Dr Vusi Maseko (PhD)’s Post

Transform your future with a fully funded scholarship! Your innovative final year research can catapult you to academic stardom, regardless of your degree classification. Shatter the myth: a First Class degree is NOT a prerequisite for securing a prestigious scholarship. Now, reveal the title of your final year project and the year it was brilliantly executed. Let's celebrate your scholarly achievements!

Transform your future with a fully funded scholarship! Your innovative final year research can catapult you to academic stardom, regardless of your degree classification. Shatter the myth: a First Class degree is NOT a prerequisite for securing a prestigious scholarship. Now, reveal the title of your final year project and the year it was brilliantly executed. Let's celebrate your scholarly achievements!

Check out our YUFE Pilot on Doctoral Learning in the video below and join us! 👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼

"As someone who started over two decades ago with a small departmental Research Experiences for Undergraduates program and then moved to open a campus-wide office at a Hispanic Serving Institution, working on COEUR 2.0 has been an extremely validating experience. It allowed me to team up with and hear from multiple contributors who have experienced firsthand the positive impact that undergraduate research, scholarly and creative inquiry continues to have at the national level on students from diverse backgrounds, with different academic and career interests, and from the full spectrum of higher education institutions. This richness of experiences and recommendations shared by program directors, mentors, evaluators, higher administrators and students will serve to inspire not only those who are starting to develop programs at their institutions, but also the more seasoned individuals who could in turn serve as allied voices to agencies, foundations, donors, and others at the state and federal levels." Learn more about the Characteristics of Excellence in Undergraduate Research 2.0 at 

HHMI’s Science Education Alliance is changing the "Intro to Science” experience for thousands of undergrads at two- and four-year institutions across the US, transforming students into researchers early in their academic journey. Through the SEA programs, HHMI supports a community of faculty from more than 150 two- and four-year undergraduate institutions. "Typically, the way that science is taught in most places is not the way that science is actually done. And so, by incorporating real, authentic research into courses, you're not only giving students a better experience that's more aligned with the reality of doing science and being a scientist, but you're also immediately integrating them into the ecosystem in a way that has important scientific impacts." – Danielle Heller, HHMI's SEA Program Officer and SEA-GENES lead scientist. Read more: https://hhmi.news/3XdvVBs 👈

In a thought-provoking piece published in 2011 in Nature titled "Reform the PhD System or Close It Down," Mark C. Taylor highlights a critical issue in higher education: the current PhD model is unsustainable, producing too many graduates for a limited job market 🎓📉. Taylor argues that many doctoral programs are overly specialized and disconnected from the real-world challenges they could address 🌍💡. To maintain relevance, he suggested that PhD programs need radical reform, focusing on cross-disciplinary investigation and practical problem-solving 🔄🧩. Alternatively, universities should consider shutting down redundant or inadequate programs to avoid perpetuating a cycle of underemployment and unmet expectations 🚫❌. The call for change is clear: we must rethink PhD education to better align with today’s needs and realities or risk losing its value altogether 🕒⚠️. It’s time for all stakeholders—students, faculty, administrators, and beyond—to envision a future where doctoral education truly serves society 🌱🌍. What are your thoughts? How do you think we can reshape the PhD system to meet the demands of the 21st century? 🤔💬 Read more: 📖 https://lnkd.in/dK__mXeP

San Francisco Bay University President Nicholas Ladany sat down with Mastering The Next host Ray Lutzky, PhD, to talk about the hidden challenges facing higher ed — and how universities can finally start putting students first. 👩🎓 Ready to rethink what’s possible? Listen now: https://lnkd.in/gaMCT4hz

“What contribution is your research trying to make”? This is a question which we are often faced with as researchers and scholars of academic publications. Frequently, the guidelines on contributions and how they are framed, particularly within PhD research are unclear. ‘Contributions’ can take a variety of forms and so in this Academia 101 session we are joined by Dr Ahmed Al-Abdin, Deputy Associate Dean (International-ULMS) & Senior Lecturer in marketing at the University of Liverpool Management School, who will host a session on 'Pitching contributions in PhD research'. The session will include but will not be limited to the following: ◾ Mapping out your PhD research contributions (regardless of what stage in your PhD you are at) ◾ How you can lexically phrase your contributions ◾ How you can broaden your contributions beyond just a gap spotting approach ◾ How you can narrate your contributions with internal and external stakeholders 🗓 Wednesday 15th May 2024 ⏰ 10am-11:30am 📍 1-7 Abercromby Square - Seminar Room 6 💻 Zoom details on booking link below 🎟 https://lnkd.in/dweDZ4r7?

I recently applied for the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) 🎓, which awards recipients a $159,000 fellowship. I wanted to share what I learned about applying to this program to help others who will be applying in the future. In this post, I include details on the NSF Fellowship guidelines, grading rubric, and program statistics 📊. Post Link: https://lnkd.in/gtdX23Ug Check out the full post for more information and helpful application tips! 📑✨ Here's a sneak peek of some interesting statistics:

‘January starts’ is today’s topic for the 4th day of insights!✨ Many universities already offer January entry point, with some institutions looking into expanding their January offerings. In Keystone’s student data from November, we saw 31% of prospective international bachelor's students were considering starting in January 2025. This figure rises to a remarkable 46% for PhD students. Read our blog for more insights into January intakes and the reasons behind its growing popularity ⤵️ https://hubs.ly/Q02_HBBW0