The PhD in CHED

Findings from a brief survey of staff who completed their PhD’s while

working in CHED/UCTAugust 2009

Jeff Jawitz

The PhD completed - ADP

The PhD completed – Adult Education

The PhD completed – Higher Education

Why did you decided to do a PhD?

• Mainly interest in topic• To be able to supervise PG’s

“it was about acquiring some academic ‘authority’ – necessary in order for the wider range of my work to be ‘taken seriously’.”

Time taken from registration to graduation

Range: 3.5 to 5.5 yrsAverage: 4.5 yrs

Publications directly out of PhD(journals & book chapters only)Range : 2 – 8Average: 4.5

What was the link between your PhD and your UCT/CHED work?

• deepen and enrich my teaching (Adult ed; HES; academic literacies)

• Informed my RPL work• Informed curriculum work• Helps our thinking about

teaching practice (academic literacies/ lectures/ assessment)

• Researched my course & issues of access for disadvantaged students

• Inform our work with disciplines

• Direct link with development work (service learning; academic staff development)

What have you gained?

• I have been totally surprised by the degree to which my self confidence has increased. It is as if the PhD makes me feel that ‘I am ok, I have a voice’.

I don’t fear nearly as much if I do a conference or paper presentation and some disagree with me. … I really feared that colleagues and others would ‘show me up’ and that I was not really able to make it in the university.

• I grew up theoretically and intellectually (from a baby to a teenager anyway) I started to understand experientially the business of the University as knowledge producer. I'm less of an advocate of 'good practice' and more appreciative of the complexity of any social practice -- more agnostic about 'development', more skeptical of change.