University of The Free State Postgraduate
University of The Free State Postgraduate, The Postgraduate School provides a hub of postgraduate capacity-building and a source of valuable information and support for postgraduate students. The University believes that postgraduate education ought to focus on the holistic development of the postgraduate student as researcher and that research education has to include more than disciplinary training. Within this broad framework for postgraduate research education, the School’s particular niche includes research methodology and approach, as well as research practice.
The Postgraduate School offers workshops on a range of topics including planning a research project, research paradigms, advanced research methodology (quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods), research ethics and intellectual property considerations in technology transfer. A strong focus of the researcher capacity development programme is on the development of academic writing skills of emerging researchers. Academic writing activities presented by the Postgraduate School include workshops on proposal writing, writing a literature review, funding proposals, article writing and monthly writing retreats for emerging researchers. For information on upcoming workshops and courses, please see our Training and Development Opportunities page.
The Postgraduate School also provides updated information regarding postgraduate funding opportunities. For more information, please see our Funding and Bursaries pages. For more information on other services that we offer, please see the What is the Postgraduate School section of our website.
At the UFS, we pride ourselves on being at the forefront of university education and have programmes and policies in place that enhance the learning and research process for students. These include the Emerging Scholars Mentoring Programme, Research Capacity Development Programme, and our focus on promoting ethical research. We also have a Postgraduate Student Council and focus on developing our research supervision community.
Postgraduate School Registration
If you are a postgraduate student at UFS, we would like you to register for our database, so you will be kept informed about upcoming funding opportunities, workshops, newsletters, and other relevant information. To register please download our registration form here.
Postgraduate School Social Media
You can keep in touch with the Postgraduate School by following us on Facebook and adding us on LinkedIn. We also have a Youtube page which includes video clips from previous training courses which we have run.
Future Scholars Mentorship Programme
The Future Scholars Mentorship Programme, presented by the UFS Postgraduate School, aims to fast-track the personal and professional development of scholars, to improve research output and promote the confidence of postgraduate students to continue with master’s and doctoral studies.
Topics including career planning, science communication, teamwork and communication skills, leadership and innovation, academic networking, and resource building will be covered over seven weekends. Honours students from all faculties are invited to apply.
Application forms can be found here or at the PGS front desk, Johannes Brill Building.
For more information please contact Ms Eleanor Nel at nelep@ufs.ac.za.
Postgraduate Student Council
The Postgraduate Student Council has a programme of academic and social activities aimed at promoting the interests of postgraduate students on campus. Their programme is available here.