Utility of South African Degrees -University of the Free State

All;

Out of idle curiosity, I looked for faculty here and abroad with UFS credentials. I have just tentatively started with them in the predoctoral stage (field study). The faculty seem to have some standing at fairly decent schools: In other words a degree from this South African school is accepted here, in Canada, and the UK. All are PhD level unless noted otherwise.

Clemson (adjunct
Shorter (Van Ardt - fulltime)
University of Florida(Adjunct)
Long Island University (MA)
Vancouver Island University (fulltime)
SIT (affiliated faculty) MA
UMD Medical School (fulltime)
Penn State Brandywine (fulltime instructor at BA level)
University of Northern British Columbia, CA (fulltime)
Cambridge University (Professor of Law)

 

There are a fair number of faculty with doctoral degrees from South Africa in higher education (US and elsewhere). South Africa has a very well respected education system and produces top notch academics. The other factor of course is that doctoral degrees are earned under the British system for obvious reasons (research based). I believe UNISA was first given a Royal Charter in the 1800's and several other universities were founded in the 1800's. Cost is excellent due to the exchange rate.

University of the Free State has a great reputation (believe Brad Sweet who used to post here was a graduate).

 

I researched this because there was a discussion on a Yahoo Groups board about SA degrees being looked at with disdain in the US, and how they are not considered to be valid by some organizations since they were not regionally accredited. HAH! Of course, I set them straight. However, how do you overcome a personnel department that only validates accreditation by American standards?

 

Thank you for providing this research about graduates of the University of the Free State. It is good to know that graduates of South African universities do indeed get positions abroad.

Out of curiosity, has anyone already made similar lists or done similar searches for other SA universities? Where do graduates of UNISA, Pretoria, Stellenbosch, etc. go to work once they are done with their degrees? I could certainly do some digging, but I would hate to duplicate efforts!

 

It's been done, but not recently. Like any other profession, academics move around as they try to make their best deal. I think you'd find that the results are not surprising. You will find a high concentration of SA degrees within South Africa as well as the entire African continent. Thet difuse across Europe and into both North and South America. Some of these may be visiting Professors but I think you'll find that many are full-time tenured positions.

 

I am still here, but get caught up with work and don't often post. If there is something connected to South African or Canadian universities it interests me though. I received my second doctorate from Free State, almost a year ago now. My work is not directly connected to universities though but having the degrees helps in other ways. I find it makes little difference in Canada if the degree is from South Africa, or Australian or Britain. As long as people have heard of the university or know of it being within the Commonwealth I find it makes it much easier.

I find that simply having been through the process of research and writing makes for easier working within higher studies or research. I continue to write articles and have seen two published this year, one within the subject area of my research, and the other in bioethics.

Having the degrees also means I can speak at conferences a bit easier. I spoke at one last year in bioethics, which is not the area of my research, and will again twice this autumn. And will sit on an academic board for evaluating research at one of the universities where I will be speaking (both in eastern Europe).

The name of the university and where it is located my initially cause some people problems, but if the research and writing that come from it are valid and accepted, then the university granting the degree becomes secondary so long as the university is an acceptable one within one association or another. A quick reference is often the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada's Web site - Le site Web de l'Association des universités et collèges du Canada or the Association of Commonwealth Universities based in the UK The Association of Commonwealth Universities.

Keep posting. It is always interesting to hear what others are writing and proposing.

Brad

 

I can tell you what we did to have my husband's degrees from Spain validated in the U.S. You have to submit your transcripts for a foreign transcript evaluation. We used World Education Services. They evaluate your transcripts/courses against American standards. In my husband's case, he had completed a B.A., taken extra credits towards a second B.A. (but hadn't finished the second one) and completed a Spanish C.A.P. public teaching credential. WES issued him a Bachelor's and a Master's Degree. Then, we submitted the WES evaluation to the state of CA for teacher licensure and they issued him a Preliminary CA teaching credential (single-subject). I am thinking strongly about the SA PhD option. If they accept me, I will go the WES route to get it all validated so that companies/schools in the US will hire me (I teach online).

 

rmm0484, would you share a few words about how you started the "field study" process with University of the Free State?

 

this has been my experience as well, it doesn't matter if it is from south Africa, India, Mexico and other places discussed here, as long as you get WES's blessing you can use it in the US for online teaching, adjunct work, teaching license at the high school level, accounting license, etc.

A tenure track is a different story, a UNISA, Azteca, or any of the cheaper DL schools discussed here wouldn't fly so easily as you have people with degrees from solid schools that cannot make it. There are few full time faculty cited here and there with South African degrees but they might have made up the lack of a prestigious degree with good publications and excellent contacts. Do not expect that you will finish a UNISA degree and Universities will be begging you to work there, it is not going to happen.

I would consider the UNISA degree in terms of utility at the same level as any other RA DL option from the US such as NCU, Capella, etc. Yes, there are many Capella's PhD out there working as tenure track faculty at good places but this counts only for a small percentage, the vast majority will line up the pile of people looking for online adjunct positions at for profits institutions that is the same market that you can access with a UNISA PhD degree.

You might think that a UNISA PhD would be preferable than a Capella, NCU, etc just for the cost. However, the catch is that online institutions are designed for people that work full time and are flexible enough to allow you to do a PhD at the same time you raise a family, work on the side as a real estate agent and hold a full time job. The UNISA PhD is not meant for people that are just looking to supplement incomes as an online adjuncts but are meant to train real academics that might join the academic world in SA so I would expect them to be more demanding than your typical online school.

I wonder how many people in the forum actually managed to finish the UNISA PhD compared to the quite a few that are doctors from online institutions.

 

I would have to say based on Brad Sweet's practical experience and some factual stuff I would disagree with your assertion that UNISA is the equivalent of Capella, Northcentral U, etc. That is not to say that someone may run into an occasional xenophobic buffoon but seriously......

UNISA:

i) Founded in 1873
ii) Issued Royal Charter in 1877
iii) Famous alumni include Nelson Madela, Desmond Tutu, Theologian John Sanders....etc....etc.

Not to mention some of the other South African Schools (what I think you referred to as cheaper options) such as the University of Pretoria.
i) Founded in 1908
ii) Ranked among the top 50 business schools in the world (and among the top universities period).

Or maybe the University of Stellenbosch:

i) Founded in 1866
ii) On of the top 50 Business schools
iii) Top 500 institutions for international publications and impact of scientific citations from SU scientific publications.

I think I am with Brad Sweet on this on. He also has practical experience in Canada and internationally.

 

Sorry about the typos above. Trying to meet the 10 minute deadline.

RFvalve, I respect you but do you really consider your Australian doctorate the equivalent of NCU or Capella?

 

If you read my statement, I said "about the same utility" in the US. UNISA is superior without doubt but still hard to use for tenure track positions in the US and its utility is about the same as any other low tier doctorate from an online school as it mainly can be used for adjunct work and online teaching.

SA schools are discussed all the time and many are interested in these programs mainly because the cost but the question is how many actually finish these programs? We see many people that completed programs at Capella, NCU, etc but how many of the people that started at SA schools actually graduated? Very few. This just tells us that although these programs are appealing for many, they are not easy and many prefer to pay the 60K plus for a more flexible and friendly degree option.

 

It depends where you want to play, if you want to use the Aussie doctorate in the US, the reality is that most foreign degrees are looked down unless they come from top tier schools. The Aussie and SA degrees would pass the WES test for sure but would not make it when you compete for tenure track positions with people with degrees from top tier or even middle tier schools.
In terms of utility, I would say that most Aussie and SA school graduates would compete for the same jobs as people graduated from Walden, Capella, etc or any low tier American RA school.
The exception are some foreign schools with AACSB accreditation but as far as I know UNISA does not carry this accreditation.

 

I have not done it yet, but when I do I will keep you informed. If they accept your topic, it is a breeze. You basically do a light version of your dissertation complete with tests, etc.

 

RFValve;

I just posted a list of faculty with UFS terminal degrees. Some of them are from ZA, some not, Some of them are tenured faculty at Oxford. UFS is not UNISA.

 

Yes, please do. That information would be invaluable.

It looks like we share a couple of schools in common. :smile:

Abner

 

Yes, Barry Rider is a professor at Cambridge but he got the appointment mainly because his Cambridge degree, his Free state doctorate is honorary:
"He took an MA and a further PhD from the University of Cambridge. He has been awarded honorary doctorates in law from Penn State University, USA, and the University of the Free State, South Africa."


Most of the cited faculty are either adjunct or hold positions that might have not required a doctorate degree. Again, Free State is a fine school but let's not deceive people to make them believe that this degree would be a ticket to a tenure track.

As for UNISA, I did a bit a research a while back and here are the two threads with faculty with UNISa degrees

http://www.degreeinfo.com/general-distance-learning-discussions/12376-unisa-graduates-holding-faculty-positions.html

http://www.degreeinfo.com/general-distance-learning-discussions/24693-unisa-graduates-teaching-us-schools.html

Again, most seem to be adjunct or work for places where the doctorate is not required.

The same can be argued about Capella, NCU, etc. There are some people here and there that hold tenure track faculty positions but it doesn't mean that they hold much utility in the academic world.

The sample is too small and the data collection is not reliable enough to make conclusions.

 

You are fortunate not to share one in particular which shall remain nameless. :shhh:

The two we share (CCU and Aspen) are fine schools.

 

rmm0484, thanks for the information. I am a bit curious about how you started contact with them. Did you email randomly, pickup up the phone and start dialing, fly to Bloemfontein?

 

Asia e-University accepts transfer of doctoral ABD status into their research/dissertation-only PhDs (there is a PhD in ICT with e-commerce specialism). May be worth taking a look at, in addition to SA programs.