South Africa

South African doctoral education finds itself in a trajectory of rapid growth. This chapter provides a brief background to the country’s higher education system and discusses national expectations and quality concerns regarding doctoral education. Perspectives from a national doctoral programme review conducted in 2019/2020 refer to national and institutional policies on doctoral co-supervision, criteria for becoming members of supervisory teams and mentoring and development programmes for doctoral co-supervisors. Doctoral co-supervisors’ roles, responsibilities and workloads are highlighted, including how supervisor conflicts are mitigated or resolved, how co-supervisors are recognised and rewarded, and how co-supervision applies to publication authorships. The chapter ends with some pointers towards current and future debates about doctoral co-supervision and possible future developments. While the discussion should obviously be broadened and deepened, the chapter provides some informative perspectives regarding doctoral co-supervision in South Africa.