Dear Chris
Our relevant regulation states:
'Candidates for the PhD will normally be required, and candidates for
the MPhil may be required, to attend for an oral examination. In
conducting the oral examination, arrangements will be made, where
necessary, to accommodate the requirements of students with special
communication needs.'
We have 'normally' because it would only be in the most exceptional
circumstances that a viva wouldn't take place as it is very much an
integral part of the doctoral examination. Exceptional circumstances
would be extremely rare but an example might be where a student submits
the thesis and in the time between submission and the viva becomes very
seriously ill or injured such that they are not able to undergo an oral
exam for an extended period of time (say a year or longer, or even not
at all). The individual case and circumstances would need to be fully
considered, and the strength of the written thesis (extent of amendments
needed etc) taken into account in deciding that an oral would not take
place.
Because these cases are so rare, we don't have any guidelines or
procedures written down, so I would also be interested in other
institutions' practice.
MPHIL DEGREE - MY QUESTION!
Your question is also very close to one we're addressing at the moment
which is whether there should be a requirement for the MPhil degree to
have a viva (for those students who for whatever reason opt to stop at
Mphil level - this may be either before or after the upgrade transfer to
PhD). Our current Reg (as above) states that a viva 'may be required'
as it is usually up to the examiners to decide this if, for example, the
Mphil thesis is borderline. We don't have that many who opt for the
MPhil exit award as the vast majority go on to complete the PhD, however
we're in the process of considering whether we should make the viva an
integral part of the exam for all Mphil candidates.
I would be very interested to hear from other institutions whether they
require all Mphil candidates to do a viva complement their thesis
submission.
Many thanks
With best wishes
Steph
Stephanie Carey-Kent
Education Quality Adviser
Learning and Teaching Enhancement Unit (LATEU)
Level 3, Room 3071
Building 25
Highfield Campus
University of Southampton SO17 1BJ
Tel: 023 8059 3471
Email: [log in to unmask]
Fax: 023 8059 2651
LATEU website: http://www.soton.ac.uk/lateu/
________________________________
From: Admin-student [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
Knighting, Chris D
Sent: 17 March 2008 12:14
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Arrangements for research student oral examinations
Dear Colleagues,
Heriot-Watt University is reviewing it's current guidelines concerning
oral examinations for Postgraduate Research candidates. I would be
grateful if you would share details of your own practices on the
arrangements that you have for PGR oral examinations by answering the
following questions:
* Does your institution expect all postgraduate research
candidates to undergo an oral examination?
* Does your institution allow any exceptions to the requirements
for an oral examination to be held and, if so, what are those
exceptions? I'm especially interested to hear from those of you who
allow exceptions on the grounds of medical or other extenuating
circumstances and would be grateful if you could share any written
proceedures/guidelines.
As always, I would be happy to post a summary of responses onto the
mailing list archive.
Many thanks,
Chris
-------------------------------
Chris Knighting
Project and Development Officer
Academic Registry
Heriot-Watt University
Edinburgh EH14 4AS
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(F) 0131 449 5153
(M) 07984 470374
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