Another South Africa PhD Question

Here is a VERY interesting postgraduate degree from that school in Barcelona:

Postgraduate Degree in Food and Wine Communication

 

Yes, it is very interesting indeed. The program is housed in their Communication Sciences Department.

 

One of my colleagues in Info Sys got his PhD from that program. I work at a research university with over 20K students, so it worked out for him. Way I found out is I complimented him on his regalia (snazzy blue PhD gown) at graduation and he told me he was from ISU and said he'd been in the distance program.

 

So I just wanted to update everyone on the results of my research. I appreciate everyone's help. I found that North-West University in SA has a very strong engineering department that focuses on energy. After graduating from Murray State I worked almost 8 years for TVA. They also offer a research only PhD in Development and Management Engineering. Sounds like a perfect fit for me. I tried to contact them and it took 2 months for a reply, but once I was put in contact with a faculty member things went smoother. They wanted to know my educational vita, research history, and why in the world I wanted to pursue a PhD in South Africa from Kentucky. I provided all of the information and am waiting an answer from their faculty board. Prayers have been sent and I will keep everyone posted of my results.

 

Four years? Not for a part-time student. It will likely take 6 or more.

 

This was the reply from North-West:

I have not been able to secure permission for your application to be processed by the Faculty. The Dean is concerned that we will overextend ourselves and not be able to provide the standard of supervision that is required for a PhD.
I am therefor sorry to have to inform you that we will not be able to proceed with your application.
Best regards and best wishes for you further career development.

Well back to the drawing board. It appears that UNISA is more accepting of the distant PhD.

 

Thanks Boethius. Great information, I will look into it.

 

Not because the SA PhD is accredited, it means that it will qualify you for a tenure track at the University level. Yes, the PhD is cheap but what is the point if you cannot use it for your purpose.

Tenure track hiring is competitive, a hiring committee might have options and a degree with so many risk variables might be jeopardize your application. You have the distance learning, foreign, Africa and no course work factors that might play against you.

If there are no other options for your pocket, a PhD is always better than no PhD, but if you can afford a local PhD with less risk factors, this might be the way to go.

 

Very true RFValve, but I am currently a lecturer at the university. I will not be hired off the street. In addition to this I have several years of direct industrial experience. I am currently seeking approval from my Dean to accept the degree as a terminal degree. Since I have started researching the research only PhDs I have found that many faculty possess a research only degree at our university.

 

You might want to look at the PhD by publication from the University of Sunderland in the UK that is better ranked than most of the SA distance schools. The full degree can be as cheap as 5K.

PhD by publication is the cheapest way to go for a credible PhD, you can concentrate in publishing 3 articles and then bring them to the University for a PhD dissertation.

Besides Sunderland, there are other quite few schools that have this option. So a search n this forum for this topic.

My issue with SA schools is that they might be a hard sell in a competitive market. Most schools look at the ranking and reputation when considering applicants.
I believe that a middle tier British school would be an easier sell than a distance education school in SA.

SA schools have the price advantage but I believe that PhDs by publication also has the same advantage. The issue is that publishing 3 articles in credible journals is not an easy thing but neither is to do a dissertation from SA or UK school.

 

I will check this out. I honestly figured that it would take more articles than 3 for this type of PhD.