General Regulations for the Degree of Doctor by Taught Course

1. The degrees of Master of Philosopy (Research Methodology) (MPhil (Res Meth)), Doctor of Education (EdD), Doctor of Clinical Psychology (D.Clin.Psychol.), Doctor of Engineering (EngD) and Doctor of Social Work (DSW) may be awarded by the Senate to postgraduate students who have successfully pursued a programme of study as prescribed in Faculty regulations to the satisfaction of the relevant Faculty Board.

Admission

2. The requirement for entry to each programme shall normally be as specified in Faculty regulations an undergraduate or Masters degree from an approved University or of CNAA in an appropriate specialism. Candidates with other qualifications may be admitted to a programme on the recommendation of the relevant Faculty Board.

3. For the purpose of these regulations the University shall be deemed to include any clinical institutions in the South and West Regional Health Authority where the Board of the Faculty of Social Sciences is satisfied that University staff can arrange proper supervision of clinical practice and research.

Scheme of Study

4. Each programme shall contain some combination of taught compulsory and elective units/modules, individual and/or group projects and a written thesis as specified in Faculty regulations; and shall be pursued in the University except where Faculty regulations provide for research to be carried out with proper supervision in an appropriate setting elsewhere.

5. The scheme of study for each programme shall be undertaken over a period of less than three years of full-time study. The maximum period permitted for part-time study is six years. A candidate who fails to complete coursework or examination requirements, the dissertation for a programme or any other programme requirements by the date specified by the Faculty Board, or within the maximum period allowed for that programme, will, subject to appeal, be deemed by the relevant Faculty Board to have failed the programme.

Supervision and Progress

6. Students will normally be assigned personal tutors during the coursework phase of the programmes as appropriate, and all students will be assigned a research supervisor who will be responsible for the supervision of the students' progress in their research and in writing their thesis.

7. Every candidate shall be allocated to a supervisor by the Faculty Board on the recommendation of the candidate's Head of Department. The supervisor shall be responsible for the supervision of the design and progress of the candidate's research project and for providing academic advice to the candidate; and shall report on the candidate's work and progress when requested to do so by the Faculty Board. The Board shall also ensure that the department either appoints one member of staff to act as a general postgraduate tutor or appoints an adviser for each individual candidate in addition to the supervisor.

8. A Faculty Board may at any time review the progress of an individual candidate. If this is unsatisfactory and if, after due warning, there is insufficient improvement, the Board may recommend termination of candidature to Senate. The candidate may appeal against the decision by using the procedure set out in General Regulations.

Examination and Submissions of Thesis

9. The regulations for each programme shall prescribe as appropriate the range and length of coursework assignments and/or project work to be included in portfolios of coursework, and of the dissertation, and shall provide for the examination of portfolios and dissertations or other assessed work.

10. A candidate who is about to submit a thesis shall give to the Academic Registrar through the Faculty Office at least two months' prior notice in writing which shall include the full title of the thesis. Such notice of intention to submit a thesis shall be given not later than 1 February if the candidate seeks award of the degree by the following July.

11. With the exception of restrictions on access as defined in the following paragraph, research work submitted as a thesis for a higher degree shall be openly available and subject neither to security classification nor to restriction on access, and candidates may publish the whole or part of their work prior to its submission as a thesis, provided that in the published work it is nowhere stated that it is in consideration for a higher degree.

12. In exceptional circumstances access to a thesis may be restricted by the Senate on the recommendation of a Faculty Board, where such restriction is regarded as desirable on commercial grounds or pending patent applications, or as necessary to maintain confidentiality. The period of restriction shall be determined by Senate on the recommendation of the Faculty Board, but shall not exceed three years from the date of the examination.

13. On submission of a thesis a candidate shall be required to sign two documents:
    1. a form of consent that the thesis, if successful, may be made available for inter-library loan or photocopying from a date stipulated (subject to the law of copyright);
       
       
    2. a declaration stating: that the thesis is the result of work done wholly or mainly while the student was in registered candidature; that where the thesis is based on work done by the candidate jointly with others, a substantial part is the original work of the candidate; the extent to which the thesis incorporates material already submitted for another degree.

14. A thesis may not exceed the length stipulated by Faculty regulations for the programme, unless prior permission to exceed this length has been given by the Faculty Board on the recommendation of the supervisor. Resubmission arrangements are specified in Faculty regulations.

15. Examiners will be appointed as appropriate in accordance with Faculty regulations for both coursework portfolios, and for the written thesis and other research material. In programmes where prescribed examiners are appointed specifically to examine each candidate's thesis and other research material indicated in the regulations, normally one internal and one external examiner shall act. In exceptional cases, one additional internal or external examiner may be appointed. The supervisor may not be appointed as an examiner.

16. Candidates for the award of degree of Doctor by taught course will normally be required to attend an oral examination.

17. Examiners for each thesis shall recommend one of the following courses of action:
    1. that the degree for which the candidate has submitted a thesis be awarded;
       
       
    2. that the degree for which the candidate has submitted a thesis be awarded subject if necessary to minor amendments to the thesis being made by a date specified (minor amendments include: minor omissions of substance, typographical errors, occasional stylistic or grammatical flaws, corrections to references, addition/modification of one or two figures, and minor changes to layout, and require no new research. They may be certified by the internal examiner only). The date specified for the submission of such minor amendments should normally be no later than a month after the formal notification to the candidate;
       
       
    3. that the degree for which the candidate has submitted a theses be awarded subject to the correction of modest errors/omissions of substance being made, by a date specified (the procedure for re-examination of the thesis should be clearly specified in the report). Such amendments may require limited further analysis but will not affect the originality of the central thesis. They will be of a scale to require certification by both the internal and external examiners, though normally not so extensive that an oral is required. The date specified for the submission of such intermediate amendments should normally be no later than six months after the formal notification to the candidate;
       
       
    4. that the candidate be required to attend a further oral examination;
       
       
    5. that the candidate be permitted to submit by a date specified a revised thesis for the same degree for re-examination on one subsequent occasion. The date specified for submission of the revised thesis should normally be no later than twelve months after the formal notification to the candidate;
       
       
    6. that, in the case only of a PhD candidate who has failed to satisfy the examiners, permission be given to the candidate to apply within a specified time for the award of the degree of MPhil. This may be allowed without re-examination, subject to any minor amendment of the thesis which may be required by the examiners, or may be subject to re-examination of a revised thesis;
       
       
    7. that the degree be not awarded and that resubmission of the thesis be not permitted;
       
       

18. A candidate who fails to submit corrected or revised coursework or thesis by the date set by the examiners shall normally be regarded as having failed the examination and the recommendations of the examiners shall lapse.

19. Where the examiners recommend that the degree be not awarded and that submission of a revised thesis be not permitted, the candidate may ask for the case to be reviewed in accordance with the procedures laid down by the Senate. A copy of the procedures may be obtained from the Academic Registrar.