From left: Dr Federico Settler, Chairperson of the SRPC Oral Review (Proposal Defence) Committee; Minister Christopher Mushohwe and PhD candidate in Ethics; Dr Felix Murove, Mushohwe’s Doctoral supervisor for Ethics.PhD Cohort Candidate Successfully Defends Proposal
The School of Religion, Philosophy and Classics (SRPC) in the College of Humanities recently celebrated the first successful doctoral proposal defence by a member of its Zimbabwe PhD student cohort programme.
In August, Christopher Chitondi Mushohwe, Provincial Affairs Minister for Manicaland Province and Director of the Presidential Scholarship Programme, successfully defended his PhD proposal titled, “Ethics, Governance and the Rise of African Nationalism” under the supervision of Dr Felix Murove.
In the first semester of 2014 the Schools of Education and SRPC successfully launched a PhD cohort programme in Zimbabwe, convening doctoral research workshops in the cities of Harare and Masvingo. The UKZN Zimbabwe Cohort supervision programme supports academics and civil servants in key positions towards attaining their doctoral qualifications.
In addition to ongoing cohort supervision, all doctoral students have to defend their proposal to an Oral Review Committee. The SRPC has found this to be critical for maintaining quality in doctoral research, but has also experienced it as a rewarding process for both supervisors and students.
Federico Settler