Withdrawal for academic or personal reasons
In some instances, it becomes clear that a doctoral student will not be able to complete his or her MPhil or PhD thesis, whether for academic or personal reasons. The Institute’s annual monitoring procedures are designed to identify problems so that action can be taken at an early stage. There will be a small number of cases where withdrawal may be the best or only course of action.
The decision to withdraw may be taken by the student in discussion with his or her advisory panel, or the School/Research Unit Research Committee may recommend that the student concerned terminate his or her registration. A student who has received written notice from his/her supervisor during the year expressing concern about inadequate work or progress will have his/her performance reviewed by his/her academic School/Research Unit’s Research Committee. If the student’s performance over the year has been unsatisfactory, the School/Research Unit may consider it necessary to advise a period of special progress review (see 5.2) or a period of interruption, or even termination of registration for the degree concerned. Before such a decision is made, the student will be invited to attend a meeting to discuss his or her future on the course. The meeting will normally be with the student’s supervisor, the academic School/Research Unit’s Research Tutor and will be chaired by one other person who is not a member of the School/Research Unit.
It is hoped that, where possible, the student may be invited to present a written
account of work undertaken, which could take the form of a report or of one or
more short articles. This would provide a valuable publication for the student as
well as a useful research resource for the academic School/Research Unit. (see
the Doctoral School General Handbook for information on the Associateship
programme).
A written report of the discussions and advice given to the student will be passed to the Registry for consideration by the Head of the Doctoral School. Where it is recommended that the student’s registration be cancelled, the Registry will send a letter to the student, based upon the information provided by the School/Research Unit. This action will not normally be taken without full discussion with the student and due consideration of extenuating circumstances.
A student wishing to appeal against such a decision may wish to consult the complaints procedure given in the Student Guide to Institute Policies and Procedures (see the Code of Practice for Research Degrees).