Student Progression (Transfer of Ordinance)

(5.16) Students wishing to undertake research at the University are admitted under Ordinance 12 as 'research students'. In order to be admitted formally for candidacy to a named degree, research students are transferred to admission under Ordinance 39, which specifies a named degree. (For practical administrative purposes, students generally appear on the Student Record System against their original intended award from the outset, although they must all fulfil the requirements of the Transfer of Ordinance.) Students must fulfil minimum criteria for transfer to take place. These minimum criteria comprise either a substantial written report or relevant body of work by the student, a presentation by the student at an appropriate forum of peers and a recommendation, at minimum, from the Head of Department and/or the Postgraduate Student Adviser in addition to the student's research supervisors that he/she be allowed to progress. Individual faculties are permitted to apply additional criteria and students are advised to contact the relevant Postgraduate Student Adviser to ascertain their Faculty's criteria when they commence their studies.

For full-time students intending to follow two- or three-year research programmes, the transfer recommendation should be made no earlier than after two semesters (effectively nine months) and no later than the end of one full academic year from the student's start date. For full-time students on one-year research programmes, the transfer should be completed no earlier than six months and no later than nine months from the initial start date (pro rata for part-time students). The student and the Research Degrees Office must be informed of the decision to allow him/her to progress to formal registration on a named research degree. If the transfer is approved, formal registration for a named degree is backdated to the beginning of the registration as a research student. If satisfactory progress is not being made the supervisors can recommend that the Transfer from Ordinance 12 to 39 be delayed for a specified period, or that the student be registered for a lower award than originally intended, or, where progress is particularly unsatisfactory, that the student's registration be terminated.