Module 1, Session: Discussion

[CPC Admin]

#5256

Please continue your discussions started during the zoom meeting here.

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[Ingrid SCHUDEL]

#5272

I think that the economising of knowledge and the academic project puts supervisors in very difficult positions. We sit in the middle between the registrar, ‘subsidy’, throughput within the recommended time; while concerned with quality, furthering the academic project, and also dealing with postdocs’ funding and personal crises at the same time. I find it very hard to advise ‘when to let it go’ with a thesis because of this constant tug of war.

[Faith Kandie]

#5285

Hallo Ingrid,
Thank you for sharing your sentiments. I totally agree with you especially concerning when the let it go. Every time I am faced with such a dilemma, I remember my Masters’ supervisor telling me, at one point you have to say enough is enough and let it go/complete it (and not continue with the unending cycle). It is indeed a challenge.

[Mical ONGACHI]

#5291

The issue of funding is good because postgraduate students are able to concentrate on their research than looking for fees/money to pay for their studies. This again has got challenges particularly those who are teaching and at the same time have been funded so that they could do their PhDs. In the meantime they are on permanent and pensionable jobs hence some end up not being so serious with completing their study after all they are assured of a pay from their institutions at the end of the months. But Those who are on temporary employment go out their way to complete their studies within the stipulated time because if they don’t then they will be laid off from the job

[Stephen Nguthi]

#5361

Very critical argument arises here. One wonders whether it is “the degree for the job” or “the degree for knowledge especially at the level of a doctor of philosophy”. The conclusions here may connect to the sentiments where commercializing academia is seen as a compromise to quality yet we all want to create a global knowledge economy in whose setup knowledge should be accessible to all at equal measure.
It is important that academia recognizes and respects the limits.

[Emily Bomet]

#5371

It is very interesting to learn that other countries do not have private Universities and that they fund all the post graduate studies in public universities. If this can be borrowed by our countries in Africa, like Kenya, post graduate enrollment of students will increase. Currently the numbers of postgraduate students joining public universities have reduced tremendously. The private Universities charge high fees but sometimes students prefer pursuing their studies there since they are likely to complete their studies early. The high cost of postgraduate studies, because it is self sponsored, makes majority of the students not to finish their studies within the required time.

[Peter Murage]

#5379

Again, there is a problem of funding in some study areas like mathematics in countries like Kenya. This poses a problem in the enrolment of postgraduates studies in these areas.

[Austine Amukayia Mulama]

#5393

Inadequate human resources, research equipment, training (refresher courses like CPC -Supervision), lack of motivation (both intrinsic and extrinsic) lead to low quality research and poor supervision especially in developing countries.

[Mical ONGACHI]

#5402

‘The private Universities charge high fees but sometimes students prefer pursuing their studies there since they are likely to complete their studies early’ This is interesting and therefore exposing the challenges post graduate studies face particularly in Kenya. If though the public universities charge less fess than private universities, still students prefer private because they finish early. This implies that public universities have other challenges including home issues because most of these students have families, and they tend to be carried away with matters of home that they must just attend to making their finishing drug so much to more than the stipulated years. In private universities they charge the students for extra years if they do not complete within the stipulated time

[Otieno Ong’ayo (Antony)]

#5466

The notion (depending on what lens one would apply look at it) that African governments have no money hence the under investment in education especially in post graduate needs a more critical approach that goes beyond the place of education in post colonial Africa. Moreover, knowledge itself is not new or foreign to Africa same to mode of its production, validation and legitimisation through the conduct and product through documented evidence

Post colonial context has many stagnation points and most crucial are in the field of education and industralisation which has direct impact on the level of social engineering that is necessary for addressing societal challenges over time. There is a reason or even an inbuilt logic behind this outcomes and politics (historical and present) plays a major role in the status quo.

Hence any form of supervision at the post-graduate level in Africa is taking place within a very complex configuration of a combination of intricately intertwined factors. This includes a context of a past that is still very present and there is limited political will (minds and muscles) to disrupt the status quo.

African governments do have money that can fund education and the call on private sector is just a stopgap measure and I would argue that this is a dereliction of duty within the principles of the social contract (The state has a responsibility towards its citizens and if education is one such instrument that enable the individual citizen to realize their aspirations and potentials while the state also strengthens its ability to be (re)generative (socio-economic) then this blind eye to education in Africa has some other explanation but not lack of money

African governments have money (lots of natural resources) But there is no political will to leverage on existing resources for education which in turn should spur development including generating more money through education and research. Africa not having resources is not an accurate assessment.

Hence, challenge with post graduate education (and by the extension, the conditions for training and supervision This matter also requires a decolonial analysis of what the issue is, the underlying factors and prospects if things are done differently

[Otieno Ong’ayo (Antony)]

#5467

Comparing educational system and models in Europe and Africa is a good thing but require some intellectual honesty in terms of analysis. European type of education in Africa has a history which is complex, but one that is worth critical re-examination because of the increased linkages and exchanges in the context of a resurgent Africa. This is more so in terms of the value placed on research and its impact on society which is different and that difference is what we need to understand and rethink ways of transforming in the African context and its relation (and/or partnership) with Europe. This include epistemic decolonisation, otherwise we reproduce the same structures and mind sets that treat education and research with indifference, especially when the political is happy with subservient populations, something they learnt from the colonial legacy. (also see the impact of that legacy in health systems, infrastructure, value addition in agric and other natural resources and a governance model that reads and sounds like the western model but turn out to be something different in practice and outcomes

[Chebutuk Rotich]

#5582

The issue of completion rates, research productivity in Kenya universities is complex. There is the issue of lack of finance by those who are desirous of acquiring and generation knowledge and those who register for postgraduate degrees just for the paper. The later could be having money but have no stamina/capacity and willingness to generate knowledge. The two will not complete in time due to their circumstances.

[Kabahima James Justus Kamukama]

#5590

Thats true. Its an incentive to finish school when you do not have a job or when the source of funding is not guaranteed

[Kabahima James Justus Kamukama]

#5591

Not only in Kenya, world over. It needs funders to recognize the role of alien subjects like Mathematics, Physics—

[Eunice Namuyenga Toko]

#5837

There is a general trend that Postgraduate enrollment is high but the success rate is comparably low. This is complex. since the reasons for poor success may also be student-based, although in rare cases. institutional challenges such as poor supervision and mentorship take responsibility for unsuccessful postgraduate programs. Poor funding strategies and other institutional mechanisms make it almost impossible for senior researchers to remain active and therefore have the opportunity to offer hands-on mentorship. This is a typical scenario for universities in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Heavy workloads following inadequate stuffing leave the supervisors with limited time to attend to their postgraduate students, contributing to delayed completion.

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