Seeking "Taught" South African Doctorate

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by defii, May 11, 2002.

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  1. defii

    defii New Member

    Hello Everyone:

    I've been looking at the South African Universities' doctoral programs offered via distance learning. It appears, however, that the vast majority are not what they call "taught" degrees. The degrees are based solely on research.

    Is anyone aware of any doctoral programs from a South African university that is fully DL (perhaps one visit to South Africa), but actually includes coursework and resource material? Here are the areas of interest:

    International Relations
    International Politics
    Political Science
    Public Management
    Public Administration
    Government

    And as a second second set of interest areas:

    Education (Adult / Leadership)
    Management
    Leadership Studies
    Organizational Theory

    Your time and comments are appreciated. If you do know of schools that offer any such programs, could you please provide me with a web link and/or other contact information.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: May 11, 2002
  2. Jack Tracey

    Jack Tracey New Member

    To my knowledge these do not exist. You may find a program that will admit youto a doctoral program on some provisional status, during which you must take courses (typically at the Masters level). Your success in these courses then leads to full admission into the PhD program. Once in, you embark upon your course of research that will eventually lead to your doctoral degree. It is my understanding that all SA doctoral programs, be they residential or non-residential, are research degrees, not taught degrees. Now it may happen that someone in a research doctoral program may take a course here or there if this is part of a plan worked out between the student and the advisor (or whatever term is used by the school) but I do not believe that this process is required. What is frequently required, and what frequently trips up many prospective DL doctoral students, is their required presence and participation in graduate seminars, where students present aspects of their research. My thought is that someday, the widespread use of video conferencing will eliminate this obstacle.
    Jack
     
  3. defii

    defii New Member

    Thanks for the response, Jack. Does the same hold true for Australian DL doctorates as well? Or to get straight to the matter, are there any non-US doctoral programs you know of along the lines I mentioned?
     
  4. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    Many Australian universities now offer "taught" doctorates. Central Queensland, Southern Queensland, and Charles Sturt are the three I've examined carefully. There are many more.
     
  5. defii

    defii New Member

    Thanks, Rich. Have you found any of these easy/hard to navigate? Did you find that there are significant residency requirements as well? I'll look at Bears' Guide to see what is said of the schools you mentioned. Do you have any suggested contacts that may make the inquiry and/or application process easier?
     
  6. Tom Head

    Tom Head New Member

  7. defii

    defii New Member

    Thank you, Tom. I appreciate the recommendation.
     
  8. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    I believe others will back me up when I say it really depends. No, the literature tends not to talk about specific residency requirements, leaving one the impression there are none. But most schools expect you to spend some face-to-face time with your advisor. It really helps to ask. The University of Southern Queensland told me no, they would not require a D.B.A. student to travel to Australia. I've heard both sides from Charles Sturt. (A poster on this board reports he is doing his degree nonresidentially; I've also heard they won't do that anymore.)

    The key is to ask and be very clear about what is expected of you. You obviously don't want to do a year of coursework, only to find they expect you "down under" for awhile. Bear and Bear suggest developing a correspondence with a potential doctoral advisor from the school in question, clarifying all such issues, then making your application. While this advice is targeted towards research degrees, it is equally advisable for taught degrees where the residency requirements are negotiable or simply not stated.
     
  9. Mike Albrecht

    Mike Albrecht New Member

    I was tlaking with some professors at the Univerity of Queensland and the Univeristy of Sydney, and they all said that it was entirely up to the individual department and specifcally the individual professor.

    Two professors, seating in adjacent offices in the same department can have totally different requirements, one insist on you being there regularly and the other not requireing any face to face.
     

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