Research Degree Examination Guidelines (EX10)

EX10

(June 2012)

RESEARCH DEGREES

Examination Guidelines (PhD and MPhil)

Page

1 Introduction 3

2 Notification of Submission 3

The candidate declaration form 3

3 Nomination and Appointment of the Examination Panel 4

Composition of the examination panel 4

Examination panels for resubmitted theses 5

The observer 5

Appointment criteria for the examination panel chair 5 Appointment criteria for examiners 5

Independence of examiners and examination panel chairs 6

Appointment criteria for the examination panel 7

Approval of nominations 7

4 Duties of the Examiners 7

Duties of the examination panel chair 8

Duties of the examiners 8

5 Fees and Expenses 9

Fees 9

Expenses 9

6 Submission 9

Eligibiity 9

Length and format of thesis 10

Thesis presentation 10

Text 10

Footnotes 10

Binding of examination copies of the thesis 11

Outsize documents 11

Non-book media 11

Submission of the thesis 11

7 Independent Pre-Viva Examiner Reports 12

8 The Oral Examination 12

Arrangements for the examination

Examination panel meeting(s) 12

The scope and duration of the examination 13

Informing the student of the recommendation 13

9 Criteria for the Award of the Degree 14

Master of Philosophy 14

Doctor of Philosophy 14

10 Recommendations Available to Examiners 14

Award the degree 14

Corrections and modifications 14

Substantial amendment 14

Major revision and resubmission for re-examination 15

Alternative recommendations for PhD candidates 15

Fail 16

11 The Examination Panel Report Form 16

12 Approval of the examination result 17

Corrections and modifications to the thesis 17

Substantial amendment to the thesis 17

Major revision and resubmission of the thesis for re-examination 17

13 Award of the Degree 17

1 Introduction

This document outlines the arrangements and procedures for the examination and award of research degrees. If you have any queries or require advice please contact the Research Degrees Team.

Subject Area Contact Information

Arts 01908 653806

CREET[1] 01908 659616

Health and Social Care 01908 658889

Knowledge Media 01908 658878
Institute

Maths, Computing 01908 654050
and Technology

OUBS 01908 858805

Sciences 01908 655483

Social Sciences 01908 659614

External address: Internal address:

Research Degrees Office Research Degrees Office

The Open University Charles Pinfold Building

Milton Keynes

MK7 6AA

All the forms required in this process are at: http://www.open.ac.uk/research/research-degrees/forms-and-guidance-notes.php

If the Associate Dean (Research) has agreed a delegate to act in their place in these processes, that person must be from the Deanery and their name given to the Research Degrees Office in advance.

These guidelines apply to PhD and MPhil students. Separate guidelines are available for EdD.

2 Notification of submission

The student is required to give the Research Degrees Office three months notice of her/his intention to submit, in order to allow sufficient time for an examination panel to be appointed. Notification should include confirmation of the thesis title, a provisional date for submission, and if the thesis contains a non-book component, clarification of the extent and type of non-book material to be submitted. The student should declare if she/he has a disability or any additional requirements for which adjustments may need to be made when the examination is arranged.

2.1 The Candidate declaration form

The Research Degrees Office sends an email asking the student to confirm the details of her/his submission. The student downloads a Candidate declaration form from the website, completes it and sends it to her/his supervisors.

All the supervisors are required to:

(a) confirm the length of the thesis

(b) if the student is submitting a thesis containing a non-book component, confirm that, in the context and norms of the subject area, the total volume of material (both book and non-book) would represent a workload to its examiners that is no greater than that represented by a text thesis of 60,000 words for an MPhil or 100,000 words for a PhD

(d) confirm that they have read the thesis in its final form (and scrutinised any non-book component), and that it is, in their opinion, worthy of consideration for the degree for which it is being submitted

(e) confirm that the requirements for ethical review have been met (if applicable)

(f) pass the completed declaration form to the Associate Dean (Research) / EdD Programme leader, or their agreed delegate, who approves it and sends to the Research Degrees Office.

The student’s submission will only be sent to the examiners when the Candidate declaration form has been received by the Research Degrees Office.

Supervisors should not submit the Candidate declaration form if they are not able to confirm that the thesis meets the criteria of the degree for which it is to be submitted (see section 10). Where the supervisors are unable to confirm that the thesis is of adequate standard for submission to the examiners, they are required to produce a written report, which may include copies of recent progress monitoring report(s), making clear how the thesis falls short of an adequate standard. This should be submitted to the Head of Research Degrees and copied to the student, the Head of Department, and the Associate Dean (Research) or their agreed delegate. The report will be referred to the Chair of the Research Degrees Committee, who may:

(a) confirm to the student that submission for examination will not be permitted until appropriate amendments have been made

(b) arrange for the thesis to be externally assessed and for the external assessor’s report to include a judgement about whether the work is of an adequate standard for examination for the degree concerned

(c) decide (with the agreement of the Head of Department) that the thesis should be accepted for submission, as it stands, without the approval of the supervisors.

In the case of (b) a decision on eligibility for submission would be made by the Research Degrees Committee, or the Chair acting on behalf of the Committee, on receipt of the external assessor’s report and the comments of the Head of Department.

3 Nomination and Appointment of the Examination Panel

When the Research Degrees Office receives the student’s notification of intention to submit, the Head of Department (or equivalent) is asked to nominate an examination panel. The nomination should be sent to the Research Degrees Office on the Examination panel nomination form, accompanied by a completed CV form for each nominated member of the examination panel.

The internal supervisors or the head of department should approach the examiners before they are formally nominated to check that they are willing to accept the appointment. If the thesis contains a non-book component or is overlength?, potential examiners should be made aware at this stage.

3.1 Composition of the examination panel

The three possible examination panel combinations are:

(a) examination panel chair

internal examiner

external examiner

(b) examination panel chair

internal examiner

2 external examiners

2 external examiners.

The student’s supervisors or third party monitor(s) cannot be appointed as the examination panel chair or the internal examiner.

3.2 Examination panels for resubmitted theses

The original panel should normally be appointed for the second oral and re-examination of the resubmitted thesis. If it is not possible to appoint the same panel, a case outlining the circumstances should be made to the Research Degrees Committee.

3.3 The observer

The Research Degrees Committee will normally expect one of the student’s supervisors to be present as an observer at the examination, and be available to attend the pre- and post- examination meetings (at the discretion of the examiners). The observer is potentially able to offer:

(a) advice to the panel, as someone who is familiar with the candidate’s work

(b) reassurance to the candidate, as a familiar face

Observers should, before the day of the examination, clarify their role with the examination panel chair, who should consult the examiners before discussing this with the observer.

Observers may be asked to withdraw from any part of the examination and should do so without discussion if asked to do so. The panel may want to have a short private discussion prior to the examination.

In exceptional circumstances, where a supervisor is unable to act as the observer, the Research Degrees Committee requires an experienced member of the department to act in this capacity.

Students may elect not to have their supervisor present as an observer. The Research Degrees Committee is of the view that this is not in the student’s best interest. Students who do not wish to have an observer present at their examination must confirm this in writing to the Research Degrees Office.

3.4 Appointment criteria for the examination panel chair

The examination panel chair should normally:

(a) have experience of UK research degree supervision and examination

(b) not be registered for a research degree themselves

(d) be familiar with research degree regulations with specific reference to those relating to examinations

Where the nominated examination panel chair does not meet these criteria, a supporting statement should be included with the nomination.

3.5 Appointment criteria for examiners

Examiners should:

a) be qualified and experienced in the field of the thesis to be examined

b) not normally be registered for a research degree themselves

c) normally have experience of UK research degree supervision and examination

d) meet the criteria set out in Section3.6 and 3.7.

The Research Degrees Committee will consider exceptions to the normal criteria. A case should be included with the Examination panel nomination? form. Faculties should contact the Research Degrees Office for advice about nominations that do not meet the normal criteria, prior to submitting the Examination panel nomination form. The interpretation of the criteria in the context of individual examinations, and the extent to which there may be a potential conflict of interest is often a matter of judgement. The Research Degrees Office can provide guidance on the case being prepared for approval by the Research Degrees Committee.

Internal examiners should be members of academic staff at The Open University of lecturer status or above. Project officers will not normally be considered. Former members of staff who have retained a formal connection with the University through visiting appointments may be appointed as internal examiners (without pay). They may not be appointed as external examiners unless they left the University at least three years previously.

Emeritus professors may be appointed as internal examiners (with pay) if their knowledge and expertise is current and pertinent to the thesis being examined. This should be stated on the Examination panel nomination form. Retired or emeritus staff should not normally be considered as external examiners.

Visiting professors, academics and visiting research fellows are considered for this purpose to hold academic appointments and can be internal examiners but should not be appointed as external examiners.

External examiners should normally be members of academic staff at a British university or research institution, at lecturer status or above. They should not normally be from the same department as the student’s external supervisor.

External members of the Life and Biomolecular Sciences Management Group or the Theology and Religious Studies Management Group may not be appointed as external examiners for Open University research students.

External examiners from outside of the UK may only be nominated if their travel and subsistence costs do not exceed £250 or if the department and/or academic unit is able to cover any expenses in excess of this maximum limit, see section 5.2.

3.6 Independence of examiners and examination panel chairs

Those nominated for appointment as independent examination panel chairs or examiners should not have had any influence on the design and implementation of the student’s research project. The Research Degrees Committee requires that examiners are neither related to, nor have a close personal, professional or contractual relationship with the candidate, supervisors or other members of the examination panel. Examiners should be entirely independent, and where there is any interest which might prejudice this, it should be declared at nomination stage. For example, examiners are required to ‘declare an interest’ if they:

(a) plan to employ the candidate

(b) have co-published, or plan to co-publish with the candidate

(d) are a past student of any of the supervisors, with an ongoing professional relationship

(e) are the ‘regular’ examiner for a particular supervisor or department

(f) have a close professional, contractual or personal relationship with any other member of the examination panel

(g) are being nominated as an external examiner and have a relationship with the department, for example through collaboration or as an external supervisor for another current or recent student in that department.

Research Degrees Committee normally considers recent (i.e. within five years) co-publication to be an indication of a close professional relationship and requests that the nomination of examiners who have co-published with the candidate, the supervisors and/or other nominated examiners, is avoided where possible. Potential examiners are required to declare all co-publications with the candidate, the supervisors and other nominated examiners at nomination stage. The Head of Department ( or agreed nominee) is asked to provide a supporting statement explaining the extent of the collaboration in each case, so that the committee can make an informed judgement about the relationship and decide if there is a potential conflice of interest.

Heads of Department are asked to verify that all nominations conform to the ‘Independence of Examiners and Examination Panel Chairs’ statement by endorsing the nominations on the Examination panel nomination form. They are asked to declare all nominations which may potentially be affected by the ‘Independence of Examiners and Examination Panel Chairs’ statement, and provide a supporting statement for consideration by the Research Degrees Committee.

If there is difficulty nominating an independent examination panel according to the terms outlined in the statement above, because there is a small field of research experts, a second external examiner may be nominated if they are an expert in a related field and can bring the necessary independence to the panel. The Head of Department should provide a supporting statement explaining the reason for the nomination.