I've read some comments about the lack of acceptance of South African qualifications (esp doctorates) by Australian authorities, and yet (from the US/UK), these qualifications are often mentinoed in the same breath, both coming from British-centric educational systems. What is the situation - are they perceived similarly, or is a general statement inappropriate - does it come down to a uniuversity by university comparison?
I believe that a general statement is inappropriate. Certainly it comes down to a school by school comparison as we know that no two schools are exactly alike. It also comes down to who is doing the rating as we all have different priorities and biases. As for me, I went the SA route primarily because whatever advantage might be gained by going to an Australian school was lost by the significant difference in price. Others will feel differently and I suppose that's why it's good to have lots of choices. Jack
Agreed I agree - the fact that the South African taxpayer is prepared to subsidize foreign students makes all the difference - it may be a good long-term investment, particularly if they can get most students to take one trip out here! EU counties are preapared to sell us folk in the developing world subsidized agri products, but not education! Strange... The other aspect is that the South African universities have realised accreditation is important, and most are moving that way, although some of their websites are iffy at best. UNISA has a lot of blank pages at the moment on the sbl portion, including the accreditation one. A bit of news I've picked up: UNISA's business school is now much more autonomous from the rest of the unversity than previously, which is something busienss schools prefer, for a variety of reasons. The university of the Witwatersrand ("Wits" - traditionally one of the premier MBA schools here) seems to be less autonomous than previsoulsy, and is firmly within the commerce faculty, something which some folk view negatively.
I don't agree with this comment. In Canada, South African degrees are accepted by many professional associations like professional engineers and accountants. In terms of prestige, if you want to teach at Waterloo or University of Toronto with a SA degree then you might expect some difficulties but the same would apply for any DL PhD degree.
In my opinion (as a South African who has also studied with an Australian university), I would say that South African undergraduate programs are on a par with Australian, but graduate programs (UCT and Wits MBAs possibly excluded) are weaker.
