Doctoral Schools

The NIHSS has established an innovative Doctoral Schools Programme involving the joint collaborative effort of South Africa's tertiary institutions. These cross institutional collaborations are designed to significantly increase the number of South African PhD academics in the Humanities and Social Sciences, create new communities of scholarship, and enhance the creative and technical capacities of this new generation of scholars. Doctoral Schools are understood as a form of institutionalised provincial collaboration across co-located higher education institutions in South Africa, which principally bring doctoral candidates together to engage in cross-institutional and interdisciplinary conversations. To bring these virtual schools to life, the NIHSS has created the following implementation platforms: the National Mentorship Programme and the Virtual School App. The ambitious National Mentorship Programme, aims to provide high quality academic mentoring to all NIHSS doctoral students. Mentors are broadly tasked with co-ordinating Doctoral Schools and providing mentorship and are also key in facilitating the development of relevant research skills. Mentor contributions play a significant role in providing enhanced doctoral support within an increasingly strained postgraduate system.

Doctoral Schools: Project Leader(s) Identified

Western Cape School
  1. Cape Peninsula University of Technology,
  2. Stellenbosch University,
  3. University of Cape Town,
  4. University of Western Cape

Eastern Cape School
  1. Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University,
  2. Rhodes University,
  3. University of Fort Hare,
  4. Walter Sisulu University

Kwazulu-Natal School
  1. Durban University of Technology,
  2. University of KwaZulu-Natal,
  3. University of Zululand

Gauteng School
  1. Tshwane University of Technology,
  2. University of Johannesburg, 
  3. University of Pretoria,
  4. Vaal University of Technology,
  5. University of the Witwatersrand

Free State School and  University of South Africa School
  1. Central University of Technology,
  2. University of Free State (University of the Northern Cape once established),
  3. Sol Plaatje University
  4. University of South Africa
  5. North West University,

Northern Corridor School
  1. University of Limpopo,
  2. University of Venda