The Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA), an African institution committed to the creation of open societies through support for democracy, human rights and good governance, invites applications for 10 postgraduate scholarships from Southern African women media leaders who wish to study media management at Rhodes University’s Sol Plaatje Institute (SPI) for Media Leadership in 2018.
Applicants should be from Angola, Botswana, the DRC, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Successful applicants will register for the SPI’s intensive, one-year-long fulltime Postgraduate Diploma in Media Management (PDMM), the only formal media management qualification in Africa and the developing world. Candidates must already possess an undergraduate degree from a recognised university in order to pursue postgraduate study. The OSISA scholarships cover:
The full cost of tuition
- Accommodation and meals in one of Rhodes University’s postgraduate residences
- All learning materials
- A modest monthly subsistence allowance
- Medical aid
- Mid-year media management internship costs.
Employers of successful scholarship applicants or the scholarship winners themselves will need to cover their travel costs to and from Rhodes University, including during the University’s holidays, to encourage greater ownership and appreciation of the scholarship programme by the beneficiaries and their media companies.
The PDMM is a one-year, full-time programme designed to provide people who work or aspire to work in the media industry with critical skills and knowledge they need to perform more effectively and strategically in their organizations and to fast-track their careers to management positions.
The PDMM is equivalent to an honours degree — it is pegged at Level 8 on the National Qualifications Framework set by South Africa’s qualifications-setting agency SAQA — and combines rigorous theoretical and practical grounding, a mid-year management internship and a comprehensive academic portfolio at the end of the year.
The PDMM is composed of eight compulsory modules covering media economics and financial management; media markets, audiences and advertising; managing media content; managing circulation and distribution; media management and leadership; media management contexts, policy and institutions; new media and convergence; and human resources management.
Application details and procedures:
Only women candidates who are already working in the media industry in the 10 Southern African countries of OSISA listed above are eligible to apply for these scholarships. Candidates should already have an undergraduate degree from a recognised university.
The application deadline for these scholarships is 24 November 2017.
Students wishing to apply for these scholarships need to:
• Complete the Rhodes University’s standard External Honours Application form (available at http://www.ru.ac.za/postgraduategateway/honours/honoursapplication/, which must be submitted directly to the Registrar’s Division at Rhodes University and a copy emailed to Wendy Dyibishe (w.dyibishe@ru.ac.za) at the Sol Plaatje Institute (SPI) for Media Leadership. They must also complete the application form for the Postgraduate Diploma in Media Management (PDMM), which is also available on http://www.ru.ac.za/postgraduategateway/honours/honoursapplication/ and send it to the Registrar’s Division and the SPI.
• Submit a detailed Curriculum Vitae, including email and phone contact details. This is sent to the SPI only.
• Submit certified academic transcripts of ALL tertiary qualifications (these are sent to both the SPI and Registrar’s Division at Rhodes University); and
• Submit to the SPI (through Wendy Dyibishe at w.dyibishe@ru.ac.za) a 1,000-word letter of motivation, which explains why the student is interested in doing the PDMM, how the PDMM will assist the student’s career and why the student believes she/he qualifies for the OSISA scholarship.
Only short-listed candidates will be contacted after the applications close at noon on 24 November 2017.
