DEVELOPMENT

STUDIES

2021

Contact Us

+27 11 717 4437 / +27 11 717 4466

social.devstudies@wits.ac.za

Office 205, Second Floor, Robert Sobukwe Building East Campus, University of the Witwatersrand, 2000

Contents

INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................... 1

FLEXIBILITY & VARIETY ........................................................................................................... 2

THE DVS TEAM .......................................................................................................................... 3

DEVELOPMENT STUDIES STRUCTURE .................................................................................. 7

HONOURS ................................................................................................................................... 8

MASTERS ................................................................................................................................. 11

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY ..................................................................................................... 13

REGISTRATION ........................................................................................................................ 15

ADMINISTRATORS .................................................................................................................. 15

IMPORTANT CONTACTS ......................................................................................................... 15

BRAAMFONTEIN CAMPUS MAP ............................................................................................ 15

1

INTRODUCTION Development Studies (DVS) is a field of academic enquiry in which we explore debates, experiences and practical ways of achieving an improvement in the human condition. The University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), situated in Johannesburg, South Africa, is richly endowed with teaching and research resources in this field. Located in the economic heartland of a developing country with huge income disparities, it offers students and researchers a unique combination of conceptual and practical insights into the development needs of societies. On our university’s doorsteps are communities ranging from the very poorest to the relatively well-off. Our neighbouring states range from effective democracies to societies undergoing fragile transitions. Some are torn apart by instability; others are wrestling with reconstruction. The DVS Programme is a leading inter-disciplinary post-graduate programme at Wits. It offers a range of specialisations in social science including health, labour, gender and rural development. The graduate coursework programme caters for the varied skills and intellectual approaches that characterize the development field. Students and researchers at the university are able to draw upon a vast range of local and international academic expertise, and on NGO, government, and business experiences to give intellectual depth and practical meaning to their work. The DVS Programme is made up of Bachelor of Arts Honours (including Joint Honours with International Relations or Political Studies), Master of Arts by Coursework and Research Report, Master of Arts by Research Report and Doctor of Philosophy. Students draw upon local and international expertise in a range of disciplines within the School of Social Sciences, the School of Economics and Business Sciences, and School of Architecture and Planning as they engage in current local, national and international debates in Development Studies while promoting professional skills in these fields. The student body is cosmopolitan and admission is highly competitive. Students with practical experience in the world of development are especially welcomed. The Programme has grown steadily since its inception in 2001. On average, it is estimated that about a third of the student cohort is non-South African. Topics of student research include many focused on studies within Africa broadly. Besides offering the opportunity to work in an exciting field, the Programme provides a concrete example of the possibilities of inter-disciplinary collaboration at the graduate level. The intellectual objectives of such an approach support the “Wits 2022 Strategic Framework” which strongly upholds and encourages multi-disciplinary approaches to teaching and research in its quest for academic excellence. Maintaining a high proportion of local and international graduate students and providing a supportive research environment is one of the key facets of the strategy.

2

FLEXIBILITY & VARIETY The courses offered are interdisciplinary and provide multiple career possibilities. The courses are taught by a range of highly rated staff members, with teaching and research experience in local and international development. The result is a series of unique core and complementary courses tackling development issues. Students in our programme encounter the central theoretical issues, engage with current debates and receive training in the professional skills required by practitioners. A graduate qualification in Development Studies places one in a distinct advantage for employment within the private and public sector. Possible Careers for DVS Graduates

Community Development / Liaison Officer

Development Practitioner

Educator

Environmental Activist/Consultant

Immigration Officer

International Aid Worker

Management Consultant

Peace/ Human Rights Activist

Programmes Advisor

Project Coordinator/ Manager

Public Policy Researcher

Quality Control/ Quality Assurance Specialist

Research Analyst

Research Coordinator / Assistant

Senior Policy Analyst

Social Worker Examples of Possible Employers for DVS Graduates

African Union

Business Association/ Corporate

Conflict Management and Peace Constancy Agency

Consulting Firm

Development organisations

Environmental organisations

Government

International Relief Organisation

Non Governmental Organisations

Non-Profit Organisation

Real Estate Development Agency

Trade and Import Agency

United Nations

Universities/ Colleges

Youth leadership and Development Organisation

3

THE DVS TEAM

Head of Programme

Professor Srila Roy Academic Coordinator: Development Studies & Associate Professor: Sociology BA (Delhi), MA and PhD (Warwick) Srila Roy completed her undergraduate studies in Delhi and her postgraduate work at the University of Warwick. Following her PhD, she joined the University of Nottingham as a Lecturer in Sociology. Her research and teaching interests include gender and feminist theory (especially postcolonial feminism), social movements, violence and conflict, development and neoliberalism, and memory, trauma and emotions, much of which take as their starting point the contemporary political history of India/South Asia. She is the author of Remembering Revolution: Gender, Violence and Subjectivity in India’s Naxalbari Movement (OUP, 2012), editor of New South Asian Feminisms (Zed, 2012) and co-editor of New Subaltern Politics (OUP, 2015). W: https://www.wits.ac.za/staff/academic-a-z-listing/r/srilaroywitsacza/

Administration

Miss Yurisha Pillay Programme Administrator Development Studies BBA (Milpark Education), PDBA (Wits) Yurisha Pillay brings nine years of university administrative experience to the Development Studies team as the Postgraduate Administrator. She completed her undergraduate degree at Milpark Education in 2016 and post-graduate diploma in Business Administration in 2017 at the Wits Business School. She now administers approximately 65 postgraduate students each year. W: https://www.wits.ac.za/socialsciences/development-studies/contact-us/

Academic Board Members

Professor Mucha Musemwa Head of School School of Social Sciences BAHons, MA, PhD Professor Mucha Musemwa is currently the Head of the School of Social Sciences. He is an environmental historian and is broadly interested in the history and politics of access to scarce resources from a political ecology, social and environmental justice perspective. He has predominantly written on water history and politics in Zimbabwe. He is currently working on a new project on environmental authoritarianism which seeks to assess Robert Mugabe’s environmental legacy. W: https://www.wits.ac.za/staff/academic-a-z-listing/m/muo-muz/muchamusemwawitsacza/

4

DVS Board Members (continued)

Professor Michelle Williams Academic Coordinator: GLU & Professor: Sociology BA, MA, PhD (University of California, Berkeley) Michelle Williams is Professor of Sociology at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits). She is chairperson of the Global Labour University Programme (GLU) at Wits (2010 to present), chairperson of the International GLU Steering Committee (2017-2018), and a member of the board of the Wits Development Studies programme. She has published widely on Democracy, Development, Gender, and South-South comparisons including the following books and edited volumes: The Roots of Participatory Democracy: Democratic Communists in South Africa and Kerala, India (2008) and Building Alternatives: the story of India’s oldest worker owner cooperative (2017, co-authored with Thomas Isaac), South Africa and India: Shaping the Global South (2011, edited with Isabel Hofmeyr), Labour in the Global South: Challenges and Alternatives for Workers (2012, edited with Sarah Mosoetsa), Marxisms in the 21st Century: crisis, critique, and struggle (2013, edited with Vishwas Satgar), and The End of the Developmental State? (2014). W: https://www.wits.ac.za/staff/academic-a-z-listing/w/michellewilliamswitsacza/

Dr Rajohane Matshedisho Senior Lecturer Sociology BSoc Sci, BSoc Sci (Hons), MSoc Science, PhD (Cape Town), PGDE (Wits) Raji Matshedisho, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Sociology at Wits has academic training in Labour and Economic Sociology, and Political Philosophy. His PhD was on Access to Higher Education for Disabled Students, and his post-doc was on diversities in public spaces with the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity. For the Development Studies Programme, he teaches a postgraduate course: Development as Ideology and Practice. His teaching and research interests are in areas of Health Sociology, Disability Studies, Educational Assessment, and Theory and Practice of Development Projects. W: https://www.wits.ac.za/staff/academic-a-z-listing/m/mat/rajohanematshedishowitsacza/

Dr Obvious Katsaura Senior Lecturer Sociology BScHons, MSc, PhD

Obvious Katsaura is a sociologist whose current research interests are in, and at the intersections of, the fields of transnational urbanism, transnational religiosity, religious urbanism, urban politics and urban violence. He is a senior fellow in the Volkswagen Foundation’s funding initiative: Postdoctoral Fellowships in the Humanities in Sub-Saharan and North Africa – Knowledge for Tomorrow. Through this fellowship, he is pursuing a research project titled: ‘Networked Religiocities: Transnational Urban Religious Flows in Africa’ (2017 - 2020). Obvious has conducted fieldwork in Johannesburg, Lagos and Harare. Some of his works have been published in the following journals: International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Culture and Religion, Urban Forum, African Identities, and Social Dynamics.

W: https://www.wits.ac.za/staff/academic-a-z-listing/k/obviouskatsaurawitsacza/

5

DVS Board Members (continued)

Dr Michael Stettler Senior Lecturer School of Economic & Business Sciences BComHons, MCom, PhD

Michael Stettler teaches in the School of Economic and Business Sciences. Courses he taught include "Law and Economics", "Institutional Economics", "History of Economic Thought", "Philosophy of Economics", "Keynesian Economics". He is interested in the application of the economic model to non-economic areas, e.g. law, institutions, politics, exploring its appropriateness and limits

W: https://www.wits.ac.za/staff/academic-a-z-listing/s/michaelstettlerwitsacza/

Dr Maria Suriano Senior Lecturer History MA, PhD Maria Suriano is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of History at Wits, where she teaches four undergraduate courses in African History and a postgraduate course in Historical Research Methods. She holds a PhD in African History from “L’Orientale”, Naples. She is interested in the social, cultural and intellectual history of sub-Saharan Africa; past and present African popular culture; African print cultures; transnational grassroots anti-apartheid solidarity; gender dynamics and liberation struggles, and the value of life histories for the study of Africa. She has published in the Journal of Southern African Studies, Journal of African Cultural Studies, Africa Today, African Studies and Africa Development W: https://www.wits.ac.za/staff/academic-a-z-listing/s/mariasurianowitsacza/

Dr Michael Jana

Lecturer Political Studies BA (Pub. Admin), BAHons (Dev. Studies), MA (Dev. Studies), PhD (Pol. Studies)

Michael Jana is a Lecturer in the Department of Political Studies and DVS. He joined Wits University in 2017. From 2005 to early 2017, Michael was an Associate Lecturer and later Lecturer in the Department of Political and Administrative Studies at Chancellor College, University of Malawi. His research areas of interest include comparative / cross-national study of democracy and democratization in Africa; political legitimacy of emerging African democracies, social change and development; public policy and political economy analysis.

W: https://www.wits.ac.za/staff/academic-a-z-listing/j/michaeljanawitsacza/

6

DVS Board Members (continued)

Dr Rogers Orock Lecturer Social Anthropology BSc, MSocSc, PhD Rogers Orock is a Lecturer in Anthropology At Wits University and International Fellow of the Summer Programme in Social Sciences at the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS), Princeton (for 2018-2019). He is an anthropologist of West and Central Africa (Cameroon, Gabon and Nigeria). He teaches courses in the ethnography of Africa as well as political anthropology (secrecy, suspicion and conspiracy theories in the new world order). Framed in a comparative fashion, his current research examines the role of freemasonry as a Western institution of elite secrecy in Cameroon, Gabon and France. This work aims at elucidating the import of such non-official institutions of secrecy and their public representations for understanding the broader political imaginations of elite power and the state in both a Western and Francophone African contexts that have remained intricately linked through the bonds of colonial and postcolonial relations. W: https://www.wits.ac.za/staff/academic-a-z-listing/o/rogersorockwitsacza/

Ms Nqobile Malaza

Lecturer School of Architecture and Planning BScTRP, MSc(DP) Both as an academic and practicing urban and development planner, [Nqobile Malaza] has taken a field-oriented and theoretical interest in the ways in which states in Africa practice engagement with civil society, business and labour unions. She has been a lecturer teaching courses at graduate level in urban governance and politics, and African urban development as is centrally involved in developing courses that attempt to place the themes of decolonisation and transformation of the [in]formal economy. Supervising topics related to these themes and her involvement in State Practices in Local Governance project have extended her research work in these areas – particularly at the local level. Currently, she is chair of the Transformation and Equity committee in the School of Architecture and Planning as well as completing her doctorate thesis. She is a poet, an urban designer, a political animal, an African and a brown earthling. W: https://www.wits.ac.za/staff/academic-a-z-listing/m/mal-mam/nqobilemalaza2witsacza/

7

DEVELOPMENT STUDIES STRUCTURE

Professor Srila Roy HOD: DVS

Professor Mucha Musemwa Head of School of Social Sciences

Miss Yurisha Pillay Programme Administrator: DVS

Professor Mucha Musemwa Professor Michelle Williams Head of School of Social Sciences Professor: Sociology

Dr Rajohane Matshedisho Senior Lecturer: Sociology

Dr Obvious Katsaura Dr Maria Suriano Senior Lecturer: Sociology Senior Lecturer: History

Dr Michael Stettler Dr Michael Jana Senior Lecturer: Economics Lecturer: Political Studies

Dr Rogers Orock Ms Nqobile Malaza Lecturer: Anthropology Lecturer: Architecture & Planning

Professor Clive Glasser HOD: History

Professor Devan Pillay

HOD: Sociology

Dr Jo Vearey HOD: ACMS

Professor Julia Hornberger

HOD: Anthropology

Professor Julian Brown

HOD: Political Studies

Professor Lucy Allais

HOD: Philosophy

Dr Mbongiseni Buthelezi

HOD: PARI/OIS

Professor Melissa Steyn

HOD: Critical Diversity Studies

Professor Michelle Williams

HOD: GLU

Professor Rod Alence HOD: International Relations

DVS BOARD MEMBERS

8

HONOURS

Minimum Requirements

68% and above average for your Undergraduate Degree

Social Sciences background is an advantage

NQF 7 on SAQA (only for international students)

Work and/or volunteer experience in the Development field is an advantage Supporting documents required with your application International and Non-Wits Applicants:

Application Fee of R200.00

Certified copies of your Academic Record

CV

Letter of Motivation as to why you wish to pursue this line of study

Proof of Proficiency in English (international students) E: IELTS@britishcouncil.org.za

Sample of Writing (marked essay or chapter from previous research conducted)

SAQA Certificate (international students) www.saqa.org.za Wits Applicants

CV

Letter of Motivation as to why you wish to pursue this line of study

Sample of Writing (marked essay or chapter from previous research conducted) INCOMPLETE AND LATE APPLICATIONS WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED Application Opening and Closing Dates There is only one intake per year. Full-time (One Year) or Part-time (Two Years)* * There are no evening or weekend classes. Part-time applicants must make provision for time away from the office and travel time.

January Intake Applications Open: 5 March Applications Close: 31 October Apply online: https://www.wits.ac.za/applications/

There are three Honours Courses offered:

BA Honours in Development Studies

BA Joint Honours in Development Studies and International Relations

BA Joint Honours in Development Studies and Political Studies

9

Structure of the Honours Degree (NQF 8) Degree Credits must amount to 122 or above to qualify.

Bachelor of Arts Honours in Development Studies

Course Code Course Description Semester Credits

Compulsory:

SOCL4028A Research Essay 1 30

SOSS4061A History of Economic Thought 2 23

Choose one:

POLS4012A Development Theories, Issues, Problems and Strategies 1 23

SOCL4009A Development as Ideology and Practice 2 23

Choose two electives (46 credits):

Bachelor of Arts Joint Honours in Development Studies & International Relations

Course Code Course Description Semester Credits

Compulsory:

INTR4018A Compulsory Theory / Research Methods 1 23

SOSS4061A History of Economic Thought 2 23

INTR4037A Research Essay Full Year 30

Choose one:

POLS4012A Development Theories, Issues, Problems and Strategies 1 23

SOCL4009A Development as Ideology and Practice 2 23

Choose one elective (23 credits):

Bachelor of Arts Joint Honours in Development Studies & Political Studies

Course Code Course Description Semester Credits

Compulsory:

POLS4052A Research Methods and Ethics in Political Studies 1 23

SOSS4061A History of Economic Thought 2 23

POLS4026A Research Essay Full Year 30

Choose one:

POLS4012A Development Theories, Issues, Problems and Strategies 1 23

SOCL4009A Development as Ideology and Practice 2 23

Choose one elective (23 credits):

10

Electives

Course Code Course Description Semester Credits

ANTH4027A Sociocultural Theory 1 23

HIST4001A Rural Transformation: Town & Countryside in Transition 1 23

INTR4010A Gender and Critical Theory in International Relations 1 23

INTR4028A Peace and Conflict in the Middle East 1 23

INTR4031A Preventing Deadly Conflict in Africa 1 23

INTR4044A The International Political Economy of Development 1 23

INTR4051A Advanced Research (STATS) 1 23

INTR4053A Empire and the Crisis of Civilization 1 23

POLS4038A Violence, Identity and Transformation 1 23

POLS4053A Political Judgement 1 23

SOCL4016A Global Institutions and Economic Restructuring 1 23

SOCL4014A Economic Sociology 1 23

SOCL4015A Environmental Sociology 1 23

SOCL4039A The Sociology of Health and Illness 1 23

SOCL4040A The Sociology of Land and Agrarian reform in Southern Africa 1 23

SOCL4045A Labour in the Global Economy 1 23

ANTH4018A South African Ethnography 2 23

ANTH4004A Identity and Culture 2 23

ARPL4024A Politics, Governance and the City 2 20

HIST4013A The Making of Urban South Africa 2 23

HIST7033A Histories of The Global South 2 23

INTR4001A Advanced Diplomacy and Negotiations 2 23

INTR4005A African Human Security in an International Context 2 23

INTR4017A International Relations of the Asia Pacific Region 2 23

INTR4036A Regional Studies: Europe, East and West 2 23

INTR4045A The Politics of Economic Cooperation in Africa 2 23

INTR4054A International Politics of Elections in Sub-Saharan Africa 2 23

POLS4048A Contemporary Problems in Politics 2 23

POLS4033A The State in Africa: Democratisation and Crisis 2 23

POLS4045A African Politics 2 23

POLS4046A The Politics of Slavery and Human Trafficking 2 23

SOCL4006A Collective Actions and Social Movements 2 23

SOCL4029A Selected Topic in Sociology: Feminist Theory 2 23

SOCL4030A Social Transitions 2 23

SOSS4022A Labour & Development 2 23

SOSS4050A Selected Topic in Social Sciences: Race 2 23

11

MASTERS

Minimum Requirements

68% and above average for your Honours Degree (Masters by Coursework and Research)

70% and above average for your Honours Degree (Masters by Research)

Social Sciences background is an advantage

NQF 8 on SAQA (only for international students)

A demonstration in resesarch

Work and/or volunteer experience in the Development field is an advantage Supporting documents required with your application International and Non-Wits Applicants:

A 3 – 5 page Research Proposal outlining your research interest (Masters by Coursework and Research)

A 5 page Research Proposal (Masters by Research)

Application Fee of R200.00

Certified copies of your Academic Record

CV

Letter of Motivation as to why you wish to pursue this line of study

Proof of Proficiency in English (international students) E: IELTS@britishcouncil.org.za

Sample of Writing (marked essay or chapter from previous research conducted)

SAQA Certificate (international students) www.saqa.org.za Wits Applicants

A 3 – 5 page Research Proposal outlining your research interest (Masters by Coursework and Research)

A 5 page Research Proposal (Masters by Research)

CV

Letter of Motivation as to why you wish to pursue this line of study

Sample of Writing (marked essay or chapter from previous research conducted) INCOMPLETE AND LATE APPLICATIONS WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED Application Opening and Closing Dates Masters by Coursework and Research has only one intake (January). Masters by Research have two intakes (January and July) – applications are always open There are no evening or weekend classes. Part-time applicants must make provision for time away from the office and travel time.

January Intake Applications Open: 5 March Applications Close: 31 October Apply online: https://www.wits.ac.za/applications/

12

Structure of the Masters by Coursework and Research Report Degree (NQF 9) Degree Credits must amount to 180 or above to qualify.

Course Code Course Description Semester Credits

Compulsory:

SOSS7040A Advanced Research Methods 1 30

SOSS7044A Economics and Sociology of Development 1 30

Choose one:

SOSS7041A Research Report (full-time) Full Year 90

SOSS7042A Research Report (part-time) Full Year 90

Choose one elective (30 credits):

Electives

Course Code Course Description Semester Credits

HIST7007A Rural Transformation: Town & Countryside in Transition 1 30

INTR7012A Gender and Critical Theory in International Relations 1 30

INTR7020A Peace and Conflict in the Middle East 1 30

INTR7023A Preventing Deadly Conflict in Africa 1 30

INTR7042A The International Political Economy of Development 1 30

INTR7070A Empire and the Crisis of Civilization 1 30

POLS7006A Development Theories, Issues, Problems and Strategies 1 30

POLS7042A Violence, Identity and Transformation 1 30

POLS7058A Political Judgement 1 30

SOCL7012A Global Institutions and Economic Restructuring 1 30

SOCL7010A Economic Sociology 1 30

SOCL7011A Environmental Sociology 1 30

SOCL7042A The Sociology of Health and Illness 1 30

SOCL7043A The Sociology of Land and Agrarian reform in Southern Africa 1 30

SOCL7048A Labour in the Global Economy 1 30

ANTH7020A South African Ethnography 2 30

ANTH7007A Identity and Culture 2 30

HIST7025A The Making of Urban South Africa 2 30

HIST7033A Histories of The Global South 2 30

INTR7049A Advanced Diplomacy and Negotiations 2 30

INTR7005A African Human Security in an International Context 2 30

INTR7017A International Relations of the Asia Pacific Region 2 30

INTR7029A Regional Studies: Europe, East and West 2 30

INTR7043A The Politics of Economic Cooperation in Africa 2 30

INTR7071A International Politics of Elections in Sub-Saharan Africa 2 30

INTR7067A Advanced IR Theory 2 30

POLS7036A The State in Africa: Democratisation and Crisis 2 30

POLS7050A African Politics 2 30

POLS7051A The Politics of Slavery and Human Trafficking 2 30

SOCL7008A Collective Actions and Social Movements 2 30

SOCL7009A Development as Ideology & Practice 2 30

SOCL7036A Selected Topic in Sociology: Feminist Theory 2 30

SOCL7039A Social Transitions 2 30

SOSS7021A Labour & Development 2 30

SOSS7075A Selected Topic in Social Sciences: Race 2 30

Structure of the Masters by Research Report Degree (NQF 9) Degree Credits must amount to 180 credits or above to qualify.

Course Code Course Description Semester Credits

Compulsory:

SOSS8000A Research Report Full Year 180

13

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

Successful candidates will be assigned a supervisor by the Development Studies Programme Academic Board. For online application purposes include the following detailed under “Proposed Supervisor”: Professor Srila Roy / Srila.Roy@wits.ac.zaa / 011-717-4466 Minimum Requirements

70% and above average for your Masters Degree

Social Sciences background is an advantage

NQF 9 on SAQA (only for international students)

Work and/or volunteer experience in the Development field is an advantage Supporting documents required with your application International and Non-Wits Applicants:

A 5 page Research Proposal outlining your research interest

Application Fee of R200.00

Certified copies of your Academic Record

CV

Letter of Motivation as to why you wish to pursue this line of study

Proof of Proficiency in English (international students) E: IELTS@britishcouncil.org.za

Sample of Writing (marked essay or chapter from previous research conducted)

SAQA Certificate (international students) www.saqa.org.za Wits Applicants

A 5 page Research Proposal outlining your research interest

CV

Letter of Motivation as to why you wish to pursue this line of study

Sample of Writing (marked essay or chapter from previous research conducted) INCOMPLETE AND LATE APPLICATIONS WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED Application Opening and Closing Dates There are two intakes per year. Full-time (One Year) or Part-time (Two Years)* Applications are always open. Apply online: https://www.wits.ac.za/applications/

14

Structure of the Doctor of Philosophy Degree (NQF 10) Degree Credits must amount to 360 credits or above to qualify.

Course Code Course Description Semester Credits

Compulsory:

SOSS9000A PhD Thesis (Full-time: 3 – 6 years)* Full Year 360

SOSS9001A PhD Thesis (Part-time: 4 – 7 years)* Full Year 360

*Includes possible abeyance up to 1 year.

Download the ‘Guidelines for Honours, Masters, and PHD research’ on: https://www.wits.ac.za/humanities/faculty-services/postgraduate-services/registration/faculty-guidelines/

Guidelines to developing a PhD Research Proposal for Development Studies applicants A Concept Note is a concise outline of the proposed research that demonstrates the student has a good conceptual and theoretical grasp of the proposed area of study. The Concept Note is submitted to the PhD candidate's doctoral committee, who assesses the relevance and feasibility of the proposed research topic and may provide feedback towards development of the full thesis. In developing a Concept Note, the applicant should first select a research field and specific area that he/she is particularly interested in, undertake an initial review of literature on the topic, and then develop specific questions that the research will attempt to answer (i.e. "question framing"). The student must also discern what kind of evidence is needed and how this will be gathered and analyzed (the methodology).

The Concept Note should be as specific as possible, typically ranges from 4‑5 pages in length and

generally entails the following:

i) Title of the proposed research study, which should be clear and concise (not exceeding 20 words);

ii) Introduction, as in a direct and explicit statement of the proposed area of interest that gives a sound rationale/ justification for why such an area is important to study (1 – 2 paragraphs);

iii) Thesis or Problem Statement, which briefly summarises the problem to be studied, and

provides evidence of the degree of the problem (1 – 2 paragraphs);

iv) Research Questions and Objectives, which presents key questions (a maximum of 6) that the study intends to explore, as aligned to the formulated objectives and any hypotheses (if applicable) (1 – 2 paragraphs);

v) Literature, which provides demonstrable evidence of the candidate’s engagement with

scholarly literature in the related field of enquiry, in ways that offer justification for the relevance of the study, and lists the relevant literature that will be consulted (1 – 2 pages);

vi) Methodology, which briefly outlines how the study will be conducted (e.g. research orientation

in terms of qualitative, quantitative or both) (1 – 2 paragraphs); and

vii) References, listing all works cited or used in developing the Concept

Note: The concept note should not exceed 5 pages in length.

15

REGISTRATION

Please visit https://www.wits.ac.za/registration/ for a comprehensive list of how to register.

Fee quotations can be generated via the student self-service portal:

o Self Service Sign In > Fee Estimator > Request a new estimate > Accept > Continue > Select Program > Complete required details

International Students are required to obtain ‘Clearance’ before they register. Please visit: https://www.wits.ac.za/internationalstudents/international-clearance-to-register/ for more information.

ADMINISTRATORS

ANTH Anthropology Mr Molefi Makola Molefi.Makola@wits.ac.za 011 717 4404

ECON Economics Ms Lucia Fennesy Lucia.Fennessy@wits.ac.za 011 717 8241

HIST History Ms René Carstens Rene.Carstens@wits.ac.za 011 717 4312

INTR International Relations Ms Laura Bloem Laura.Bloem@wits.ac.za 011 717 4382

POLS Political Studies Ms Thandeka Ndebele Thandeka.Ndebele@wits.ac.za 011 717 4363

SOCL Sociology Ms Sedzani Malada Sedzani.Malada@wits.ac.za 011 717 4424

IMPORTANT CONTACTS

Office Email / Web Address Telephone

Fees Office feesoffice.finance@wits.ac.za 011-717-4911

Financial Aid Office info.finaid@wits.ac.za 011-717-1075

International Office studysa.international@wits.ac.za 011-717-1054

Accommodation Office accommodation@residence@wits.ac.za 011-717-9170

Student Enrolment http://www.wits.ac.za/askwits 011-717-1888

Faculty of Humanities help.humanities@wits.ac.za 011-717-8279

Term Dates: https://www.wits.ac.za/students/academic-matters/term-dates/2021/