Statutes and Ordinances of the University of Cambridge
CHAPTER IX
p. 614
FACULTIES, DEPARTMENTS, AND OTHER INSTITUTIONS UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF THE GENERAL BOARD

The provisions contained in this Chapter are Regulations of the General Board

DEGREE COMMITTEES

Amended by Graces 1 of 6 December 2017, 4 of 14 March and 4 of 4 July 2018, and Notice (Reporter, 2017–18, p. 158)

Constitution.

1. There shall be a Degree Committee for each Faculty, and for each of the institutions specified in Schedule I to these regulations. The constitution of such a Degree Committee shall be determined by the Faculty Board or other comparable authority, provided that:

  1. (a)the minimum numbers of members shall be ten persons and the maximum shall be twenty persons unless the General Board determines otherwise in an individual case;
  1. (b)no person shall be a member of a Degree Committee who [has been admitted as a Graduate Student or who is a candidate for a Diploma or a Certificate or comparable qualification, the regulations for which do not require her or him to be admitted as a Graduate Student] 〈is a registered student〉1;
  1. (c)Degree Committees may co-opt one or more members from other Degree Committees; the co-opted members of the Committee shall serve for one year from 1 January following the date of their co-optation or for the remainder of the calendar year in which they are co-opted, as the Faculty Board or comparable authority shall determine.
Chair.

2. Each Degree Committee shall nominate one of its members as Chair of the Committee for appointment by the Board of Graduate Studies.

Secretary.

3. The Faculty Board shall nominate a Secretary to the Committee for appointment by the Board of Graduate Studies. Unless the appointed Secretary is an assistant member of staff, he or she may be a voting member of the Committee. The Secretary shall inform the Registrary of any change in the Committee’s membership.

Meetings.

4. Degree Committees shall meet with sufficient frequency to conduct their business in an appropriate and timely manner.

Quorum.

5. (a) Subject to sub-paragraph (b), no business shall be transacted at a meeting of a Degree Committee unless at least one third of the whole number of members is present. No resolution that a person be recommended or approved for the award of a degree, or that a person be not so recommended or approved, shall be valid unless passed with the concurrence of the votes, cast at a meeting, of one half of the whole number of members of the Committee.

(b) Exceptionally, with the prior approval of the Chair of the Board of Graduate Studies, the approval for such a resolution may be obtained by circulation, provided that at least one half of the whole number of members of the Degree Committee support that resolution.

Duties.

6. It shall be the duty of each Degree Committee:

  1. (a)to recommend applicants for admission as Graduate Students to the Board of Graduate Studies, and to consider matters affecting those Graduate Students within the oversight of the Degree Committee, including review of their subsequent progress, reporting or making recommendations to the Board as appropriate;
  1. (b)to make recommendations to the Board of Graduate Studies on applications for allowances as appropriate under the regulations listed in Schedule II;
  1. (c)to receive the reports and recommendations from Examiners and Assessors on the work of candidates for the degrees of Doctor of Divinity, Law, Science, Letters, Music, Philosophy, Engineering, Education, Medicine, Medical Science, and Veterinary Medicine, and of Master of Science and of Letters, and to make recommendations to the Board of Graduate Studies on whom, in the opinion of the Committee, the degrees should be conferred;
  1. (d)to receive the reports and recommendations from Examiners and boards of Examiners on the work of candidates for the degrees of Master of Philosophy by dissertation and by advanced study, Master of Research, Master of Studies, and Master of Education, and for the Certificate of Postgraduate Study, the Advanced Diploma in Economics, and Postgraduate Diplomas in Legal Studies and in International Law, and to submit for publication to the Board of Graduate Studies lists of those candidates to whom, in the opinion of the Committee, the qualifications should be awarded, in a form as prescribed by the Board;
  1. (e)to receive the reports and recommendations from Examiners and boards of Examiners on the work of candidates for the Advanced Diploma in Theology, Religion, and Philosophy of Religion and the Diploma in the Conservation of Easel Paintings, and to determine those candidates to whom, in the opinion of the Committee, the qualifications should be awarded;
  1. (f)to review and comment on applications for new graduate and postgraduate programmes;
  1. (g)to make an Annual Report to the cognate Faculty Board or comparable authority as those bodies deem necessary or as they may require;
  1. (h)to undertake such other functions as may from time to time be assigned to them by the General Board, the cognate Faculty Board or comparable authority, or the Board of Graduate Studies.

SCHEDULE I

Department of Land Economy

Department of History and Philosophy of Science

Department of Politics and International Studies

SCHEDULE II

Regulations for the following degrees, diplomas, and certificates:

Doctor of Philosophy, Master of Science, Master of Letters, and Master of Philosophy by Dissertation

Doctor of Business

Doctor of Education

Doctor of Engineering

Master of Philosophy by Advanced Study

Master of Research

Master of Studies

Master of Education

Diploma in the Conservation of Easel Paintings

Advanced Diploma in Economics

Postgraduate Diploma in International Law

Postgraduate Diploma in Legal Studies

Certificates of Postgraduate Study

Footnotes

  1. 1. The text in angular brackets will replace the text in square brackets subject to the approval by Her Majesty in Council of the amendments of Statute approved by Grace 4 of 4 July 2018.a