South African Research Degrees

Hi Guys: New to the forum, signed up for a reason. Am finishing my rather lengthy program at Antioch University (M.A. in NGO and Nonprofit Development Studies) and am finally looking to do a doctoral degree in the social sciences or humanities at a B&M school in S. Africa. I know a couple people here have their degrees through Pretoria or UZulu...what do you (collectively) know about the process of applying (my first initial requests to get hooked up with potential mentors, after describing my own research, have yielded underwhelming results), approaching departments with an eye to external candidacy, and how to negotiate a fruitful mentorship. My research interests are in community development theories, which can fall under any number of disciplines or departments. However, so far, I feel I have hit the wall with forging those first initial relationships with potential mentors. Is the process in S. A. significantly different than those of the US system, where you identify a faculty match first based on research interests?

Any advice is appreciated, the more I read, the more I am sure this is the exact approach I want. I do NOT want to teach - this is purely for me and my non-teaching or research interests. I want to eventually work in think tanks, NGOs, etc. I currently work in higher education.

Thanks guys! I've been impressed with the quality of discussions here!

Heather N.

 

Here's the info that I've culled from years of postings on this subject. Email the Dept. Chair and a specific faculty member(s) with your interests in pursuing a degree from their university. Please keep in mind that in most cases (except UNISA) your request will be a bit unusual. A research doctorate with no residency requirement is unusual (except UNISA) regardless of whether it has been done in the past. Be prepared to tell them the specific area of interest for your doctoral thesis. Any application will ask you for a thesus ititle. If you can, you should attach a 2-3 page description of your research proposal, complete with references/bibliography. Over recent years these schools have begun to receive hundreds of inquiries. Most of the people who inquire are unaware of the differences in the respective educational systems. These inquiries are not taken seriously. If you show that you know what you want to research and that you have, in fact, already begum this process you will then be seen as a serious applicant and you will get a response to your inquiry. Otherwise, you are spam.
Best of luck. I hope you'll keep us informed as this is a huge area of interest on this board.