At the recent Enabling Quality Postgraduate Education (EQPE) colloquium, Dr Nomakwezi “Kwezi” Mzilikazi, Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Research, Innovation and Strategic Partnerships at Rhodes University, told delegates that she used to hold the view “there is no reason why one shouldn’t finish their masters in two years, and no reason why they shouldn’t finish their PhD in three years.”
That was after she continued studying after her first degree and carried on until she graduated with her PhD 10 years later. Having started at the University of the Transkei (now Walter Sisulu University), she changed institutions after her honours in zoology, for the University of Natal (now University of KwaZulu-Natal).