What is the annual PgDip summer school?
The Postgraduate Diploma in HIV/Aids Management (PgDip) is our flagship programme and the first academic programme we presented in 2001 following the centre’s establishment. Each year, the PgDip starts with the summer school hosted in Stellenbosch, where staff, lecturers and guest speakers share information and insights about the content covered during the programme modules and related topics. This year’s summer school took place from 2 to 6 February, with students from across Africa and beyond coming together to start their academic PgDip journey. The theme was “Inclusive health management in a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) African context”, reflecting the global polycrisis. This summer school blog series provides an overview of the various sessions.
Interested in learning more about the PgDip?
- Find out more about the programme here.
- If you would like to know more about studying with us, see our study FAQs page.
The ultimate objective of the PgDip is for students to gain the knowledge and competencies to deal with the challenges and opportunities related to managing HIV and Aids in the world of work. To succeed, students must however also master all the necessary academic systems and skills required for a hybrid, postgraduate course. To empower students to navigate the administrative and academic aspects of the course with ease, we allocate several summer school sessions to the everyday ins and outs for completing the programme successfully.
In addition to the topic-specific sessions below, the summer school includes several sessions in the course of the week where the Africa Centre’s admin team provides support to students who have any challenges or questions with regard to getting set up for the course and using the required tools and platforms. This includes students who need to finalise their registration for the programme. We don’t show away students because of any paperwork or administrative issues – they are welcome to attend the summer school and begin their PgDip journey while their registration is being finalised.
More about the 2026 summer school:
- Turning the tide against HIV/Aids with effective management skills
- An integrated, inclusive approach to health management is more crucial than ever
- The summer school in pictures
- PgDip summer schoolers share their views (scroll down to the end of the page)