MA and PHD Admissions Procedures

MA and PhD Roster, 2025

1. Initial M&D Meeting: 4 February (10h00-12h00)

1 (b). Workshop on Proposal and Thesis Writing

12 February March (09h30)

09h30–10h00: Presentation of topics

The idea, here, is that MA and PhD students in their first year of registration present one page on their proposed research areas. Each presentation will be followed by feedback and a brief discussion.

10h00–12h00: Proposing a thesis, synthesising data, and documenting sources

The purpose of this workshop is to advise you on the roles and duties of supervisors and students, and to help you prepare a thesis proposal. In addition, we shall discuss the collation of data and the documentation of sources. (The discussion of referencing will assume that you have familiarised yourself with the relevant sections of the style sheet for writers of MA and PhD theses, which is available on the Department’s webpage.)

 

2. Dates and Deadlines for Thesis Proposals

7 April (09h00): Submission of electronic copies of drafts of proposals to Aretha Phiri (a.phiri@ru.ac.za).

9 April (14h15): Proposal workshop

Presentation and discussion of preliminary thesis proposals.

23 April (09h00): Submission of penultimate draft of proposal to supervisor (for circulation amongst designated members of the Department).

14 May: Submission of final proposal to Higher Degrees Committee

The following are the dates on which the Humanities Higher Degrees Committee meets, and also those on which proposals should be submitted to Faculty:

2025 HUMANITIES HIGHER DEGREES SUBMISSION AND MEETING DATES
Meeting	Proposal Submission Date	Meeting Date
2025.01	6 February 2025	21 February 2025 (Eden Grove Seminar Room III)
2025.02	27 March 2025	11 April 2025 (Eden Grove Seminar Room III)
2025.03	14 May 2025	29 May 2025 (Eden Grove Seminar Room III)
2025.04	18 July 2025	5 August 2025 (Eden Grove Seminar Room III)
2025.05	25 August 2025	11 September 2025 (Eden Grove Seminar Room III)
2025.06	10 October 2025 (due to the timing and volume of proposals received, it is necessary to give readers extra time)	5 November 2025 (Eden Grove Seminar Room III)

Please use the following guidelines when preparing the research proposal for submission:

1. Research proposals must be signed off by the student, the supervisor and HoD as compliant with departmental processes. For this purpose, please use the appended HHDC proposal template. Once you have typed in the required information, return the template to your supervisor and thereafter the HoD for their signatures of approval.
2. The proposal must be saved as either a .docx or a .pdf with the file name as follows: ‘student number, surname, HHDC degree’ (e.g. 14S1234 SITHOLE HHDC PHD.  Please also use this file name in the subject header. 
3. Please heed the following word counts: Masters:1800 – 2000; PhD:  2800 – 3000.

• The word count excludes references and the cover/ethics page
• All proposals must indicate the number of words at the end of the text section prior to the references

 

3. Research Presentations

In the course of the year, there will be two opportunities for all MA and PhD students to present twenty-minute papers on their research to fellow students and members of staff.

14 May (14h15): (principally for students in their second or third year of registration).

13 August (14h15): (principally for students in their first year of registration).

 

4. General (TBA)

In the course of the year, additional opportunities by way of writing workshops, seminars and/or master classes will be announced.

Workshops will be geared toward thesis writing and journal writing and will be organised in conjunction with the Centre for Post Graduate Studies (CPGS). 

 

Last Modified: Mon, 15 Sep 2025 11:57:32 SAST