African countries need more PhD graduates but students are held back by a lack of money and support

Over the past 15 years there’s been an increasing demand from within and outside the higher education sector for African countries to produce more Ph.D. graduates. For this to happen, it’s important to know what’s holding people back from pursuing or completing their doctoral degrees. The authors of a new review article did just that, with a focus on South Africa, Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda and Nigeria. Five themes emerged from their work: Ph.D. candidates’ sociodemographic profiles, access to funding, the availability of resources and training, experiences with Ph.D. supervisors, and personal coping mechanisms.

This article is brought to you by Phys.Org.