Wits Fees

3.4 Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Programme Code: ARA09 / Plan Code: AFA80FINA

NQF Level exit: 10 / NQF Credits: 360

Course: FINA9001A

The Wits School of Arts offers a Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Fine Art. The following points are taken from the Faculty Standing Orders for Wits School of Arts and a PhD in Creative Work:

The PhD in Creative Work thesis may take the form of performance and/or a body of creative work plus a written text which contextualises the work critically and defends its originality. There must be a coherent relationship between the creative work and the thesis, in such a way that the two components can be assessed as an integrated whole. This does not necessarily mean that the thesis must be a direct commentary on the creative work. It must, however, serve to contextualise the creative work critically and enable the examiners to assess its originality. The creative work ‘must be the equivalent of a year’s full-time work’. This may take the form of one major project or a number of smaller and related or diverse projects. The length of the thesis should normally be between 30 000 and 40 000 words.

The thesis must fulfil the central criterion for the award of the PhD, that it must be a ‘substantial contribution to the advancement of knowledge in the subject chosen’. In addition, the following criteria have been approved by the University: a) The creative work must be the equivalent of a year’s full-time work. b) The thesis (i.e. the creative work/performance plus written text) must make an original and intellectually articulate contribution to the understanding of contemporary performing and/or visual arts. c) The creative work must be contextualised in relation to other forms of cultural production and contribute to the advancement of the discipline and critical debate in the field. d) The creative work must exemplify and locate the ideas in conjunction with the written text.

As such, the PhD is a practice-based creative programme in which you will be required to produce both a body of creative work and a thesis of between 30 000 and 40 000 words. The PhD is marked by both an awareness of the historical framework in which the study is located, as well offering an original contribution to knowledge production. During the course of the PhD there will be three outputs as part of your studies: • A research proposal (4 000-5 000 words): The research proposal is presented with your practice-in-progress after 6 months of registration for students registered full-time and 12 months for students registered part-time. Please see below for more details on the PhD research proposal process.

• A body of creative work: The creative work can be staged as one final iteration or as a series of iterations and inquiries across three years that are documented and presented for assessment. Originality of creative expression and sustained critical enquiry as proposed by the research topic are assessed by one internal and two external examiners.

• A written thesis (30 000-40 000 words): While the PhD thesis can present more typical formats and structures associated with academic writing, and sound research and argumentation are demanded at this level of scholarship, both form of writing and presentation are open to experimentation in the field of visual arts. You have until the 15th of February after the third year after your registration to submit your thesis to Faculty.