Centre for Postgraduate Studies

Prof Dina Burger MESSAGE FROM THE DIRECTOR: CENTRE FOR POSTGRADUATE STUDIES (CPGS)

CPUT research community is known for its agility and resilience in challenging times, and so it started to develop new and innovative ways of doing research.

Despite the immense impact of Covid-19 on all CPUT’s postgraduate supervisors, postgraduate students and those in postgraduate leadership, there are many reasons to celebrate the work that took place in 2020. The Centre for Postgraduate Studies (CPGS) is on its way to becoming a world-class centre where postgraduate studies can take place in a conducive and enabling environment.

During 2020, CPGS has achieved several milestones which it would like to share with you:

The year was a productive period for CPGS. The centre prides itself on supporting, developing, and enhancing postgraduate studies at CPUT, in alignment with the institution’s commitment to promoting postgraduate education and continuing to grow its postgraduate student cohort.

During this period, 1 613 master’s students and 300 doctoral students were registered, and 84 postdoctoral fellows were hosted by CPUT, of which 74 were funded by CPUT. In addition, 30 students graduated with doctoral degrees, while 154 graduated with master’s degrees. CPGS has the following responsibilities:

• Directs, develops and administers all postgraduate education and research at

CPUT • Offers a seamless service to registered postgraduate students through established processes • Manages NRF BTech, master’s and doctoral student bursaries • Manages extensive training programmes offered to postgraduate students in all areas of the postgraduate journey • Co-ordinates all the activities of the Higher Degrees Committee (HDC), inclusive of interaction with the faculty research co-ordinators in respect of

HDC documents, preparation of HDC meeting agendas, and submission of

HDC-approved documents to Senate • Appoints postdoctoral fellows • Oversees the academic involvement of postdoctoral fellows

The HDC is a committee of Senate and makes recommendations to Senate on matters relating to postgraduate studies and student progression. The administration of higher degrees is facilitated by CPUT’s own customised HDC Digital system, now in its seventh year of operation, with over 2 500 users. The system is continuously monitored to ensure improvement in functionality, and it is currently being upgraded to include new functionality.

During 2020, CPGS assisted 30 doctoral students and 121 master’s students with bursaries to the total value of R11.8 million. The centre also administered NRF bursaries to postgraduate students to the value of R7.2 million.

The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic meant that students were not able to meet on campus, and many were isolated at home or in residences. This was a springboard for an expanded series of research development workshops and seminars, including proposal writing, research design and research methodology, statistical data analysis, article writing, qualitative data analysis, the use of software analysis tools and the use of plagiarism detection software (Turnitin). CPUT is seeing an increasing number of postgraduate students and academic staff/supervisors participating in these opportunities.

The Council on Higher Education (CHE) paid a virtual visit to CPUT as part of a doctoral review that began in 2019, with all faculties, centres and units taking part in a self-evaluation review. CPGS played an integral role in the preparation of the self-evaluation review and in the preparation of the CHE panel’s site visit during October 2020.

The university was given an opportunity in 2020 to identify projects to be funded by the next cycle of the University Capacity Development Programme (UCDP). One of the projects titled ‘Student support: Postgraduate students’, under the stewardship of CPGS, applied for funding to expand research workshops and assist postgraduate students with funds to be used for editing/proof-reading and data analysis.

CPGS is strongly committed to improving its services, and to supporting and assisting supervisors, postgraduate students and postdoctoral fellows. I look forward to being able to report on progress made in our next report. Last, but not least, I wish to thank the CPGS staff for their hard work during 2020.

FUNDING

SOURCE

National Research Foundation (NRF): Postgraduate Bursaries National Research Foundation Postdoctoral Grants

TOTAL AMOUNT

2 045 679

7 381 483

8 893 000