Patterns of practice in South African doctoral education: an empirical study

Abstract

In South Africa, doctoral education is usually organised in a traditional supervision model, but the practice of supervision differs across academic units and supervisors. In her comparison of PhD experiences in British universities, Chiang identified two research training structures, namely teamwork and individualist. These different structures affected the research environment, the relationships between supervisor and supervisee, and the experience of doctoral study. Can such differences be observed in South African universities? In a qualitative study of four academic units from different disciplines, four patterns of practice were detected in the ways in which doctoral supervision and research activities were organised. This article characterises these patterns of practice and discusses their impact on the doctoral experience.