Limuru Eastern Africa PhD Hub Statement of Intent
The aim of the Eastern Africa (EA) PhD Hub is to strengthen doctoral supervision across the Eastern Africa partner Universities as listed below. In Africa, timely doctoral completion rates are variable due to a range of barriers. We believe that by focusing on strengthening the doctoral supervision process within our higher education institutions and sharing good practices, completion rates for students will improve. By strengthening doctoral supervisory training, PhD programmes will build capacity to support more candidates emerging with a PhD. This is an opportunity for an EA PhD Hub to broaden the pool of doctoral students and supervisors, build international partnerships, and develop research capacity. The initiative was coordinated and supported by Nottingham Trent University in the UK as a result of their existing research and practice in the region. The partners of the EA PhD hub have worked together over a number of years (2017-2022) to establish aims and objectives and terms of reference both in face-to-face and online workshops.
On the dates of 27th-28th October 2022, the EA PhD Hub partners including Vice Chancellors and their representatives met at Brackenhurst, Limuru, Kenya and these are the key outcomes from the deliberations in a two-day workshop:
Signing of a collaborative MoU by the VCs of all the partner universities.
Design of a mentorship programme: a model was drafted for appropriate PhD supervision for the EA PhD Hub which looks at incentives, roles, tools, and mediation; review of existing institutional documents at partner universities relating to doctoral supervision, for example, handbooks/guidelines/policies/milestones; sharing examples of good practice such as doctoral supervision training sessions.
Drafting a research strategy which will: support capacity building of doctoral supervisors; and develop PhD concept propositions for internal and external funding opportunities.
Strategic planning for EA PhD Hub activities will include: exploring funding opportunities as a priority to support Hub activities e.g. grants/scholarships/projects; carrying out training needs assessment and supervisor tools; establishment of work teams and responsibilities; and exploring mobility of students/staff between the EA PhD Hub institutions.
The partners are all committed to moving this agenda forward.
List of partner Universities:
Nottingham Trent University, UK
Makerere University, Uganda
University of Malawi, Malawi
Kenyatta University, Kenya
Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Kenya
Mount Kenya University, Kenya
Rongo University, Kenya
Date: 27 October 2022
