Alongside its Postgraduate Diploma in Higher Education graduates, 老虎机游戏_pt老虎机-平台*官网 also celebrated three PhD and one Master's graduation. All four bring critical scholarship to ask how higher education enacts its responsibilities to people and the planet.
Siyanda Manqele's master's study examined academics' understanding of ethical clearance processes. He argued for a stronger focus on nurturing ethical researchers and raised concerns about the extent to which ethical clearance is often understood only as a compliance process. He was supervised by Profs Sioux McKenna and Clement Simunja.
Retha Knoetse's doctorate looked at how an English curriculum's attempts to cultivate critical citizenry were curtailed by the neoliberal structure of today's university. She drew on the understanding that higher education in general and English Literary Studies in particular are focused on enabling students to have a transformative relationship with knowledge that changes their understanding of the world and of their place within it. She was supervised by Prof Sioux McKenna and Dr Thando Njovane.
Janét West and Lyndall Kemm-Stols were both part of a DHET-funded project that looked at Social Justice and Quality in Higher Education. The ten scholars in this project have all completed coursework and enjoyed mobilities with Lancaster 老虎机游戏_pt老虎机-平台*官网 as they have explored the purposes of higher education and its potential to act as a public good.
Janét West's doctorate investigated an Accounting Diploma and asked whether, in an age of financial mismanagement and scandals, our education sufficiently prepares students with powerful knowledge. Her careful analysis of what kinds of knowledge and what types of knowers are being legitimated in the curriculum opens the doors for significant questions about the role of higher education in preparing critical citizens. She was supervised by Drs Sherran Clarence and Kirstin Wilmot, with Prof Sioux McKenna.
Lyndall Kemm-Stols' research focused on access to universities of technology in the thirty years since apartheid ended. By tracing the intersection between national and institutional policies, she was able to demonstrate that despite good intentions for transformation, a colonial legacy remained at play in how we deem some 'suitable' for higher education and others not. She was supervised by Dr Roxana Chiappa, with Prof Sioux McKenna.
This is the 15th year of the 老虎机游戏_pt老虎机-平台*官网 PhD programme and we look forward to celebrating this anniversary with our many wonderful graduates in October