Teaching Staff Qualifications
a. Master’s/Ph.D degree programmes
Teachers for postgraduate courses shall be Ph.D holders with at least
one year post-doctorate qualification experience in a University or
Research Institute. Other categories of staff below the rank of Senior
Lecturer, may be approved by Senate on the recommendation of the Board
of the School of Postgraduate Studies.
All such teachers shall not be registered postgraduate students.
b. Postgraduate Diploma Programme
Teaching staff not below the rank of Lecturer I may be assigned to teach
appropriate diploma programme.
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Postgraduate Supervision
1.
Supervisors for Master’s and Ph.D candidates
For each Ph.D degree student, one major supervisor and one co-supervisor
should be selected by the PG Committee of the department and approved
by the School PG Committee, SPGS Board and finally by the Senate.
In
exceptional circumstances a single supervisor may be appointed.
The Supervisory Committee will consist of these two supervisors together
with the Head of the Department. The major supervisor will be the chairman
of the committee.
For
Master’s degree and Postgraduate Diploma students, single supervisors
are sufficient.
2.
Eligibility
a. Each supervisor must possess the higher degree for which his candidates
are registered (unless the supervisor has attained the position of a
Professor). To qualify as supervisor for Master’s degree students,
the person must be sufficiently experienced in the required field.
b.
Supervisors for Ph.D candidates must be people with Ph.D and at least
the rank of Senior Lecturer or equivalent and must be people recognised
in their fields of specialisation.
c.
First time higher degree supervisors shall be expected to handle candidates
at the Master’s level only.
d.
A Department may recommend a Co-supervisor from another related department
when necessary.
e.
A Department may also appoint an external supervisor who shall be paid
an honorarium as approved by the University.
Major
supervisor shall receive full allowance as appropriate while co-supervisor
will receive half as much.
f.
Each Supervisor shall be required to supervise note more than either:
a. 10 Full-time Ph.D students
b. 15 Full-time Master’s students
c. 20 Full-time PGD students
The
workload of the supervisor for full-time students should be as follows:
3 units for a Ph.D student; 2 units for a Master’s and 1.5 units
for a PGD student. The workload of the co-supervisor should be considered
half as much.
For
Part-time students the workload of the supervisor should be considered
as half as much and in no case should exceed 30 units of supervision
load for a given supervisor.
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3.
Appointment
a. For Master’s degree students, supervisors shall be appointed
by the relevant Departmental Postgraduate Committee from teaching/research
staff of the University. Where it is necessary to use expertise from
outside the University for student supervision at least one member of
the Supervisory Committee shall be a staff of the relevant department.
A
Ph.D candidate after consultation with his/her supervisor of choice
expresses the specific area in his application in which he is willing
to carry out his Ph.D work.
b.
The appointment of the supervisor for the Ph.D candidate is then subject
to approval by the appropriate School Postgraduate Studies Committee
and the Board of the School of Postgraduate Studies and the Senate at
the time of admission.
c.
A supervisor may be changed when and where necessary subject to the
following due processes:
i)
A written request from the student should be submitted to the Department,
this should be routed through the Departmental and School Postgraduate to the Board of the School of Postgraduate Studies. The request
must clearly state the reason(s) for seeking a change of supervision.
The Board of the School of Postgraduate Studies shall consider the request
and make an appropriate recommendation to Senate.
ii)
In a case where the supervisor to be changed is also the Head of Department,
the candidate shall still follow the normal channels of communications
but advance copies of the request should be sent to both the Dean of
his School and Dean of the School of Postgraduate Studies. The Dean
of the Postgraduate School shall initiate actions to consider the request
if no further communications is received from the Department and School
concerned.
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4.
Duties and Responsibilities
a) Major Supervisors shall among other duties:
i)
advise and guide the student in his studies, both course work and research/project
work, making themselves readily available to the student for consultations
at regular intervals throughout the duration of the programme;
ii)
submit written regular progress reports of each student on a semester
basis to the Postgraduate School Board through the Departmental and
School Postgraduate using the approved format;
iii)
be conversant with the student’s registration status in order
to effectively guide his studies to a successful end within the allowed
period of time;
iv)
inform the Postgraduate School, through the normal channels, if and
when any member of the Supervisory Committee is compelled by absence,
illness or otherwise to relinquish his supervisory role;
v)
initiate any necessary action through the Department and the appropriate
School Postgraduate , and keeping the Postgraduate School
Board fully informed, if, at any time the student’s health,
behaviour
or work deteriorates, or if his circumstances change in such a way as
to adversely affect his postgraduate programme.
b)
Where a student spends part or all of his required time in another institution,
the external supervisor shall be required to submit a written progress
report on the candidate at the end of each semester in that institution.
Such
a supervisor should also be required to participate along with the internal
supervisor in the oral examination of the candidate (see section 18
below) .
c) The Head of Department shall at all times take full responsibility
for ensuring the competence of supervisors in his Department.
