outh Africa's global competitiveness depends on cultivating a pool of highly skilled doctoral graduates, according to Dr Albert van Jaarsveld, CEO and President of the National Research Foundation (NRF), which spearheads the SA PhD Project.

The NRF is the country’s key public entity responsible for supporting the development of human capacity and knowledge generation. Close on 300 postgraduate students mainly engaged in studies towards their Masters degrees gathered for the 2009 PhD Conference. An accompanying exhibition showcased the opportunities for study, financial support and research in South Africa and around the world. Among the countries from which exhibitors are drawn are Singapore, the United States, the Netherlands and Germany. The NRF also manages the country’s national research facilities in the fields of Astro/Space and Geosciences, Biodiversity/Conservation and Nuclear Sciences. These facilities will exhibit the research opportunities available at their centres.

“The main aim is to increase the diversity of and strengthen the corporate and higher education sectors by increasing the number of PhD graduates” said Dr Carol Nonkwelo who manages the project. Presently South Africa graduates 27 PhDs per million of population compared to 42 in Brazil, 172 in South Korea, 240 in Australia and 259 in the UK. Our performance is well below par for an emergent economy.

Dr Van Jaarsveld added that the initiative aligns with the country’s National System of Innovation (NSI) and aims to position South Africa as a leader in knowledge production in all fields of scientific research, including social science, humanities, law, natural sciences and engineering.

The Project’s broad mandate is to:

• Secure and promote foreign and local study opportunities
• Offer competitive bursary packages to PhD and post-doctoral candidate
• Promote the professional advantages of obtaining a PhD through peer and mentor support groups
• Increase the pipeline of potential candidates that can qualify for PhD studies and
• Partner with universities, funding agencies and business.

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