does anyone have any experience with the university of cape town in south africa, particularly their departments of philosophy and religious studies? do they offer masters and doctoral degrees by distance? thanks for any info...
Just a helpful suggestion: Always, in a thread-starting post like this, above, provide a link to the web site of the institution in question so that those who would like to respond can more easily go take a look at said web site without having to go Google it to get the URL. It's not a requirement, mind you -- and I'm not saying you did anything wrong or anything like that -- but it just makes things easier for those from whom you are seeking help. I believe this, below, is the URL: http://www.uct.ac.za/ Is it not? If so, as I visit the site I think I recall visiting it a while back wondering the same thing... and, as I recall, those programs are not available via distance learning. But I might not be remembering that correctly. I know that neither the words "distance" or "online" are anwhere on the site's index; and that if you search on either of those words, nothing is found. That's fairly telling, I would say. But, again, maybe I missed something.
OK, here's the deal as I understand it. The University of Cape Town does not have any distance learning programs and if you write/email/telephone them asking about their distance learning programs you will be told, essentially, "We don't do that." However, they do have research degrees. This means no coursework, just a dissertation (in South Africa it's a Masters dissertation and a Doctoral thesis, just the opposite of the USA). If you approach the subject in just the right way you may be able to convince them to enroll you in one of those programs (they have research Masters in both Philosophy and Religious Studies) and allow you to do your research from your home in (_fill in the blank_). My advice? Prepare your sales pitch VERY carefully and prepare to grovel a bit. Do you homework, find out the research interests of the faculty members and tailor your prospective proposal to one of them (if you can). They will ask you on the admissions application for a tentative title for your dissertation. Be prepared to give them a description of 1-2 pages in length. You are going to need to sell yourself as you will be asking them to do you a BIG favor. You have to make them want to do that. Beyond all that, I'm wondering how you chose Cape Town. Why not UNISA or SATS? They definitely have DL programs in those areas and you won't have to do the hard sell. In any case, good luck. Jack
Thanks for the information. That is very helpful. Of course, as you mentioned, it will be a hard sell to get them to do a distance degree. The main reason for going with Cape Town is that I wanted to specialize in an Islamic Studies program. One web site I came across had the University of Cape Town as a major center for the study of Islam in South Africa. UNISA has an Islamic Studies department as well. I don't know about SATS. Any more advice that any of you can give regarding Islamic Studies programs in SA?
