UFH Postgraduate Minimum Requirements

Assessment for an Honours Qualification

17.4.1 A candidate for an honours qualification must obtain:

17.4.1.1 an aggregate of at least 50 percent in all the modules comprising the specific honours programme;

17.4.1.2 a sub-minimum of 40 percent examination mark in each module;

17.4.1.3 at least 50 percent examination mark in no less than half of all the (honours modules) examinations. Where the honours programme  consists  of  an  odd  number  of  modules,  the Faculty Examinations Committee shall determine whether the candidate has achieved the 50 percent requirement in terms of this rule; and

17.4.1.4  a  pass  mark  in  every  examination  (ancillary  modules, language tests etc.) as may be specified in the programme description and/or as required by Senate.

17.4.2 A  candidate  shall  normally  retain  credit  for  any  individual  module passed for a period not exceeding three years.

17.5   Assessment for a Master‟s or a Doctoral Qualification based on Course-Work:

17.5.1 To obtain a Master‟s or doctoral qualification based on course-work the candidate must obtain:

17.5.1.1 an aggregate of at least 50 percent of the marks in all the modules comprising the specific programme; and

17.5.1.2 a sub-minimum of 40 percent in each module; and

17.5.1.3 a pass-mark in every other examination (ancillary modules, language tests, etc.) as may be specified in the programme description and/or as required by Senate.

17.5.2 A candidate for a Master‟s qualification shall normally retain credit for any individual module passed for a period not exceeding four years, and a candidate for a doctoral qualification shall normally retain credit for any individual module passed for a period not exceeding five years.

17.5.3 A mini-dissertation which forms part of a Master‟s programme shall comply with the format for a dissertation (Article 17.6 below) and is assessed in the same way.

17.5.4 Where a Master‟s qualification is based on course-work plus a mini- dissertation or a dissertation, the candidate shall comply with the abovementioned conditions and the conditions set out below for dissertations (17.6 below).

17.5.5 Where a doctoral qualification is based on course-work plus a thesis,

the candidate shall comply with the abovementioned conditions and the conditions set out below for theses (17.6 below).

17.6   Dissertations and Theses

17.6.1 The topic of a dissertation/thesis must be approved beforehand by

Senate.

17.6.2 A  dissertation/thesis  must  afford  evidence  of  the  student  being conversant with the particular subject‟s method of research and the documentation thereof.

17.6.3 Except  by  permission of  Senate  no  dissertation or  thesis  may  be submitted without written consent of the supervisor and co-supervisor (where applicable). Such consent does not commit the supervisors to recommend the approval of the dissertation/thesis.

17.6.4 A dissertation/thesis must be accompanied by a written declaration on the part of the candidates to the effect that it is their own work and has not previously been submitted to another university.

17.6.5 A dissertation/thesis shall not be accepted if it has previously been submitted in fulfilment of the requirements of another degree. Material from publications by the candidate may be embodied in a dissertation or thesis.

17.6.6 For the purpose of examination, candidates shall submit at least three copies of their dissertation or thesis. Unless Senate decides otherwise, a successful candidate shall, before admission to the degree, submit either a further three bound copies or make it available in such a way that it can be stored on compact disc. The first three copies may be bound in a soft cover, while the second three (final) copies must be bound   in   hard   cover.   Unless   Senate   decides   otherwise,   the examination copies of a dissertation or thesis shall be printed or typed in double spacing on one side of A4 size paper.

17.6.7 The  final  date  for  the  submission  of  a  dissertation  or  thesis  for examination  shall  normally  be  9  January,  and  candidates  who submitted by this date shall not be liable to the payment of additional fees if the examination of the dissertation or thesis is delayed. A Head of Department/Dean may, however, specify an earlier submission date to ensure that assessment will be completed in time for the forthcoming graduation event.

17.6.8 Any candidate who submits a dissertation or thesis after the prescribed date must pay a handling fee and if the examination of a candidate‟s dissertation or thesis is not completed in time for the degree to be awarded in the current academic year, the candidate must register for the following academic year and pay all the prescribed fees.

17.6.9 Copies  of  a  dissertation  or  thesis  submitted  for  examination  shall become the property of the University and shall not be returned to the

candidate. Examiners may retain their copies.

17.6.10 A dissertation or thesis shall contain a summary of its contents not exceeding 5000 words in length. This summary must appear in the front of the dissertation or thesis just after the index and must end with a list of not more than ten keywords.

17.6.11 The title page of the dissertation or thesis shall contain the following particulars:

17.6.11.1 full title as submitted at registration; and

17.6.11.2 full name of the candidate; and

17.6.11.3 the following formula: “submitted in fulfilment (or, in partial fulfilment) of the requirements for the degree of …… in the Faculty of………………………at the University of Fort Hare.” and

17.6.11.4 date of submission; and

17.6.11.5 name of the supervisor (and co supervisor, if applicable).

17.6.12 A dissertation or thesis must be satisfactory as regards form and literary presentation and shall include a full bibliography of the material, whether published or otherwise, used in its preparation.

17.6.13 A candidate shall submit, together with his/her dissertation or thesis a copy  of   every  dissertation  and  thesis  (if   applicable)  previously submitted for another degree, whether it was submitted or not.

17.6.14 Dissertations and theses examination reports shall be processed as follows:

17.6.14.1 The Examinations Department shall release dissertations/ theses examiners reports to the relevant Head of Department/ Director of School/Dean only after receipt of the required number of examiners‟ reports.

17.6.14.2 Upon receipt of examiners‟ reports, the relevant Head of Department /Director of School/Dean shall present them to the Faculty  Higher  Degrees  Committee  as  soon  as  possible. Where  amendments,  corrections,  etc.  have  been recommended by the examiners, they shall be affected only after the acceptance/approval of the reports by the said Committee.

17.6.14.3 Dissertations/theses that have been examined as well as the examiner‟s  reports on those dissertations/theses shall, following their consideration by the relevant Faculty Higher Degrees Committee, be  tabled before SENEX, which shall make the final determination on whether the dissertation/theses and the examiners‟ reports are satisfactory. The candidate shall only submit the final bound copies of the dissertation/theses after approval by SENEX.

17.6.14.4 A postgraduate candidate shall, subsequent to approval of

her/his dissertation/ thesis by SENEX, submit three final bound (hard) copies as well as an electronic version of the dissertation/thesis in PDF format to the Examinations Office which shall be responsible for delivering two hard copies and the electronic version to the University Library. The third bound copy shall be submitted to the GMRDC (PGS) which shall report to SENEX that the final bound copies and electronic version have been submitted.

17.6.15 Appeal against examination result. In the event of a dissertation or thesis  being  rejected,  the  candidate  may  submit  a  duly  motivated appeal to the Registrar of the University within 21 days of the release of the  result. The  Registrar shall  submit such  appeal to  the  relevant Director of School/Dean who shall table the appeal for consideration by the Higher Degrees Committee of the relevant Faculty. The Committee may request a panel consisting of the Dean of Research and another senior  academic  of  the  University  (who  has  not  been  previously involved  with  the  evaluation  of  the  student‟s work)  to  review  the processes leading up to the production and submission of the examiners‟ reports on the  student‟s work. The  panel‟s  decision on whether or not there should be a re–examination of the student‟s work shall be final.

17.6.16 Arbitration. Where an even number of examiners of a dissertation or thesis was divided on whether the work should be accepted and/or a cum laude result awarded, an additional examiner must be appointed. The recommendation of this examiner shall serve as a casting vote in the assessment of the dissertation or thesis examined. In other instances, the majority decision shall generally constitute the final result of the student.

17.6.17 Publication of dissertation or thesis. If a dissertation or thesis or an adaptation thereof, is published or otherwise presented, the candidate must state that it originated from masters or doctoral studies (as applicable) at the University.

17.6.18 Candidates shall normally retain the copyright in their dissertation or thesis, but it is a condition of registration for the degree (unless specifically excluded) that the University shall have the right to publish the dissertation or thesis in its original or an amended form six months after the award of the degree if the candidate has not himself/herself published it within this period. The University shall also have the right to make and distribute facsimile or microform copies of the dissertation or thesis, to distribute it in digitized (computer) format, to input the particulars on a bibliographical database, to include the work in summary   form   in   the   University‟s  Catalogue   of   Theses   and