Page 22 - Transformation Report

Similarly, postgraduate graduates showed a year-on-year and postgraduate graduates are a positive signal, especially
increase from 1 431 in 2019 to 1 544 in 2020, which was given the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
-2.5 percent below the 2020 target of 1 582. The graduates
of 2019 are part of the three-year cohort affected by the According to the Council-approved 2020 Integrated
decrease in success rate of 2017 due to the aftermath of the Annual Report, Nelson Mandela University had 768 and
#Fees Must Fall shutdown in 2016. The declines in success 648 enrolments in Honours and Postgraduate Diploma
rates in recent years will probably lead to lower graduate programmes respectively, which constitutes a total of 1
outputs until the University manages to reverse this trend 416 (data not shown) enrolments. These enrolments in the
through the implementation of the various student support Honours and Postgraduate Diploma programmes constitute
interventions outlined in this report. Although the graduate significant feeders into qualifications at Master and Doctoral
output targets were not reached, the increases in under- levels.

Table 4 Masters Graduate Profile According to Gender and Population Group

2020 Masters graduates by gender & population group

Gender Graduates %
Female 209 52%

Male 196 48%

Population Group
African 254 63%

Coloured 48 12%
Indian 9 2%

White 94 23%
Grand Total 405 100%

Table 5 Percentage Change in Masters Enrolment Profile According to Nationality (2017 to 2020)

Percentage Change in Masters Enrolments and Graduations (2017-2020)

Qualification Type Nationality Enrolled Graduates

International -69.0% -43.5%
Masters
National -8.3% -4.5%

Masters Total -13.9% -10.0%

The total number of Masters’ enrolments was 1 732, this Doctoral graduates at Mandela University declined from 97
may be indicative of a higher influx of graduates from in 2019 to 80 in 2020, which is a 17.5 percent decline and 26
other universities enrolling at NMU for qualifications at this graduates below the target of 106 (see Table 6). Enrolment
level. To continue attracting and retaining PG students, the in doctoral programmes has decreased over the past two
mobilisation of sufficient resources (such as competitive years, from 627 students in 2018 to 528 students in 2020.
bursaries and scholarships) for students at PG levels is critical. During the same two-year period, the graduates at the
In 2020, there were 405 Masters graduates, with the majority University declined from 102 in 2018 to 80 in 2020. Doctoral
being African and female (see Table 4). However, from 2017 enrolments and graduations showed an overall decline from
to 2020, there has been a general decline in Master’s level 2017 to 2020 of -3.3 and -13 percent, respectively (see
enrolments and graduations for both South African and table 7). The number of South African Doctoral enrolments
International students (see Table 5). increased by 11.9 percent over the same period.

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