UCT Doctoral Degrees PhD Application 2024-2025

The Doctoral Degrees Board is responsible for all supervised doctoral degrees as well as senior doctorates by published works.

For more information on applications regarding doctoral degrees please contact the relevant faculty:

Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment

Faculty of Health Sciences

Faculty of Commerce

Faculty of Humanities

Faculty of Law

Faculty of Science

Graduate School of Business

Candidates for the PhD may qualify for admission if they have:

• a master’s degree
• an honours degree, or a 4-year bachelor’s degree, plus at least 1 year’s registration for the master’s degree
• a 3-year bachelor’s degree plus at least 2 years registration for a master’s degree

Formal application for admission is made through the relevant faculty. Candidates are registered provisionally until their research proposals have been formally approved by the Doctoral Degrees Board.

Students registering for the PhD degree will be formally allocated a supervisor, who is responsible for providing guidance.

Fees Please contact the Student Fees Office: fnd-feeenq@uct.ac.za for any fee-related queries.

Period of registration Candidates must be registered for at least 2 consecutive years, although registration for a year at another university may be accepted as part of that period.

No maximum period of time is prescribed for completing a thesis, but the university stipulates a “reasonable time”, which is generally taken to be 5 years.

If a candidate is not making satisfactory progress, a faculty’s Higher Degrees Committee may issue a warning, and, if necessary, may refuse re-registration.

Contact Details

For information on submission of theses only:
Doctoral Degrees Board Office: ddb@uct.ac.za
Room 5.04, Masingene Building
Middle Campus
Tel: +27 (0)21 650 2126