Using a productive distance PhD program to empower women in academia

Abstract

The PhD degree is a mandatory requirement for promotion in academia. Many African countries have problems to offer serious PhD programs because they suffer a severe brain drain which led to a scarcity of qualified PhD supervisors. It is difficult for lecturers (holding Master degrees) at local universities, to find PhD programs and only some lucky ones travel abroad to be enrolled in foreign PhD programs. For women it is more difficult due to economic, social and family commitments. This paper describes a PhD program (particularly in Computer Science and Information Technology) of Sudan University of Science and Technology that is Internet mediated. It provides PhD supervisors from renowned universities all over the world to empower women in higher education. The program is now in its sixth year and nine women (and 2 men) have already graduated with PhDs in computer science and information technology.