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Appendix A: For Supervisors, Mentors and Examiners

Within the University, research degrees are administered centrally by the Graduate School Office, located in Senate House.

Admission to research degrees is administered by the Postgraduate Team within the Student Recruitment and Admissions Office. This office also handles all applications and enrolment, and is the first port of call for prospective students wishing to apply.

Supervising

The main source of university information for supervisors is contained in The Guidelines on the Supervision and Monitoring of Research Degree Students. This includes a section outlining in detail the duties of the supervisor, as well as the research student. Supervisors should be familiar with the contents. The Guidelines are an interpretation of the official Regulations Governing Higher Degrees, which are part of the University Regulations. The QAA has published a Code of Practice for Postgraduate research programmes, which includes a section on Supervision.

Training for supervisors is provided by the Learning and Development Centre.

Pastoral Support

Each postgraduate research student is also assigned a personal tutor in the department, normally a member of full-time academic staff. It should be noted that personal tutors will not necessarily have expertise in the student's specific field of study.

The role of the personal tutor is to provide a point of contact in the Department for the student, in addition to the supervisor, and to provide additional pastoral support and professional advice, if required.

Examining

Internal and external examiners, and examination advisors are appointed by the Graduate School, on the recommendation of the Director of Graduate Studies. Examiners are asked to write separate reports before the viva, and then a joint report of the viva, with a recommendation.

The University’s rules governing the examination of doctoral degrees (i.e., the viva) are set out in The Guide to Examinations for Higher Degrees by Research.