Perceptions of writing development among postgraduate students: The role of academic writing retreats at the Durban University of Technology

Abstract

This article explores the potency of academic writing retreats in strengthening the writing abilities of postgraduate students, particularly at the Durban University of Technology (DUT), South Africa. Since research outputs have become central to the affairs of institutions of higher learning, universities have continued to deploy strategies and devise systems to drive research publications. An approach that has become popular is the adoption of writing retreats to assist in offering support and improvement for academic writing, especially by building the capacities of postgraduate students. At the DUT, academic writing retreats have emerged as an important strategy to enhance academic writing skills in postgraduate students. Drawing from the experiences of postgraduate students who attended three writing retreat sessions between October 2022 and November 2023, this paper appraises the organisation of these retreats as well as their impact on postgraduate students’ writing abilities. The researchers conducted an in-depth exploration of the planning, implementation, and outcomes of these retreats vis-à-vis how they contribute to building academic writing skills at the DUT. The results from the study revealed that postgraduate students perceived the writing retreat sessions as extremely helpful in building their research capacities, while offering recommendations on how to improve on the delivery of such sessions especially by focusing on individual strengths.