically on the purpose, process and product of research;
- Improve throughput rates of postgraduates;
- Make the experience of being a postgraduate at the UFS one which is stimulating and enjoyable, and which contributes to the development of the person beyond the limits of her/his discipline; and
- Contribute to the development of intellectual cultures at UFS.
We believe that postgraduate education ought to focus not only on the production of a thesis or dissertation, but also on the development of the researcher, and that if we wish to focus on the development of the researcher, research education has to include more than disciplinary training. Within this broad framework for postgraduate research education, the School’s particular niche includes research methodology and approach, as well as research practice. In 2012, the School will offer more than fifty workshops and seminars on these topics.
In the light of the significance of supervisor support for research education, the School hosts campus-wide discussions on supervision. It offers face-to-face supervisor training, and it is investigating the provision of online resources and training for supervis ors, as well as the institution of guidelines for the “ licens ing” of supervisors.
Funding is crucial, not only to attract the best students to theUFS, but also to promote diversity of the postgraduate student community; therefore the School is leading the development of a comprehensive UFS postgraduate funding strategy. A major feature of this strategy is to inform new students on admission to a research degree of the total funding package for the life cycle of their degree.
Postgraduate students’ perspectives are significant in the ways that the School operates: in addition to making the School a more democratic space, it is manifest that the School can only serve students better if it is serious in listening to the concerns and suggestions of students. To this end, the School supports a Postgraduate Students’ Council, which acts as a forum for postgraduate students and hosts its own programme of academic, cultural and social events.
Please browse our website, keep an eye for updates and announcements and feel free to contact any of the School’s staff should you have queries or suggestions. |