Postgraduate education has grown enormously worldwide, which has led to supervisors being expected to take on a supervisor's role immediately upon graduation. But crossing the border from being a doctoral candidate to becoming a doctoral supervisor entails significant shifts in identity and an understanding of postgraduate pedagogy and…

This paper presents an autoethnographic, narrative analysis through self-reflection of my own personal transition from doctoral student to doctoral supervisor. An evaluation of the importance of the PhD in South Africa, the role of doctoral supervisors, and characteristics of good supervisors was undertaken; against which my personal experience…

Research suggests that identity development is a crucial dimension of the doctoral student experience. This study explores what identity formations doctoral students exhibit in the doctoral journey and how these formations affect their experiences in the process of achieving a doctorate. The methodology employed was within the qualitative paradigm…

The focus of this quantitative study was to investigate doctoral students' perception of connectedness in an open distance learning (ODL) environment. The study focused exclusively on Ethiopian doctoral students and investigated feelings of student-to-student and student-to-supervisor connectedness in an ODL environment. A total of 100 Ethiopian…

The Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) by publication is gaining impetus as a format of doctoral output both nationally and abroad. This format has become the norm in some countries and within some disciplines. As more African institutions are considering formalising this format through institutional policy and practice, it becomes necessary to consider…

The doctorate degree ranks third on the academic hierarchy, and is commonly viewed as an approval on a student by an institution, to conduct original research in at least one academic discipline. Several motivations drive the need to acquire a doctorate degree, and they include intrinsic interest, employment considerations, personal, and…