Every year, you will be required to complete and submit an Annual Progress Report to the CoM Postgraduate Committee, through your Head of Department, at least 3 months before the end of the academic year to permit enough time for review and approval of report. This report will determine whether you are making satisfactory progress on your research degree programme. The Postgraduate Committee will assess whether you have successfully completed an academic year based on the following benchmarks:
your overall performance demonstrates appropriate progress to date, and
no serious doubts are evident about your ability to achieve the degree for which you are registered.
Your supervisory team, led by the Primary Supervisor, will be responsible for regularly monitoring your academic progress. Your supervisor will, during the first year of study, require at least one substantial piece of work (e.g. literature review, experimental write-up), which will assist in assessing your ability to proceed successfully through subsequent years of the research programme.
As part of monitoring your progress, your supervisor(s) will consult with you to explore opportunities for the dissemination of your research findings and, in the process, to develop your research communication skills. Among other things, you will be required to:
The Head of Department or Supervisor may also assign you limited academic tasks such as teaching, demonstration, undergraduate student supervision and examination, etc. Your performance in undertaking these tasks will be carefully monitored.
If at any stage during the period of your study the Principal Supervisor considers your progress to be unsatisfactory or that the standard of your work is generally below expectations, you will be made aware of the situation as soon as possible. Your Principal Supervisor, in consultation with the Head of Department or Departmental Postgraduate Studies Coordinator, will initially follow informal steps of the “Capability Procedure”, as detailed below, before invoking the “Formal Procedure”.
Please note that at any meeting convened to discuss your unsatisfactory academic progress, whether at the informal or formal stage, you have the right to invite a second person as your witness.
Your supervisory team will invoke the “Capability Procedure” when your progress/competence is considered unsatisfactory. The aim of the procedure is to give you full and sympathetic consideration and support with a view to achieve a satisfactory standard of performance.
In such circumstances, your Principal and Associate Supervisors will conduct an informal discussion with you at the earliest opportunity. The will inform you of the purpose of the meeting in advance. At the meeting, your Principal Supervisor will:
Your Principal Supervisor will record the outcome of the discussion and, in particular, the timescale within which you will achieve the expected standard of performance. After agreeing with the record, you will receive a copy of the record and another copy will be kept in your student file.
If your Principal Supervisor is not satisfied that you have achieved the expected level of performance within the agreed timescale through the informal “Capability Procedure”, he/she will invoke the “Formal Procedure”. Similarly, if you decline the opportunity to co-operate with the informal arrangement proposed, the “Formal Procedure” will be followed.
In such circumstances the Head of Department or the Postgraduate Studies Coordinator will invite the Dean of Postgraduate Studies and Research to co-ordinate arrangements for the Formal Procedure.
The Dean of Postgraduate Studies and Research will convene a meeting for you, your principal supervisor and the Head of Department or Departmental Postgraduate Studies Coordinator. As in the case of the informal procedure, you will be informed of the purpose of the meeting, the fact that formal procedures are being invoked, and that a second person may accompany you as your “witness”.
The meeting with the Dean of Postgraduate Studies and Research will:
The Dean of Postgraduate Studies and Research will record the outcome of the discussion and, in particular, the timeline within which you will achieve the expected standard of performance. After agreeing with the record, you will receive a copy of the record and another copy will be kept in your student file.
When considered appropriate, the Head of Department or Departmental Postgraduate Studies Coordinator, in liaison with the Dean of Postgraduate Studies and Research, may issue a formal warning to you that, in the absence of any improvement in performance by a specified date, a recommendation will be made for you to withdraw from the degree programme. The warning will be made verbally at the “Formal Procedure” meeting and also confirmed in writing. The warning will be referred to in the record of the above meeting.
If upon receiving a formal warning you have failed to make the necessary improvement in your performance within the timeline specified, a recommendation will be submitted by the Dean of Postgraduate Studies and Research to the Postgraduate Committee that your registration be terminated. If the Postgraduate Committee accepts the recommendation, the CoM Principal will make a further recommendation to the UNIMA Senate that your registration be terminated on the grounds of unsatisfactory progress.
Besides academic poor performance, other circumstances can result in the withdrawal of your registration. These may include failure to pay tuition fees or lack of contact over an extended period with your supervisor(s) and other college departments. The CoM Registry and Postgraduate Committee, in consultation with your Principal Supervisor and other interested parties, will consider such cases carefully before a decision is made to withdraw your registration.
The CoM may permit a student to withdraw only on the following grounds and taking into consideration the merits of each particular case and the maximum duration of the programme:
For more details on the above grounds please read the revised students’ Rules and Regulations dated 8 February 2015. These regulations are available on SARIS.
Any application for an extension to your registration (i.e. extending the maximum period of study) should be submitted to the Registrar, through your Principal Supervisor and Head of Department, at least 3 months before the end of the standard period of your registration (except for a case of sudden illness). The application should also be copied to the Departmental Postgraduate Coordinator and Dean of Postgraduate Studies and Research. The Registrar will review your application, in consultation with relevant parties, and issue a formal response specifying the expected date of resumption of your studies.