Zululand (Unizul) reputation

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by Matt R, Feb 1, 2006.

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  1. Matt R

    Matt R New Member

    My search for a PhD program in Health Science goes on. Here is the update (I have learned a lot in the last couple of days!).

    With all the SA mergers, etc, I find some of the web sites I looked at in the past are more up to date now. I was able to determine that the nomenclature differs enough to have confused me; for example "Health Science" in general is something that is taught to medical students (akin to our combination MD PhD). Biokinetics may or may not be equivalent to 'physical therapy'; I'm not really sure on that one yet. But most Universities have Human Movement Science - what US schools call Exercise Science - based in Humanities OR Science; sometimes under physiology/biology, sometimes as an seperate department.

    I have e-mailed a slew of SA schools that have 'human movement science' or 'biokinetics' or similar PhD potential listed on their websites and several responded right away.

    The best reply to date is from the University of Zululand; a professor there (with a biokinetics - re: physical therapy) background is very interested in my proposed thesis and has offered to work with me. Of course I will await replies to my other enquiries, but this looks very promising.

    So my obvious question is this: what is the general reputation of Unizul? I found very little has been posted here. I know it is a state school so accreditation and all that jive is not an issue.

    Thanks!
    Matt
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Feb 1, 2006
  2. CLSeibel

    CLSeibel Member

    Matt,

    I would caution you not to place too much stock in the response rate of South African universities at this point in the year. As I'm sure you're aware, their academic year is an inversion of our own, which means that they are just coming off of summer break and preparing to begin the first semester of the 2006 academic year. At the University of Pretoria, they presently are in the process of annual student registration, a process that I gather is a bit of a sizeable administrative undertaking. Our faculty secretary in the Faculty of Theology essentially says to postgraduates, "don't expect me to be available during this period;" postgraduates in our faculty are registered after the undergraduates.

    It could very well be that other institutions are facing a similar situation at present. I would encourage you to give it a few weeks to allow these schools to get settled into the new academic year; in many cases, the attention you receive right now simply won't be reflective of the attention you might receive at other points in the year.

    That being said, I'm very glad to hear that several have already responded and that some promising options seem to be emerging.

    I hope that's helpful in some respect.
     
  3. Haggai12

    Haggai12 Member

    Uzulu

    Uzulu is a fine school, but is far less known outside SAfr than several others -- which are also much larger (Unisa, UPretoria, etc).

    Under Apartheid, Uzulu was established as one of several 'black schools, which meant among other things, far less funding.

    For more on this, see interesting article:
    http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761557321_4/South_Africa.html

    The whole academic landscape has changed considerably over the past several years, and I suspect will change more in coming years.
     
  4. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

    Bill Grover is an august Senior Member of this board and he recently graduated Doctor of Theology from Unizul. If he cannot be found on this board anymore, you can look him up on the website of Faith Seminary (Oregon), where he is Director of Distance Education. [Sorry I don't have the links.]
     
  5. Matt R

    Matt R New Member

    Excellent feedback from everyone, thanks!

    Cory - thanks for the heads up on the registration issue. I just recently learned of the January to November school year thing. My question then became - 'do I now have to wait until January of next year to start?'. I would hope with a research degree and no class work I could start at any time, but I don't know if the universities will see it that way. Any insight on that?

    By the way, I am still checking into Pretoria.

    Haggai12 - I will say it has been interesting reading up on the history of SA universities and the recent mergers. I guess I will have to educate anyone that questions my future degree (should it come from Unizul) on that history. Plus a safari vacation at graduation time will be a nice reward; KwaZulu-Natal is the right place for that (I learned that today also!).

    I also learned that SA has been renaming its cities and states, etc. to reflect the original names that were misspelled by the colonials - I think that is pretty cool but I can't pronounce most of them.

    Ted - I'll see if I can find Bill; thanks!
     
  6. CLSeibel

    CLSeibel Member

    Matt,

    The answer to your question about when you can enroll will vary from school to school. Some (although I suspect that you will find this to be the exception more than the rule) allow you to begin your program on a rolling basis; at the very least, many should allow you to begin with the second semester in July.
     
  7. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

    Come to think of it, there was recently a young lady (possibly hikergirl?) who started a thread about international distance learning opportunities and I posted to her on these boards the results of a thread search on South African universities.
     
  8. Matt R

    Matt R New Member

    Ted - yes, I think it was a question on the 'cheapest' postgraduate degrees; I commented on that one as well.
     
  9. Matt R

    Matt R New Member

    Thanks Cory - I'll let you know what happens on that issue.
     
  10. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

    hikergirl's thread: http://forums.degreeinfo.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=23535

    A search of our august Senior Member Emeritus Jack Tracey's old postings, as he was a frequent poster on South African schools: www.degreeinfo.com/forums/search.php?s=&action=showresults&searchid=432201&sortby=lastpost&sortorder=descending
     
  11. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

    Re: Re: Zululand (Unizul) reputation

    Bill Grover can also be discovered at www.degreediscussion.com .
     
  12. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

    Re: Re: Zululand (Unizul) reputation

    Links ;)
     
  13. Matt R

    Matt R New Member


    My reply from the professor at Unizul is that yes, indeed, I can enroll and begin my thesis as soon as I am accepted. Since there is no class work, the only thing dependent on the school schedule is when one pays the second year tuiton, etc, and when one graduates (the end of the semester after defending).

    Things are looking favorable for Unizul, but I will await all my replies before making a final decision.
     

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