LL.M/M.Phil

This one-year Masters Course equips students to understand how South African provinces and local government work, how the multilevel system of government compares to other countries on the continent and on what global theories and practices it is based.

Students emerge with a thorough understanding of how multilevel states are designed, how powers are divided, how finances are allocated, how national government supervises subnational governments (provinces and municipalities) and how different levels of government work together. The Course combines legal and constitutional studies with other disciplines, such as political science and public administration. Furthermore, it combines theory with practice, including an internship in government dealing with multilevel governance and local government. Students are taught and supervised by distinguished scholars in local government, multilevel government (decentralisation, devolution, federalism, intergovernmental relations), rule of law and good governance. READ MORE…

Bursaries
PLEASE NOTE: THE CLOSING DATE FOR APPLICATION FOR NRF BURSARIES THROUGH THE SARChI CHAIR IS: 1 JULY 2026

CLOSING DATE FOR APPLICATIONS for ADMISSION TO THE PROGRAMME: 30 September 2026. This deadline applies only for students who do NOT want to apply for an NRF masters bursary.
 

LLD/PhD

The Dullah Omar Institute (DOI) hosts a Doctoral Programme, dealing with the law, policy and practice of multilevel government in South Africa, the region and beyond. PhD candidates are supervised by senior academic staff including the South African Research Chair in Multilevel Government, Prof Jaap de Visser and Prof Tinashe Carlton Chigwata.

Doctoral studies have been completed on local government/devolution/federalism in South Africa, Uganda, Ethiopia and Kenya and Zimbabwe. Please note that there are LLD/PhD positions available for the 2027 academic year on the following topics:
Topic 1: Local government reforms in South Africa
Topic 2: The supervision of local government in selected African countries. READ MORE…

PLEASE NOTE: THE CLOSING DATE FOR APPLICATION FOR PHD NRF BURSARIES THROUGH THE SARChI CHAIR IS: 1 JULY 2026.

For more information, visit: www.dullahomarinstitute.org.za