DIES/CREST Online Training Course for Supervisors of Doctoral Candidates at African Universities
It is widely accepted that there is growing need for more African scholars and scientists to contribute to innovation and development on the African continent and to enhance Africa’s participation in the knowledge economy. We have also witnessed, in recent years, huge increases in the numbers of doctoral enrolments and graduates at many African universities. As a result, the demand for well-prepared doctoral supervisors has increased to the same degree.
In order to meet this new and growing demand for doctoral supervisors, CREST at Stellenbosch University has developed, with financial support from DAAD, a fully online course especially targeting novice doctoral supervisors. The course addresses important topics such as the nature of the doctorate, models of supervision, the relationship between the doctoral candidate and the supervisor, the guidance that the supervisor has to give to a doctoral candidate throughout the doctoral process and more. Successful participants will receive a Certificate of Competence issued by Stellenbosch University.
For applying and more details on the course (outcomes, contents, admission, application procedures, fees, etc.) please visit the CREST website http://www0.sun.ac.za/crest/dies-crest-online-training-course/
Enrollment is open until the 1st of March 2019
“I benefited from the entire range of the training. The six modules were quite insightful. The course was much deeper in content than I expected. Indeed, I feel competent enough to facilitate such discussions among other doctoral supervisors that have not had this training.”
“In my faculty we admitted our first doctoral students and I am the cordinator of the program. This course has empowered me with alot of knowledge and skills to be able to supervise and coordinate the program in the faculty. I had no mentor to learn from and was wondering how to go about running this program. I appreciate every single component taught in this course.”
“Learning material provided is fantastic and fit for the purpose of the course, how to help us become good supervisors.”
“The course was an eye opener, and the facilitators played a big role and did a good job to facilitate the course. I have really appreciated what they did.”
“The facilitators are experts in the field of doctoral supervision and they are aware of the current problems being experienced by supervisors in both face-to-face and distance learning platforms. The facilitators are very supportive and explain the objectives of each module at the beginning such that it becomes very easy to follow the tutorials. Relevant literature is recommended and the activities allow us to reflect on our own work as supervisors in our own institutions. I commend the facilitators for a job well done.”
“Facilitators responded to my questions and solved my queries on time.”
“The facilitators were generally very competent, experienced and caring. I have been able to learn some qualities and attributes from them. Especially the way in which they simplify the teaching and learning approaches.”
“The facilitators have designed all the modules in a highly interactive way and when you are working through the modules you feel the presence of the facilitator in the background. The video recordings at the opening of each module are very good ice-breakers for the modules.”
“The online learning was good with different learning material provided including text , videos and also the group discussions and exchange of different institutional material. Being my first online course, it has changed my perception on online learning and is in many ways even more demanding, educative, interactive and enriching than the traditional face to face learning!”
“Personally, this online course really suited me. You can work at your own pace, any time and anywhere you want.”
“This is the first time I am engaging in an online learning activity. I must say that the organizers of this course did a very good job at that.”
“As expected the online learning has provided the needed freedom to participate in the course. It has added to my positive outlook of this platform as the ‘Future University”
