iYUNIVESITHI WALTER SISULU SHOWCASES POSTGRADUATE FUNDING STRATEGY DURING INDIA BENCHMARKING MISSION

KOTTAYAM, INDIA| iYunivesithi Walter Sisulu is positioning to become an emerging force in postgraduate education through sustained financial support, capacity development and strategic international collaboration.

Postgraduate studies manager, Dr. Lusanda Gwebelele, outlined to Mahatma Gandhi University academic leaders how Walter Sisulu's prioritized funding strategy is an investment in reducing the financial barriers that often delay postgraduate completion.

"Funding alone is not enough," Dr. Gwebelele told delegates.

"Walter Sisulu's Postgraduate Directorate provides dedicated funding administration, research capacity development, laboratory support for online and international students, and academic development programmes that encourage staff members to pursue master's and doctoral qualifications," he said.

The strategy is driven by a pressing reality in South African higher education: universities lose government subsidy when students fail to complete qualifications within prescribed timeframes. Improving postgraduate throughput has therefore become both an academic and financial imperative.

Walter Sisulu currently supports 2,653 postgraduate students across honours, master's, postgraduate diploma and doctoral programmes, underscoring the scale of its investment in advanced research.

Dr. Gwebelele said the university is also strengthening quality assurance by centralising the assessment of master's and doctoral research while encouraging academics to build international networks that expand opportunities for external examination and research collaboration.

For Walter Sisulu, the message was clear: strengthening postgraduate education is no longer simply about increasing enrolment, but about creating an internationally competitive research environment where students are equipped to complete high-quality research on time.

The visit to Mahatma Gandhi University signals Walter Sisulu's growing international outlook as it seeks to benchmark its postgraduate systems against global best practice while expanding opportunities for research partnerships and academic exchange.

By: Sinawo Hermans