Hi all, I am now very close to join University of Pretoria (through DL + local supervisor). I will apply for their PhD program in CS. Do any body know whether this degree will allow me to work as fulltime stuff member in a good university? Thanks all in advance yours al-doori
I looked at this web-site, who is this "university" accredited by? I would not register with any university until you know the accrediting body and what type of accredation it is? Most universities require a degree from a nationally or regionally accredited university in order to teach.
As I think you are aware, the University of Pretoria is one of the major South African universities. Here are some faculty links found on Google: http://www.mayo.edu/research/people/2/21065_ansell/ http://www.in.tu-clausthal.de/~joubert/ http://taz.tamu.edu/LAUP/MLA2001/faculty.html (Murphy) http://www.ucihs.uci.edu/biochem/ (Smith--MD) http://www.worc.mass.edu/comdisor/people.htm (Meyer) http://www.bsu.edu/cap/landscape/gradfaculty.html (Motloch) http://www.cas.psu.edu/docs/CASDEPT/PLANT/postdoc.html
Indeed, Pretoria is both as fully accreditted as any South African university can be, and as well respected as most other South African institutions.
It should. I wish I could offer a better guarantee (professorships are hard to come by these days), but Pretoria is certainly an old and very well-regarded traditional South African school. Peace, ------------------ Tom Head www.tomhead.net
It should. I wish I could offer a better guarantee (professorships are hard to come by these days), but Pretoria is certainly an old and very well-regarded traditional South African school. Peace, ------------------ Tom Head www.tomhead.net
The University of Pretoria is one of the two most prominent Afrikaans language universities in South Africa (or anywhere actually), along with Stellenbosch. Which brings up a question: I have seen a number of people on this newsgroup talking about studying at places like Pretoria or Potchefstroom. I assume that nobody who posts here is fluent in Afrikaans, so what's up? Have some of the most prominent Afrikaans language universities changed their medium of instruction to English? Have they become dual-language institutions offering parallel programs? Or is this just some new thing that they put in for external graduate students studying by "research"?
Potchefstroom ( www.puk.ac.za ) offers degree programs in both Afrikaans and English. Both languages are spoken in SA, so I don't think this is something they have begun solely for non-SA research students. My Potch promoter communicates fluently in English. Russell
Do they offer on-campus programs in both languages? The last time I followed the South Afrian education scene in any detail was in the 80's. At that time their (white) university sector seemed to be largely divided into English-speaking (Capetown, Wits, Natal...) and Afrikaans-speaking (Pretoria, Stellenbosch, Potchefstroom...) universities. There were only two dual-language schools that I knew of at that time, UNISA (which was a special case being 100% external) and Port Elizabeth. I'm not trying to make trouble nor to suggest that there is anything wrong with Pretoria or Potchefstroom. I am interested in whether the formerly Afrikaans universities are changing their medium of instruction to English. That isn't incredible, considering how unpopular Afrikaans is with SA's black population. And if that's the case, Afrikaans language higher education, and perhaps by implication the Afrikaans language itself as a language of scholarship, may be in serious trouble.
Technically the university is not "accredited" by anyone... accreditation is generally an American concept which doesn't apply in the same sense in many other countries.
Potchefstroom is now most definitely dual-language for most programs, and I believe Pretoria is as well. (We should thank Mandela and de Klerk, I think.) Peace, ------------------ Tom Head www.tomhead.net
Here's a page I found describing their language policy in English: http://www.puk.ac.za/beleidsdokumente/taalpolicy.html It does seem that several of their divisions are now dual-language or even, in some cases, English only. This from a university that as late as 10-15 years ago was probably SA's bastion of Afrikaanse culture. I wonder what South Africa will look like in another 10-15 years. Will there even be Afrikaans-language higher education at all, or will all their universities function largely or even entirely in English? Frankly, I don't know whether to *thank* Mandela and DeKlerk, or to *blame* them. While more English language DL opportunities are good for me as an American, I really hate to watch what could be the decline of a language and a culture. Without a vital university sector, Afrikaans is apt to fade into being just another peripheral folk language, of interest to few besides linguists and historians.
True. But given that this is exactly what has happened to Zulu, Xhosa, the Soho dialects, etc. in an effort to make Afrikaans and English the official languages of South Africa (and Afrikaans the official language of the upper class), it's hard for me to shed too many tears over this. Besides, I'm sure some people will continue to speak Afrikaans in certain sectors; after all, if Welsh can survive centuries of Wales comprising part of the United Kingdom... Time will tell, as it always does. Peace, ------------------ Tom Head www.tomhead.net
I really hate to watch what could be the decline of a language and a culture. [/] Sorry, Bill, but in my mind, the Apartheid Regime should lose a lot more than its Dutch-based language... English will be a great opportunity for the whole nation to develop a new culture.
In all fairness, we as Americans lived in an apartheid regime prior to the 1960s, and the argument could be made that we're still living in something of one today. While there are few things more barbaric and stupid than segregation, South Africa does not have a monopoly on it. Peace, ------------------ Tom Head www.tomhead.net
I think that you are confusing an ethnic/linguistic/cultural group and the political regime that may have come to lead it for a while. There were probably those who advocated the eradication of German language and culture due to a certain mid-twentieth-century political regime of theirs. But had that happened, it would have been a tragedy of world-historical proportions. The Afrikaners may be a smaller group, but I would hate to see them go. Just as I strongly prefer to see the Basques, Zulus or the Tibetans survive. The world is enriched by its ethnic and cultural diversity, just as it is enriched by genetic diversity. It does nobody any good to watch all cultures make way for one homogenized world monoculture speaking English. (Or maybe Mandarin...) But this is getting seriously off-topic I think, so this will be my last post on this subject.
According to the web site all post-graduate degree programs are in either Afrikaans or English, as well as numerous undergrad programs. So, I don't think this transition has been to facilitate non-SA distance learners, but rather a transition in the SA cultural/social/political climate. Russell
