Module 1, Session 4: National Policies

[CPC Admin]

#4959

What are the key national documents that guide your standards and processes around postgraduate education? List these documents and key quotes from them here. If you have access to particular national requirements please share these here too.

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[John Mambambo]

#5306

In South Africa, the Policy Framework for the Internationalisation of Higher Education in South Africa is a handy tool. This was determined in terms of Section 3 of the Higher Education Act, 1997 (Act 101 of 1997). The vision of education of the National Development Plan 2030 (NDP) is that “by 2030, South Africans should have access to education and training of the highest quality, leading to significantly improved learning outcomes” (p. 296). This directly affects the supervision process as this is where quality is determined during the postgraduate studies. This same policy also provides for collaboration between institutions; “..the NDP supports collaborations among institutions internally, among
local institutions, and externally, “with internationally accredited institutions”.

The Higher Education Act 101 of 1997 articulates the regulation of higher education in South Africa, including the provision of “quality assurance” and “quality promotion in higher education” which have a direct bearing on how postgraduate studies are conducted in Higher education Institutions in the country. This specific Act was amended by Higher Education Amendment Act 9 of 2016.

From these broad frameworks, Universities or institutions craft their own policies that guide the postgraduate studies. Rhodes University had Volume D – which encapsulates “Research policies,” the “Intellectual Property Policy,” “Research Guidelines,” “Postgraduate Research Policy,” “Supervision in Higher Degrees by Research Policy,” and the “Postgraduate Research Guidelines” These institutional policies, being guided by the National Frameworks, then stipulate and specify how the research processes in the institutions are conducted. As a research intensive university, with a significant proportion of postgraduate students, Rhodes University recognizes the importance of
providing high quality Higher Degree by Research (HDR) pedagogy and offering a supportive, engaging research environment, including ensuring the support for supervisors.

[Frank Moffat]

#5311

I am here to learn and get exposed to these policy frameworks particularly for South Africa as a new academic member who recently joined and is expected to assume supervision responsibilities.
Key pillars and strategic goals guiding supervision are also being drawn from the University Strategic Plan.

[Andati]

#5326

For Kenya, we mainly have Commission for University Education which formulates University Standards and Guidelines.
We also have the Kenya National Qualification Authority that formulates the Kenya National Qualification Framework. These documents contains broad guidelines on University operations and Qualification accreditation.

[Thivhulawi Malwela]

#5331

In south africa we have the higher education act 101 of 1997, this was embrasive to all higher education and training including undergadutes and postgraduats. However south african universities had their own institutional policies on postgrduates teaching and learning. All the policies stems from the act, it pescribe the critical crossfields outcomes. This are 7 broad learning outcomes ranked according to blooms taxonomy, the last two that invlves critical thinking and analytic skils guide the postgraduates discilplines. The postgradutes students are at NQF level 8,9,10, honours, masters and PhD. this field student demonstrate the ability to use problem solving skilss and are expected to identify problems that are not solved by yes or no, but need research/survey to come up with abstract evidence that can also be included in generation of new knowledge. most commonly they do this under supervirsion of a person of is having one qualification higher than their level, commonly the person with masters and PhD is belived to possess skill to supervise the other levels.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 7 months ago by Thivhulawi Malwela.

[Thivhulawi Malwela]

#5333

UNIVEN has its own document named POLICY ON POSTGRADUATE TRAINING.
Purpose
To regulate the administration and awarding of all postgraduate degrees with a research component.
Scope of Policy
The policy is applicable to all students who register for an Honours, Masters or Doctoral degree with a research component.
Responsibility
The implementation of the policy will be monitored by the Postgraduate Coordinator (Research and Innovation). The responsibility lies with the DVC, Academic who accounts to SENATE.
Policy Review
The policy will be reviewed every five years.

Each of the 4 faculties have its own executive postgradutes committee to oversse the faculty proces, there is univercity reserch and publication committee (RPC) that guide all this commitee, the senate is the highest body that oversee the procees

[Washika Okonda Michael]

#5335

Kenya established the Commission for University Education (CUE) which serves as the quality assurance agency. It has set standards that apply to all private and public universities, campuses, constituent colleges and foreign universities operating in the country.

Some of the key standards which have a bearing on postgraduate education include but not limited to: the chartering process, a university shall have adequate and competent human resources to carry out its mandate
in accordance to its human resource policy. It spells out the minimum criteria for appointment and promotion of academic staff. It goes further to state that a university shall have adequate financial resources to meet its obligations. this ensures a quality and motivated staff to handle P/G students. It also touches on quality of teaching and thus states:
1) A university shall promote highest standards of teaching and learning.
2) A university shall institutionalize internal quality assurance mechanisms.

The other standard hinges on Research and Innovation and it stipulates:

A university shall show evidence of promoting quality research and innovation.
Guidelines under this include:
1) A university shall have thematic research areas in line with its institutional research policy and
aligned to the national research policy;
2) A university shall endeavor to have adequate funds for research by allocating a minimum of
2% of its operational budget to research.

On issues of Academic Integrity Standards it states:
A university shall carry out its operations in line with and be guided by the national values
and principles of governance as set out in Article 10 of the Constitution and as spelt out in the Universities Act No. 42, 2012.

Clearly, the universities offering postgraduate programs must meet certain criteria going by the above standards. The individual university postgraduate guidelines including admission criteria, allocation of supervisors, writing and presentation of proposal/thesis/project for every faculty are guided by the provisions of the commission.

[Fiona Hagenbeek]

#5345

I will freely admit to not really knowing where to find this for the Netherlands, but our own university/faculty has good online rules/regulations, which I anticipate are mostly on par with the national level

[Nelly Akinyi Juma]

#5347

In Kenya Post Graduate studies are guided by the National policy on Post graduate research and training which is the brain child of the Commission for University Education, a body mandated to set standards for the quality of training, post graduate research and supervision in all universities in Kenya.
A variety of topical areas are covered by the National Policy on University Post-Graduate Research and Training. Institutional Policies and Regulations, Students Admission Process, Learning Environment, Institutional Support Systems, and Funding are the broad categories.
Graduate school policies and regulations govern postgraduate student training at universities. Most universities have also adopted research policies that place a greater emphasis on postgraduate research. The majority of policies, on the other hand, are not easily available to students and staff.
In Kenya, all universities have the same minimum admission standards for post-graduate training. Applicants for a Doctor of Philosophy degree are usually expected to submit a research proposal. This method, on the other hand, works effectively when the number of pupils is minimal in comparison to the number of faculty members.
Additionally, the policy addresses the widespread problem of plagiarism in universities. This is attributed to the ease with which students can obtain information in electronic form via the internet, as well as the increase in student numbers. The integrity of students’ research output has been called into question as a result of this

[Nkatha Muriira]

#5355

In Kenya at university level there are policies that guide enrolment
requirement and expected duration completion. This university graduate school also has specific rules and regulations on how postgraduate studies are carried out.
Nationally the Kenya National Qualification Authority defines expected knowledge,skills and understanding for labor market employment or further education within Kenya and beyond the country borders while the Commission for University Education (CUE) is mandated to regulate and assure quality university Education through standard setting and guidelines and monitoring compliance to achieve global competitiveness.

[Mical ONGACHI]

#5356

In Kenya the key national documents that guides the postgraduate standards and processes around post graduate education is the National Policy on Post Graduate Research and Training in Kenya. The National Policy on University Post-Graduate Research and Training covers a number of thematic areas. Institutional Policies and Regulations; the Students Admission process; the Learning Environment; Institutional Support Systems; and Funding.
This policy therefore advocates that universities should:
1. Collectively increase the number of post-graduate programmes in the ISCED2011 framework areas of Health and Welfare, Agriculture, and Engineering, Manufacturing and Construction; and
2. Align their research agendas to the national development priority areas and sustainable development goals
Universities have graduate school policies and regulations to guide the training of postgraduate students. These policies and regulations also serve as the main documents guiding postgraduate education, providing direction to both faculty and students on institutional expectations and requirements for successful completion of the students’ programmes. We also have development of research policies that further emphasize the research component of postgraduate training. Most policies are however not readily accessible by students and staff. In addition, many of the universities’ research policies tend to be inward looking with little emphasis on multi-institutional research collaboration, a key ingredient in today’s research landscape. Further, a look at individual policies shows identification of institutional research priority areas that tend to be a reflection of the various institutional academic programmes with little emphasis on collaborative research outputs or any specific reference to national research priorities as captured in the national development agenda. Minimum admission requirements for post-graduate training in Kenya are similar across all universities for example requirement for doctor of Philosophy is a Masters degree from recognized institutions;
Supervision is central to post-graduate research training. A number of challenges exist in relation to supervision. For instance in the process of matching supervisors and candidates. Some academic units select supervisors with little input from the candidates. In these cases, there seems to be no standard criteria adopted other than the willingness of the supervisors to work with the students. In addition, there is often a mismatch between the students’ research areas and the supervisors’ areas of expertise. This is especially true in programmes where there is a large number of students as compared to supervisors. Further, universities either do not have or do not adhere to supervision load limits. With the growing number of post-graduate students there has not been commensurate growth in staff numbers especially in the social sciences. Supervisors are forced to handle the large undergraduate numbers, coupled with a sizeable number of postgraduate students. Admissions into post-graduate programmes rarely take into account supervision capacity, resulting in many programmes, especially in the Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences having faculty supervising students’ numbers far in excess of the recommended
Universities are striving to provide support infrastructure for graduate students. This includes specialized libraries or carrels in libraries, research and computer laboratories, and internet access. The older public universities provide internet access to all students, usually on wireless networks. There are also significant electronic resource material available through a consortium of universities libraries that provides a wealth or research literature. In the older universities there is limited space provided for graduate students, usually in the library. There are few dedicated research laboratories and so science students make do with the general laboratories. This is especially critical where students are enrolled into laboratory-based research post-graduate programmes, without the necessary research laboratory facilities. Libraries rarely have special services for graduate students and with graduate students competing with large number of undergraduate students for the limited facilities. In an attempt to mitigate for the lack of adequate spaces, libraries are now emphasizing e-resources made accessible to graduate students. This is working well in the established universities. The younger universities are still struggling to provide these basic facilities, with students often lacking access to the latest e-journals and e-books, a minimum requirement for quality research. Publications of research results form a key component of research training, yet prior to post-graduate work, the majority of students have no experience or exposure on how to right a journal paper. The challenges in distilling research results from theses and dissertations into conference or journal publications, has been a significant contributor to the low conversion rate.
Universities are currently torn between the need to maintain quality in research training by admitting the appropriate number of students in relation to the post-graduate staff, on the one hand, and the need to raise revenue for the day to day operations of the university on the other. In addition, universities are unable to provide scholarships to the large number of graduate students. A few scholarships are available in the form of Graduate Assistants and Tutorial Fellows that are offered as part of staff development in public universities. Some universities have been able to establish research funds to support research activities. For the majority of universities, their research funding portfolios as a percentage of their total budget remains very small. Further, for cases where research funds have been received, faculty members often experience challenges in accessing those funds when required.

[Stephen Nguthi]

#5374

In Kenya, the commission of University Education (CUE) is the body that generally controls University education at all levels whether Bachelors, Masters or PhD. The commission is mandated to set standards that guarantee quality university education by regulating and accrediting the universities and degree programs offered by the universities in Kenya.
This body works closely with the Kenya National Qualifications Authority which ideally is meant to survey the labor market and recommend the required skills that training institutions, among them universities should focus on. In the ideal, the training institutions should revise the programs to reflect the recommendations of Kenya National Qualifications Authority. The objectives of these institutions are however realistic in the long term since education is an expensive affair. Review of programs to suit market demand is therefore an expensive affair.

[Edna Asesa]

#5382

In Kenya the regulator of the universities is the Commission of Higher Education (CUE) which sets the standards of operation for the University

Each university is committed to their individual Service Charter that they are bound to that clearly stipulates how they serve their clients.

[Isabella Lutzili Asamba]

#5385

in agreement for Kenya this is the status

[Wil Hout]

#5392

In the Netherlands, the key document is the Act on Higher Education and Research. The Act contains the most provisions and is guiding decisions and policies at university level. Next to this Act, there are important documents issued by the Association of Dutch Universities (Universiteiten van Nederland — https://www.universiteitenvannederland.nl) and the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences (KNAW).

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