Elevation of postgraduate research status at South African universities: a systematic literature review

Abstract

According to reports, a crisis is brewing in South African postgraduate education for the same reasons that tertiary education is in turmoil today. Since the dawn of democracy, governments and universities have sought equity in higher education within the constraints of limited public funds, resulting in difficult decisions and trade-offs. Thus, this study adopts a systematic literature review (SLR) to explore postgraduate research status at South African universities. The researchers used the “Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-analysis” (PRISMA) guidelines as their research methodology. The researchers used Google Scholar, EBSCOhost, Sabinet and ResearchGate, as well as other databases, to retrieve and analyse information from journal articles, conference papers, and reports. To that end, this study identifies three (3) key themes associated with the enhancement of postgraduate research status at South African universities. The themes are (1) the importance of postgraduate research at South African universities; (2) challenges to postgraduate research at South African universities; and (3) strategies for improving the status of postgraduate research at South African universities. The collected data ranged from 2006 to 2024. The human capital theory (HCT) was chosen as the theoretical lens because it proposes that people invest in education for future benefits. The findings revealed numerous academic challenges affecting postgraduate research. These include issues with funding, training, and supervision, among other things. The paper recommends that universities invest in academic support programmes, training, and funding for postgraduate studies.