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Joint Report of the Council and the General Board on the formulation of residence requirements for the M.Phil. Degree

The COUNCIL and GENERAL BOARD beg leave to report to the University as follows:

1. Statute B, III provides that a person to be admitted to the M.Phil. Degree shall have kept three or six terms at least by residence for the one- or two-year courses respectively.

2. The Council and the General Board have been informed that there are educationally valuable proposals for M.Phil. courses to be taught jointly with other universities, particularly in Europe and in North America, and that it could be inappropriate for the present residence requirements to apply inflexibly to all M.Phil. courses.

3. One change to the arrangements for the M.Phil. Degree has already been made. In their Joint Report on the establishment of a degree of Master of Philosophy in Chinese Studies, and associated matters (Reporter, 1999-2000, p. 575), the Council and the General Board recommended approval of a proposal from the Faculty Board of Oriental Studies to introduce a two-year course in Chinese Studies for the M.Phil. Degree which included a period of study at a Chinese university or similar institution. This required an extension of the provisions of Statute B, III, 9(b) to empower the Council to grant an allowance of not more than three terms to pursue courses of study outside the University to students who were following a course of study of not less than six terms. This amendment to the Statute was approved by Grace 1 of 10 May 2000 and by the Queen in Council on 14 February 2001.

4. The Council and the General Board propose that the Statute should now be amended to provide for the residence requirements for the M.Phil. Degree to be determined by Ordinance, and for the application of these requirements to be approved by the Board of Graduate Studies and the General Board, course by course. The Council and the General Board expect that the present residence requirements would continue to apply for all existing M.Phil. courses, and an Ordinance is proposed to this effect. Any departure from this arrangement for a new or amended course would be presented by the Faculty Board or other body concerned, with the full educational justification, to the Board of Graduate Studies and the General Board for consideration. The Council and the General Board have been informed that some proposals may be brought forward in the present academic year in respect of cooperation with a European university, and in cooperation with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as part of the recently formed Cambridge-MIT Institute. Proposals for joint Masters' programmes with MIT from the Departments of Architecture, Chemical Engineering, Engineering, and Land Economy, the Institute for Manufacturing, and the Judge Institute of Management Studies, have been submitted or are in preparation.

5. Before approving proposals for a joint course, the General Board will need to be entirely satisfied that the educational arrangements for the joint course, and in particular any part of a course conducted by a partner university, are fully consistent with the standards of education, teaching, and student support required by this University.

6. The Council and the Board therefore recommend:

I. That the Statutes of the University be amended as follows, that the Common Seal be affixed to the amendment of Statutes, and the amendments submitted for approval by Her Majesty in Council:

Statute B

MATRICULATION, RESIDENCE, DEGREES, DISCIPLINE

Chapter iii

DEGREES

Section 5.

Subsection (a).

By deleting the words 'or to the degree of Master of Philosophy having followed a one-year course of further study and training in research, prescribed by Ordinance,'

Subsection (c).

By amending this paragraph to read:

(c) no one shall be admitted to the degree of Master of Philosophy having followed a one-year course of further study and training in research prescribed by Ordinance or a two-year course of advanced study and training in research prescribed by Ordinance unless he or she has complied with such conditions of residence as shall have been approved by Ordinance;

Section 8.

Subsection (b).

By replacing the words 'the six terms required to be kept under section 5(c) above for the degree of Master of Philosophy' with the words 'the number of terms required to be kept for the degree of Master of Philosophy which requires a two-year course of study'.

II. That the following regulations be approved with effect from the date of approval of the amendment of Statute contained in Recommendation I above.

RESIDENCE FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF PHILOSOPHY

1. Save as otherwise provided in the Statutes or Ordinances, no-one shall be admitted to the degree of Master of Philosophy having followed a one-year course of further study and training or research prescribed by Ordinance, unless he or she has kept three terms at least by residence.

2. Save as otherwise provided in the Statutes or Ordinances, no-one shall be admitted to the degree of Master of Philosophy having followed a two-year course of advanced study prescribed by Ordinance unless he or she has kept six terms at least by residence.

III. That the general regulations for the degree of Master of Philosophy (one-year course) be amended, with effect from the date of approval of the amendment of Statute contained in Recommendation I above, as follows:

Regulation 4.

By inserting in line 2 after the words 'shall pursue in the University' the words 'or similar institution approved by the Degree Committee concerned and by the Board of Graduate Studies'.

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Cambridge University Reporter, 27 March 2002
Copyright © 2002 The Chancellor, Masters and Scholars of the University of Cambridge.