Unisa's Masedi Masekane makes academic history

At the recent Unisa spring graduation ceremonies, the College of Science, Engineering and Technology’s Masedi Masekane was conferred a double doctoral degree in Physics with top honours, having been awarded the PhD magna cum laude by the University of Zagreb in Croatia for the same body of work.

The Latin phrase magna cum laude means "with great distinction". It is the second-highest academic honour of the three Latin honours (summa cum laude, magna cum laude and cum laude), which is awarded to students who have achieved a high level of academic excellence upon graduation; the specific requirements vary by institution. Although commonly awarded at undergraduate level by various institutions and countries, it is rare in most countries for a PhD to be awarded magna cum laude. At PhD level, it is reserved for a tiny percentage of graduates and often requires the thesis or dissertation to receive a high score from the examination panel.

Dr Masedi Masekane

In the case of Masekane, his PhD was a joint degree between Unisa and the University of Zagreb in Croatia, following a signed memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the two institutions. Through this prestigious double doctorate between Unisa and the University of Zagreb, Masekane was conferred the degree of Doctor of Natural Sciences in Nuclear Physics magna cum laude by the University of Zagreb, for his thesis entitled "Development and characterisation of a total ion beam analysis system based on heavy ion PIXE spectroscopy". On 21 October, he was then awarded a PhD in Physics by Unisa for the same body of work. His PhD thesis was supervised by Professor Sabata Moloi from the Department of Physics at Unisa, and co-supervised by Dr Iva Bogdanović from the Ruđer Bošković Institute (RBI) at the University of Zagreb and Professor Mandla Msimanga from the Tshwane University of Technology.

Masekane is currently conducting his postdoctoral research fellowship at the RBI in Croatia and serves as chairperson of the Council for Emerging and Next Generation Scientists, which forms part of an agreement between RBI and the National Research Foundation (NRF) iThemba Labs. He continues making contributions in the field of physics and paving the way for the next generation of scholars.

Achieving such a prestigious honour is no small feat and speaks to the high calibre of research and research scholars produced through Unisa’s strategic partnerships.

Read also: Masedi’s Unisa journey takes him to the University of Zagreb

* By Dr Nozipho N Madzivha, Communications and Marketing Specialist (acting), College of Science, Engineering and Technology