Transition into transnational postgraduate education: reflections from programme facilitators

The present chapter examines, through the lens of two transnational partner- ships (located within North-South and South-South contexts), the possibilities for strengthening student transition into postgraduate studies in education. Drawing from the experiences of facilitators across three transnational postgraduate programmes, namely a Master of Arts in Education, a profess- sional doctorate in education (EdD) and a PhD in Education, it reflects on what has been learned with respect to the barriers and enablers to transitioning from undergraduate to postgraduate learning, highlighting aspects of transnational education which could prove to be supportive of strong student outcomes. The paper thus re-situates the debate on postgraduateness, responding to the cri- tique of postgraduate education being much talked about but misunderstood. The chapter has implications for exploring how institutional partnerships across Africa could enhance transition into postgraduate studies because it offers a space for modelling out expectations of collaboration, sustained dia- logue, critique, shared understanding of epistemological and methodological rigour and intercultural sensitivity which cohere with the attributes expected of postgraduate education.