REGULATIONS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (2018) Amended 2020

These regulations should be read in conjunction with all other relevant statutes and regulations in the General Statutes and Regulations – Admission, Examination, Student Conduct, Computer Use, Learning Resources Centre etc. as published in the Calendar.
It is expected that a doctoral candidate will make a substantial, distinctive and original contribution to knowledge in a discipline by independent thinking, investigation, critical analysis and review.

1.ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS
1.1 Potential candidates should first discuss their interest with a relevant academic staff member and/or Director, Centre for Samoan Studies (CSS)or Dean of the relevant faculty.
1.2 Applications can be made at any time.
1.3 To be admitted a candidate must be a graduate of NUS or a recognised university and submit evidence of ability to undertake an advanced course of study and research in the proposed discipline or area of study.
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1.4 Candidates must have:
A master’s degree with an appropriate and substantial research component, with first or second class honours (division 1), or
An honours degree with first or second class honours (division 1) and with a substantial research component, or
Satisfactory evidence of appropriate research experience that demonstrates potential to undertake doctoral study.
1.5 The Director, CSS or Dean of the relevant faculty shall submit the application to Senate via the Postgraduate Committee for approval together with the names of the potential supervisors (one of whom will be appointed principal supervisor), a brief description of the intended research and any course(s) of study and/or facilities required. The candidate must successfully complete the thesis (80, 000 – 100,000 words) and any prescribed coursework or a thesis (60,000 words) and presentation of a creative product or the required publications (equivalent to 80,000 – 100,000 words).
1.6 If approved by Senate the candidate will be granted provisional enrolment for a period of nine (9) months and will be required to prepare a detailed proposal (10,000-15,000 words) which includes an exposition and a literature review on the intending topics.
2.ENROLMENT
When the Senate approves or does not approve candidacy, the secretary of the Postgraduate Committee will inform the potential candidate and, if applicable, to enrol and pay the stipulated fees.
3.DURATION
3.1 A candidate will normally be a full-time candidate for at least three years and no more than four years from the date of enrolment. A candidate admitted to part-time study must be enrolled for at least five years and no longer than seven years from the date of enrolment.
3.2 The Postgraduate Committee may allow transfer from full-time to part- time and vice versa and shall determine the minimum and maximum period of enrolment.
4.SUPERVISORS
4.1 The Postgraduate Committee, on the advice of the Director/Dean, shall appoint at least two suitably qualified academic staff as supervisors of the candidate’s research. One will be designated as the principal supervisor.
4.2 The principal supervisor shall submit a written progress report to the Postgraduate Committee nine months after registration and then every nine months.
4.3 If a report is unsatisfactory the Postgraduate Committee may impose conditions of performance on the candidate for the following six months and require a further supervisor’s report at the end of that time, or terminate the candidacy, or terminate the candidacy when the candidate has not made satisfactory progress or the duration prescribed has expired.
4.4 The candidate may notify the Director/Dean and/or Senate, in writing, if she/he considers that any supervisor’s performance or resources available are unsatisfactory.
5.PROGRAMME REQUIREMENTS
5.1To be awarded the degree a candidate must pass any prescribed coursework and
i.The thesis, a monograph of 80,000 – 100,000 words or
ii.A thesis, a monograph of 50,000 – 60,000 words, and a presentation of a creative product which are separate but interdependent, to produce an integrated reflective approach to the research topic. Creative product may include painting, drawing, novel, biography, volume of poems. The presentation must clearly demonstrate that the candidate has successfully realised the objective of the research topic. Any coursework must be passed before the thesis is submitted or
iii.An assemblage of three or more research papers (equivalent to 80,000 – 100,000 words) identified in the thesis proposal approved by the NUS Postgraduate Committee of Senate, to be completed during the period of enrolment and published or accepted for publication, in peer-reviewed journals considered reputable in the relevant discipline by the NUS Postgraduate Committee of Senate. The PhD with Publications will include an overview paper of (5000-10,000 words) demonstrating how the papers address a significant research question or questions and collectively present a clearly identified contribution to knowledge of the subject with which it deals.
5.2 Any ethical issues (before or during the research) raised by the research must be cleared by the relevant university body.
5.3 Candidates will have ownership of intellectual property related to their research unless other arrangements have been agreed.
5.4 It is expected that full-time candidates will only be available for paid employment for a limited amount of time.
5.5 The Director/Dean may approve research/study located away from the university for up to six months.
5.6 The Postgraduate Committee must give approval for more than six months research/study located away from the university.
5.7 An applicant for candidature may seek the approval of Senate on the application form for the candidate usually to be located off campus. The Director/Dean may prescribe a minimum period(s) during which the candidate must be present on campus.
5.8 The candidate will be required to present an oral report on the progress of the thesis every nine months after enrolment to a panel of three appointed by the Director/Dean and preferably in the presence of the supervisors. The panel’s role is to advise the candidate. For an off- campus candidate telephone/teleconferencing link will suffice.
5.9 In the first six months of candidature, suspension will only be granted for exceptional circumstances. Candidates must apply for suspension – retrospective
leave will not be granted. The Director/Dean may grant suspension for a total of six months during candidature. Application for additional suspension for up to nine months must be made to the Postgraduate Committee. Suspension will not count as part of the period of candidature.
5.10 The Director/Dean may approve an illness of more than two weeks, supported by a recognised medical practitioner’s report, as a leave of absence.
5.11 An application for maternity (maximum ten weeks), paternity (maximum ten working days) and adoption leave (maximum five days) may be granted by the Director/Dean. Medical reports are required. The leave will not count as part of the period of candidature.
5.12 All suspension, except sick leave, must be approved before leave is taken. Approval must be in writing and a copy placed on the candidate’s file.
5.13 The Director/Dean, on the advice of the principal supervisor, may approve an extension of candidature for six months beyond that stipulated in 3.1 above. Any
further extension will only be granted by the Postgraduate Committee, after advice from the principal supervisor has been sought. If no extension is granted under this section the candidature will lapse according to the time limitation from the date of first enrolment.
6.EXAMINATION
6.1 Thesis only (100,000 words)
The principal supervisor will notify the Director Student, Services, that the candidate will submit the thesis within one month. The candidate shall submit three spiral bound copies and an e-copy of the thesis to the Director Student Services including the statement on authorship (Appendix 2). The thesis must be presented according to the instructions issued by the Postgraduate Committee, Thesis Presentation Requirements.
Thesis (60,000 words) and Creative Work
The principal supervisor will notify the Director, Student Services, that the candidate will offer a substantial presentation of creative product and submit a near final draft of the thesis within a month. The examiners will view the creative work together with the draft thesis with no other persons present but may seek clarifications from the candidate. Some alterations may occur to the thesis after the exhibition for formal submission. The candidate shall then submit three spiral bound copies and an e-copy of the thesis ( at least 60,000 words) to the Director, Student Services including the statement on authorship. The thesis must be presented according to the instructions issued by the Postgraduate Committee, Thesis Presentation Requirements.
6.2 The Postgraduate Committee shall appoint:
a chairperson of the examiners who shall be one of the university’s professors or associate professors and/or one of the university’s academics who has a doctorate and is not a member of the candidate’s centre/faculty. The chairperson will not be an examiner, and at least three appropriately qualified examiners, nominated by the Director or relevant Dean, all of whom must be external to the university.
6.3 Each examiner shall, by a specified date, submit a written report on the thesis and a thesis and exhibition of creative work (if applicable) to the chairperson of the examiners. The examiners will recommend one of the categories:
i.To be unconditionally passed, or
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ii.To be passed with the required minor amendments made to the satisfaction of the supervisor and the degree awarded, or
iii.To be passed with the degree awarded after the required amendments have been to the satisfaction of the chairperson of examiners, or
iv.To be orally examined, or
v.To be revised and resubmitted for examination by a specified date, or
vi.To be accepted for a master’s degree, with or without amendment, or
vii.To be rejected with no right of resubmission.
6.4 If the examiners disagree on whether the thesis should be passed (i, ii, iii) or failed (v, vi, vii), the majority recommendation will prevail. The chairperson of examiners shall so report to the Postgraduate Committee and attach the examiners’ reports.
6.5 The Postgraduate Committee will accept the majority decision of the examiners. It will also consult the examiners’ reports to reconcile any differences between examiners within recommendations i, ii, iii on one hand and v, vi vii on the other, to determine the final recommendation to the Senate.
6.6 If the Postgraduate Committee decides on the basis of the examiners’ reports that an oral examination should be held, the chairperson of examiners will arrange for the oral examination. The chairperson will conduct the examination with the aid of the examiners.
The supervisors may attend. For off-island examiners a telephone/teleconferencing link may suffice. If desired by the candidate, two persons nominated by the candidate may attend the oral examination. However, they may not comment during the oral examination and may not communicate with the examiners at any time on the thesis. Immediately after the oral examination, the examiners will submit a written report to the chairperson of the examiners recommending one of the categories in 6.3 but not iv. The chairperson of examiners will forward that report to the Postgraduate Committee will make a recommendation to the Senate using one of the categories in 6.3 but not iv.
6.7 If the Senate recommends that the degree be awarded, the secretary to Postgraduate Committee will inform the candidate, by letter: To apply to graduate, and That two bound copies of the thesis must be submitted by a specified date before graduation to the Director Student Services. The copies will be placed in the Learning Resources Centre.
6.8 The Manager should also inform the candidate that the candidate may restrict access to or use of all or any part of the thesis for any period of time.
7.APPEAL
If a candidate considers that she/he has been disadvantaged by the examination process, then a written appeal should be lodged with the Vice-Chancellor, within one month of the result of the examination being officially announced. The appeal must state the specific grounds for appeal. The Vice-Chancellor may appoint two independent academics to consider the appeal and to recommend a course of action. The Vice-Chancellor’s decision will be final.
8.These regulations are effective from 1 January, 2018.