Theorising International Postgraduate Student Lecturers' Experiences in South Africa

Abstract

The internationalisation and globalisation of our current world has led to the mobility of students across borders in the pursuit of quality education. South Africa has become a popular choice destination for some of these students who intend to further their studies by undertaking postgraduate programs in different fields. For variety of reasons, these students take up part time jobs whilst studying, and some continue to tow the education line by becoming part time lecturers. This paper explores the experiences of postgraduate student lecturers in South Africa. Using a qualitative case study research approach, this paper adopts a purposeful sampling strategy to generate data from participants who were pursuing their postgraduate degrees at masters and PhD levels. Findings reveal that the major challenges faced by postgraduate student lecturers in South Africa include culture shock, technological barrier, inadequate academic resources to work with, and the struggle to create a study-work-life balance. This paper recommends that international postgraduate students lecturing be trained and taught the basics of some South African cultures before they are allowed to handle students in the classroom. The learning environment should be made conducive enough to facilitate effective teaching and learning because, overcrowded classrooms affect both lecturers and students. Lastly, these student lecturers should be offered training in the use of technologies used for delivering their lectures, and all learning resources needed to ensure a seamless teaching and learning process should be made available.