University of the Free State

All:

Does anyone have experience with UFS admissions for doctoral programs? Does UFS require a "research" master's degree in the way that UNISA does?

thanks!

 

Two things. First, UFS probably has different admissions criteria for each of it's departments. Some might require a Masters, some not. Since you haven't stated your area of interest it may not be possible to actually answer your question. Some departments undoubtedly offer "taught Masters" as well as "research Masters" and I would assume that someone who has earned a research Masters might have a small advantage having already demonstrated their ability to research, organize and write. Having said all that, it's not uncommon for people to be admitted into a doctoral program having only earned a Bachelors degree (if it's a Commonwealth style school I'd bet it helps to do the Honors degree as well) and you earn the Masters degree on the way. In some of these schools they actually admit you into the Masters degree (by research) program and if you make sufficient progress they'll let you bump up into the doctoral program using an expanded version of your Masters level research for your doctoral thesis. My second point. I do not believe that UNISA requires a research Masters in order to be admitted to a doctoral program. This might not be true in all departments but I believe that it's generally true.

 

A research degree most likely will be different in that there is no supporting coursework in most research degrees outside the US it seems. You may need a proposal to be worked up and submitted before admission. Sometimes the university will go with a submission of a topic area and let you work up the proposal after admission. I would definitely have a proposal in mind before applying. I would also seek support in the university for my research by contacting a potential supervisor in the university faculty. A supported proposal is more likely to be accepted.

The research degree is a lonely experience. It has no classes although you may get readings to undertake by the supervisor. Your best friend will be librarian and I would be making strong links in that direction and virtually any library you may be able to get to support you.

The other thing is the various ways awards are given in British Commonwealth established or influenced universities. A Bachelor with Honors can be classed as the equivalency of a Masters degree. Many people have gone from bachelor's degree with honors straight to a PhD. The Bachelors degree with Honors has an extra year to the usual bachelor's degree. The extra year is spent on researching and writing on a topic. Sometimes the award of honors is based upon examination performance but there can be a difference. Not really that important to you perhaps but if you get asked questions about your degree at least you may be aware of how they view things. I guess the US do the same thing by using the GPA.

Why not try and get hold of some presented (Thesis) and marked work from their library if it is online and have a read. The best of luck for your endeavor. It is a very lonely experience particularly from a distance but many have done it.

 

A bit off-topic but adding to the ideas about research doctorates. I agree it is a great idea to have a strong proposal in mind as you are applying for admission. Your proposal and research plan will definitely change as you go through the program in response to suggestions from supervisors, and as your knowledge base grows. Most of the time (I suspect), a broad idea that you started with will become more narrowly focused, and this isn't a bad thing. I also like the idea of finding other theses from the program or institution. This is what I did, and I found a thesis from about 5 years previous that I saw would be a great set of shoulders to stand my own research on. The supervisor of that thesis became my supervisor, and the author of the thesis became a co-supervisor. In my experience one of the best ways to feel as though you have chosen the best place to base your work is to find a place where your ideas and research will fit into an evolving chain of research that has succeeded there previously.

 

thanks for all of the info

All:

Thanks for all of the useful info. A follow up- if you HAD to choose between a business PhD from Free State or one from UNISA, which one carries more weight in the US?

I already have a master's degree and a brick and mortar PhD in another field so this will be primarily to cover regional accreditation in a different academic area (after WES equivalency, etc.)

If you had to pick, which one would you choose? My gut tells me the brick-and-mortar nature of UFS gives it an edge all other things being equal.

thanks!

 

No one in the USA has heard of either one (except us of course). As you say, UFS may have a micro-advantage by virtue of being a B&M school and it may even be a bit less expensive.

 

If you already have a PhD, there is no need to do another one. Most Universities would accept a graduate certificate or a M.Sc in the field of interest rather than having to do another PhD. For example, if you want to teach accounting with a PhD in Social Science, it makes more sense to a M.Sc in Accounting with a CPA certification than having to do another PhD in Accounting. The same logic might apply to most fields with exception of regulated fields such as engineering that might require an engineering license to teach.

The other issue with SA PhDs is that they don't have any courses, it is always possible that you finish your PhD from UFS and still not able to teach your field as some schools have a mandatory requirement of 18 graduate credits in the subject of teaching. Some schools won't care but other ones would picky about this requirement.

 

Between the two, Unisa has better name recognition, at least in terms of familiarity. This isn't to say that Unisa's program is any better than UFS, only that the name is more recognizable here in the states.

 

It does not appear that either school currently has any programmatic accreditation for business (AACSB, AMBA, EQUIS, ACBSP, IACBE, etc). However, the UFS School of Management is a non-accredited member of AACSB, and the UNISA Graduate School of Business Leadership is a non-accredited member of both AACSB and ACBSP.

Membership in ACBSP or AACSB is a prerequisite for accreditation, and sometimes (though not always) schools join ACBSP or AACSB because they plan to pursue accreditation in the future. It might be worth checking to see if either school has applied, or plans to apply, for accreditation with these agencies.

For example, if one or both of these schools were to become AACSB accredited in the future, then that would greatly improve the recognition and acceptance of their business degrees in the US. AACSB is apparently open to South African schools, because they already accredit the University of Stellenbosch.

It is also possible that these schools have no plans to pursue AACSB or ACBSP accreditation, and are content to stay as non-accredited members. But it can't hurt to check.

 

Some facts about UNISA... University of South Africa - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I'm both proud and happy to be a graduate from there.

 

It can be a lonely experience, I've completed two research degrees. However, the process can be successfully completed. Some persons, by virtue of their personality, need constant supervision, attention, and direction in the research process. Others are able to work with minimal guidance and actually thrive in such a context.

 

From Wikipedia, "Unisa received a Royal Charter in 1877." Interesting! Didn't knew that.

 

Yes, there are lots of cool things about Unisa, and by visiting the Wikipedia page elsewhere and seeing the history, pedigree and reach of the university, it becomes more clear as to why they needn't lower themselves to chase regional accreditation credentials that are, IMHO, beneath them. Many people don't know, for example, they began their days in the 1800s as the regional examining agency for Oxford and Cambridge. They are in a very different league from new universities that are still striving to reach upward for recognition.

 

Ha - look at me - I've become one of those thread hijackers! LOL... Please forgive me. Too much time on my hands since finishing my degree, and loving it.