The Postgraduate Diploma (PGD) Programme commences in September each year. This page allows you to submit a proposal for one or more courses which you would like to teach at an AIMS centre. There will be a slight flexibility at each centre and some differences between centres' exact programmes. Programmes are finalised in discussion with the director and/or curriculum committee at each centre. Please read the following information carefully before proceeding to the form.
Prospective lecturers are advised to submit proposals by 31 March for courses starting the following September. Selection of courses will take place during April and May and all proposers will be advised of the outcome in early June.
As there are many more course proposals than available course slots, the submission of a course proposal does not guarantee automatic acceptance into the curriculum. The AIMS governing bodies reserve the right to actively recruit additional lecturers and schedule additional courses on an ad-hoc basis as the opportunity arises, in order to ensure a well-balanced course of the highest possible quality.
After an introductory week, the curriculum for the Postgraduate Diploma Programme at AIMS is divided into three categories: skills courses and review courses followed by an essay phase (where no formal courses are taught). These run in parallel with some continuous communication and computing classes presented by AIMS staff during all phases. Proposals are solicited for the skills and review courses. Each course will consist of 30 hours contact time (10 per week), that is approximately 15 to 18 hours lecturing with additional time (12 to 15 hours) for discussion and practical/tutorial work.
Skills courses are designed to provide introductory and foundational material to the students, and are structured to achieve pre-defined outcomes, with little flexibility in their content. The time slots during which the skills courses will be taught are provisional as in the typical skills course programme at AIMS South Africa shown below.
| Concepts in Physics and Physical Problem Solving | 27 August–14 September 2012 |
| Scientific Computing with SciPy | 27 August–14 September 2012 |
| Mathematical Problem Solving | 17 September–5 October 2012 |
| Topics in the Mathematical Sciences: Probability and Statistics OR Topics in Analysis OR Combinatorics OR Algebra |
17 September–5 October 2012 |
| Advanced Topics in SciPy |
8–12 October 2012 |
| Experimental Mathematics with Sage |
15 October–2 November 2012 |
| Topics in Entrepreneurship and Professional Development | 15 October–2 November 2012 |
Review courses are fundamentally different in that they are designed to offer opportunities to teach on a wide range of topical issues. Lecturers thus have flexibility in designing their courses, subject to the guidelines set out below. Review courses will be taught from December through March in the time slots outlined below. The 3 courses in each time unit are usually balanced with respect to focus on mathematics, physics and interdisciplinary topics.
You will be given the opportunity to choose one or more time slots within which you would be prepared to teach your review course. The more time slots you are available for, the greater the chance of being selected.
During the Essay phase students work on a research topic with a supervisor.
AIMS encourages, but does not require, cooperation between lecturers, preferably one from a local university and one from a non-South African university. The form therefore permits you to enter the email address of your co-lecturer. AIMS provides several teaching assistants throughout the year, but in some (rare) cases, lecturers may wish to bring an advanced masters or PhD student of theirs along to assist, e.g. with a particularly challenging practical or computational component of the course.
The AIMS curriculum is extremely ambitious in attempting to provide students from very diverse backgrounds with excellent mathematics and computing research skills plus a broad overview of cutting-edge sciences, all within a very limited period.
Such an outcome is achievable only if full advantage is taken of the self-contained, residential nature of the AIMS institute which allows for greater contact time and interaction between students and lecturers than would normally be possible within a conventional university setting.
The intensive lectures-plus-tutorial-per-day format that is envisaged for AIMS courses implies that courses will have to cover fewer topics (as compared to normal graduate equivalents), and instead concentrate on covering fundamental results and techniques thoroughly in a participatory tutorial and problem-solving style.
Due to the diversity of students and topics, courses need to be highly student-centered i.e. unusually sensitive and responsive to the needs of the students. All courses should
In keeping with the above, the duties involved in teaching a course at AIMS will include
Skills courses should
Review courses should
For an indication of the scope and level of courses usually offered, view the previous year's course pages of AIMS South Africa.