South African PhD completed

Congratulations on your achievement!

 

There was a poster many years ago, Dr. Sweet, who opened the doors for many people with his personal knowledge of navigating the many South African schools. It is myth that South African universities will be concern about numerous inquiries from overseas. As a matter of fact, these contacts are highly welcome. I recently just got back from South Africa where I met with many people from the educational sector. The people/educational institutions of South Africa are most welcoming than what is being portrayed – “backdoor” conjured something which seems nefarious.

 

thank you!

 

Nefarious groupies leave bread crumbs to the back door. Got it.

 

So what type of credentials did you have going into the process? Were you already in academia at the time of your initial email inquiries with articles under your belt?

Did you have a masters in accounting when you first sought out a professor? Or another business masters such as an MBA?

Did you already have a specific research interest worked out and seek a sponsor with a similar interest of was it more of a process in which you located an academic willing to take you on, then worked out a research focus at his or her direction?

How many schools had faculty willing to work with you?

Just trying to flesh out the chances of those of us who might be interested in pursuing a similar route. Thanks in advance.

 

Our op was smart to go about things the way he did. We've discussed this "backdoor" in the past and it's really standard procedure for these schools. If they don't have an instructor who can adequately support your research the school will turn down your application for admission, regardless of how qualified you might be. Some schools lay this out in their application guidelines. For example, from Rhodes University:

"To apply for postgraduate studies in the Science Faculty follow the following steps:
1. Identify a likely supervisor, or contact the relevant department who will assist you in identifying
a possible supervisor, and agree on a research topic.
2. With the guidance of your proposed supervisor, prepare a brief project proposal. It is expected
that Departments will have their own quality assurance processes and that the nature of the
proposal will differ between departments. In some it may take the form of a concept note, in
others, a more fully developed proposal. As a minimum, the proposal should indicate the broad
field of research, the questions that will be or are likely to be asked, why these are important
questions and how they are likely to be answered. A full literature review is not expected but
reference to key literature is.
3. Submit the completed application form plus project proposal to your supervisor who will provide
the additional information required below.
4. The supervisor will pass the full set of documents on to the Head of Department and then the
Dean for consideration."

https://www.ru.ac.za/media/rhodesuniversity/content/registrar/documents/forms/App%20form%20for%20Masters%20and%20Doctoral%20Degrees.pdf

So, good work finishing such a big accomplishment and best of luck in the future.

 

This has been a bizarre thread for me. Anyway.

Thanks for the positive comments. Steve hit it on the head. I really wanted to pass along that the backdoor works. I had more than one choice. Not every institution agreed to do this- completely at a distance- but several did. Some wanted a visit or two. I couldn't do that. UNISA is not the only option, and the maze of application and unexplained rejection there just didn't cut it for me.

I did already have a master's in accounting, and I was open to topic. They helped shape a little to something they were comfortable with. It also helped that one of the individuals involved was an amazing supervisor. Really. Responsive, caring, but also demanding. I've been lucky in that regard. Both PhD committees I've had have been fantastic. None of the horror stories I hear elsewhere.

I'm a full time, tenured faculty member here in the states at a small college. I have plenty of colleagues who laugh at DL of any kind. They'd do well to learn from the SA system, the institution I worked with, and the supervisor I had. They went about their work at the highest level, but without all the pomp, circumstance, and whimsy I've seen here. Perhaps "not entitled" is the way to describe it. I loved it. It felt like a truly democratic process. It's the way it should be done. Faculty aren't at the center of the universe. It was refreshing.

 

Thanks for the info. I may seek to pursue this route myself. I'm JD/MBA, with most of the coursework to complete a bachelor's in acct under the belt, getting ready to embark on CPA studies this summer, have published some, have decent peer-reviewed pubs, but not a distinguished researcher, at a large uni where I teach some 1000 level accounting courses, but they don't give me free reign to teach higher than that. Not tenured like you, but a FT lecturer. Perhaps I can get someone to bite and mentor me for a PhD over there. I do NOT have the wherewithal to take four to five years off to pursue a PhD through the traditional route.

You know, of course, that if you went to the national AAA conference with that PhD in hand, your colleagues' sneers notwithstanding, you would likely get interview offers for jobs at AACSB universities starting in the $150K range if that interests you. Many TT accounting jobs are advertised "AACSB doctorate or equivalent", that latter part largely the result over the last decade of the extreme shortage of accounting academics.

Again, congratulations!