Research

Supervising postgraduate students remotely

Share
Adele%20Bezuidenhout%20was%20the%20first%20female%20full%20Professor%20in%20Unisa%20Department%20of%20Human%20Resource%20Management%20in%20the%20College%20of%20Economic%20and%20Management%20Sciences%20(CEMS)

Adele Bezuidenhout was the first female full Professor in Unisa Department of Human Resource Management in the College of Economic and Management Sciences (CEMS)

Adele Bezuidenhout, a former Professor in the College of Economic and Management Sciences (CEMS), is grateful to be among the Unisa academics who received National Research Foundation (NRF) ratings in 2020. For her, the C2 rating is a wonderful confirmation of the many hours she dedicated to researching the work experience of open and distance learning (ODL) academics. She believes that it is a confirmation of the quality of her work, and, on a personal level, the one career aim she has always prized above anything else was to be recognised as an NRF-rated researcher.

“It was a long and arduous journey, starting with my doctorate degree on academics’ mental-health-related experiences in 2009, and continuing the focus on ODL academics’ overall work experience, including work engagement, stress, burnout, ODL competency development, and more. I am very grateful to Unisa for investing a great deal of time and resources in me,” expressed Bezuidenhout.

She further appreciates all the support from her college in preparing the NRF application, the opportunity to deliver papers at international conferences, article-writing workshops, world-class learning opportunities, and so much more. According to Bezuidenhout, the NRF rating is the end result of many people who believed in her and enabled her to actualise her dream. She hopes that in future she may be in a position to continue with some ODL-related research.

While focusing on academics’ work experience within technology-enhanced workspaces, much of her energy goes into finding creative ways for academics to supervise postgraduate students over a distance, with the incredible opportunities technology has opened up. As the current health pandemic (Covid-19) acts as a catalyst and blurs the lines between distance, online, hybrid and face-to-face learning very quickly, there is much work to do in this area.

Bezuidenhout was appointed as Associate Professor in 2012 at Unisa and was immediately drawn to the ODL environment. Her career highlight was when she was promoted to become the first female full professor in the Department of Human Resource Management (HRM) at Unisa in 2014. She cherished the opportunity to teach and supervise master’s and doctoral students in ODL-related studies.

After leaving Unisa in late 2019, she moved to the United Kingdom where she continues with her research. She currently has the role of acting as an e-learning champion for postgraduate students and finds this new career challenge exciting and invigorating. Her aim is to gain some international work and research experience and learn as much as she can.

Embracing some of her Unisa memories, Bezuidenhout specifically values the privilege and opportunity to have acted as a supervisor to some of her HRM department colleagues. “I made so many lovely friendships while working at Unisa, and will always cherish these memories.”

*By Nancy Legodi, Acting Journalist, Department of Institutional Advancement

Share

Publish date: 2020-05-27 00:00:00.0

Unisa Shop