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The COUNCIL and the GENERAL BOARD beg leave to report to the University as follows:
In July 1999, following the HEFCE Review of Chinese Studies, the University of Cambridge along with other institutions was invited to submit a bid for special funding from the HEFCE to set up conversion courses for graduates in disciplines other than Chinese Studies, including the social sciences. In August 1999, after consultation with a number of other Faculties, a response from the Faculty Board of Oriental Studies was forwarded by the General Board to the HEFCE. The Faculty Board's bid took the form of a proposal for a two-year M.Phil. Degree course which would have at its core an intensive language teaching course. Students would also study the cultural history of China and would be able to choose special options on Chinese business, Chinese commercial law, Chinese politics, or Chinese geography. The Faculty Board's bid included an application to the HEFCE for funding for three additional lecturers or equivalent in these four optional subjects and for essential additional support for language teaching.
The University heard in November 1999 that the bid had been successful and the HEFCE have awarded £150,000 a year for the next five years as 'seed' money for posts to support the M.Phil. Degree course. The first moneys were paid to the University during the Michaelmas Term 1999.
The Faculty Board of Oriental Studies envisage that the course will have the following structure.
| 1. | Students would follow a course of intensive language instruction in Modern Standard Chinese and course-work in cultural orientation, as well as introductory courses relating to China in the areas of a candidate's own field of interest for two terms, i.e. the Michaelmas and Lent Terms of the first year of the proposed two-year course. |
| 2. | Students would then spend the following Easter and Michaelmas Terms and the intervening Long Vacation in a Chinese university or similar institution under supervision from Cambridge. |
| 3. | Students would return to Cambridge for the Lent and Easter Terms of the second year of the course. |
| 4. | Examinations would be taken in Cambridge in the final Easter Term. |
Conversion courses for graduates in social sciences, in history, in religious studies, and in literature would follow this same structure. The Faculty of Law, the Judge Institute of Management Studies, the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, and the Department of Geography are all interested in co-operating with the Faculty of Oriental Studies in this new venture. They have agreed to make appropriate papers available to include as options on the schedule of papers for the proposed new degree.
It is envisaged that approximately ten students a year will be admitted to the course, and it is hoped the first cohort of students might be admitted in October 2000. The Faculty Board are conscious that the funding for students has not yet been agreed but it is expected that they will be able to apply for awards from either the ESRC or the AHRB.
Under Statute B, III, 5(c), in order to qualify for a two-year M.Phil. Degree, a student is normally required to keep six terms by residence. Statute B, III, 9(b) empowers the Council to grant allowances of not more than three terms to any candidate for a degree for which he or she would have to keep nine or more terms by residence. This provision was introduced in order to allow students to take a course abroad as part of their undergraduate course. It is now proposed that this allowance be extended to graduate students who are following a course of study of not less than six terms.
The Board of Graduate Studies has had under consideration some amendments to the regulations for the two-year M.Phil. Degree, and it is proposed to put these amendments forward at this time in order that they may be applied to the newly-proposed M.Phil. Degree in Chinese Studies.
These proposals include extending the requirement for supervisors to provide reports so that a report be sent in each term of the course; extending the period of time allowed to be spent away from Cambridge during the course; altering the due date for submission of a thesis to later in the course and removing the requirement to deposit a copy of the thesis at the University Library; and removing the provision for re-examination.
The Council and the General Board accordingly recommend:
I. That, subject to the approval of Her Majesty in Council, the Statutes of the University be amended as follows, and that the proposed amendments be submitted under the Common Seal of the University for the approval of Her Majesty in Council:
Section 9.
By replacing on line three of sub-section (b) the word 'nine' with the word 'six'.
II. That, if Recommendation I is approved, regulations for the degree of Master of Philosophy in Chinese Studies, as set out in the Annex to this Report, be approved, with effect from 1 October following the date on which the amendments of Statutes proposed in Recommendation I take effect.
III. That, if Recommendation I is approved, certain regulations be amended, with effect from the same date, as follows:
(A) The general regulations for admission as a Graduate Student (Statutes and Ordinances, p. 394):
Regulation 8.
By inserting before the words 'one-year course' in sub-paragraph (ii) of the final paragraph the words 'two-year or'.
Regulation 11.
By inserting a new sub-paragraph (d) so as to read:
(d) In the case of a Graduate Student following a course of study that requires a period of instruction abroad in an approved institution, the Board may, on the recommendation of the Degree Committee concerned, remit or reduce payments under clause (a) of this regulation.
(B) The general regulations for the degree of Master of Philosophy (two-year course) (Statutes and Ordinances, p. 459)
Regulation 2.
By inserting after the word 'University' on line 2 the words 'or similar institution approved by the Degree Committee concerned and the Board of Graduate Studies'.
Regulation 3.
By amending sub-paragraph (a) so as to read:
| (a) | may allow a candidate for the degree to spend up to three terms of the course of study working under supervision outside the University under conditions approved by the Degree Committee and the Board; |
Regulation 11.
By amending the regulation so as to read:
11. Each candidate shall submit two copies of his or her thesis, accompanied by three copies of a summary of about 300 words in length, to the Board of Graduate Studies, in accordance with detailed arrangements approved by the Board. The thesis shall be submitted so as to arrive by such date as shall be determined by the Board, on the recommendation of the Degree Committee concerned, but which shall not be later than the last day of August in the second academical year of the course, unless on account of illness or other sufficient cause certified by a candidate's Tutor the Board have given a candidate leave to defer submission to a date to be determined by themselves. In special circumstances the Board, after consulting with the Degree Committee concerned, may allow a candidate to submit only one copy of the thesis. The Examiners and the Degree Committee may take into consideration any memoir or work published by the candidate which is submitted with the thesis.
Regulations 16-21.
By deleting Regulation 16, renumbering subsequent Regulations 17-21 as 16-20, respectively, and amending cross-references where necessary.
Regulation 16 (previously numbered 17).
By deleting in the first sentence the words ', and if they do not recommend that the candidate be allowed an opportunity to be re-examined or to submit revised work under Regulation 16'.
Regulation 18 (previously numbered 19).
By rewriting the regulation so as to read:
19. Before being admitted to the degree, a student shall deposit in each library of the Faculty, Department, or other institution concerned one copy of his or her thesis where it shall be available for consultation.
20 March 2000
| ALEC N. BROERS, Vice-Chancellor | DONALD LAMING | MICHAEL PEPPER |
| G. R. EVANS | MELISSA LANE | JEREMY SANDERS |
| A. L. R. FINDLAY | JOHN A. LEAKE | M. SARDY |
| DAVID HARRISON | A. M. LONSDALE | DAVID M. THOMPSON |
| GORDON JOHNSON | M. D. MACLEOD | R. E. THORNTON |
| T. JONES | ONORA O'NEILL |
8 March 2000
| ALEC N. BROERS, Vice-Chancellor | MALCOLM GRANT | N. J. MACKINTOSH |
| P. J. BAYLEY | BRIAN F. G. JOHNSON | ADRIAN POOLE |
| A. L. R. FINDLAY | JOHN A. LEAKE | KATE PRETTY |
| KEITH GLOVER | PETER LIPTON | M. SCHOFIELD |
1. The scheme of examination for the two-year course of study in Chinese Studies for the degree of Master of Philosophy shall consist of:
| (a) | five written papers on subjects approved by the Degree Committee for the Faculty of Oriental Studies, provided that, with the approval of the Degree Committee, a candidate may offer, in place of not more than one of those papers, three essays, each of not more than 5,000 words, or equivalent alternative exercises, on topics specified by the Degree Committee; |
| (b) | a thesis of not more than 12,000 words, including footnotes, references, and appendices but excluding bibliography, on a subject approved by the Degree Committee; |
| (c) | a Chinese oral. |
2. The examination may include, at the discretion of the Examiners, an oral examination on the thesis and on the general field of knowledge within which it falls.
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Cambridge University Reporter, 22 March 2000
Copyright © 2000 The Chancellor, Masters and Scholars of the University of Cambridge.