Values and Purposes of a PhD : Comparative responses from South Africa and Mauritius

Michael Anthony Samuel

Higher Education Forum

[PISSN] 2432-9614

[NCID] AA1187795X

This paper compares the motivations of two developing countries, South Africa and Mauritius, in promoting doctoral education. Both are concerned about addressing their underproduction of PhDs, but is this focus a luxury in the face of prevalent societal issues, e.g., the HIV/AIDS pandemic, crime and unemployment in South Africa? Are PhDs resolving post-apartheid societal problems? Is their pursuit primarily about developing a competitive advantage? In Mauritius, alignment of the state agenda and the higher education system provides pragmatic interventions to establish itself as the knowledge hub of the Indian Ocean islands. However, the philosophically-driven PhD infuses potentially a critical disruption of “comfortable collaborations” with the state agenda. So what is the worth of a PhD, especially in the field of education? This paper suggests that the value of an educational PhD in developing world contexts has both enabling and constraining potential: to personal, institutional, social and nationalistic agendas.

Doctoral under-productivity in developing world contexts

the economic, national, personal and social values of PhD study

professional doctorates and PhDs

doctoral career paths; PhDs in Education

globalization and internationalization

social justice, and education

Education [ 370 ]

eng

Research Institute for Higher Education, Hiroshima University

[ISBN] 978-4-902808-97-1

[NCID] AA1187795X