GENERAL PROVISIONS

•   Departments, Faculties, Schools and Institutes are responsible for ensuring that all students admitted into an MPhil/PhD/DPhil programme have met the admissions requirements; that the research is reasonable, and capable of yielding significant results; and that candidates have fulfilled all requirements for the MPhil/PhD/DPhil degree prior to being recommended to the Senate for the aforesaid award.
• The objective of the Masters degree by research (MPhil) and doctoral study (PhD/DPhil) is to guide students to do original research. Thesis produced should be original and suitable for at least two publications in an accredited peer-reviewed indexed journal as a contribution towards knowledge and insight of the discipline. 
•  The degrees shall be offered in all Departments within all Faculties; Schools, and Institutes. Fields of study or research shall be determined by Senate.
• The maximum timeframe expected for a decision on provisional and full registration from the date of receipt of the application shall normally be 21 working days respectively.

REGULATIONS

1. There shall be Departmental, Faculty, School or Institute Regulations, to be read in conjunction with the General Academic Regulations for Master of Philosophy and PhD/Doctor of Philosophy Degrees. 
2. Area of study/specialisation and any other additional requirements may be prescribed and/or suggested the by Department, Faculty, School or Institute Regulations.

POSTGRADUATE DEGREES 

The University shall offer Master of Philosophy (MPhil) and PhD/Doctor of Philosophy (PhD/DPhil) either be by Traditional/Research thesis, or Thesis by publication.

GENERAL REQUIREMENTS FOR ADMISSION

• Application for Master of Philosophy and PhD/Doctor of Philosophy shall be open throughout the University’s calendar year.

Master of Philosophy Degree

• Applicants must have obtained an appropriate honours degree (ZNQF Level 8), or equivalent.

 PhD/Doctor of Philosophy

• A candidate must be in possession of a pass in a relevant Master’s or MPhil degree (ZNQF Level 9) or its equivalence, in a field offered by the University.

 Application Requirements and Procedure

• Application for MPhil or PhD/DPhil shall be made online on https://ww5.msu.ac.zw on the MSU-Postgraduate Studies Portal.
• A one-to-four paged concept note, certified copies of academic, and professional qualifications shall be required. 
• A motivational statement, or curriculum vitae or resume, and or any such additional documents, and or artefacts, recordings or publications may be requested.
• Proficiency in English language, or any such, as may be deemed relevant to be used for training shall be verified.

REGISTRATION 

Provisional Registration

Students shall register online at the beginning of each semester on the MSU-Postgraduate Studies Portal.

The candidate shall be advised of the need to register, and will only be regarded as a student after successfully completing registration procedures. The purpose of provisional registration shall be to:

1. allow the candidate time to develop an acceptable supervised proposal for the thesis; and
2. allow the candidate to demonstrate suitability for the degree by meeting the requirements established by the University.
3. The candidate shall be given one semester (six months) to complete and defend (at a faculty organised seminar series) the full proposal. The semester will not be counted as part of the training period. Extension of period rests with Senate.

Full Registration

At the end of the provisional registration period, a candidate shall be required to apply for full registration provided they have successfully presented their final supervised proposal at a scheduled Faculty, School or Institute Seminar Series. If the candidate fails to meet the requirements for full registration within the stipulated time, the Faculty Higher Degrees Committees, the School, Institute or Departmental Board may recommend period of extension for approval by Senate, or termination of studies. 

• MPhil students must complete their studies within 24 months (2 years), and PhD/DPhil four years (48 months) after registering for full registration, continuation, thereafter is subject to approval by Senate.

Progress Reporting 

There shall be Candidate and Supervisor(s) Progress Reporting submitted to the university online vial the MSU-Postgraduate Studies Portal.

ROLES OF THE RESEARCH AND INNOVATION DIVISION, DEPARTMENTAL BOARDS, FACULTY/SCHOOL/INSTITUTE HIGHER DEGREES COMMITTEES AND DEANS COMMITTEE ON ACADEMIC AFFAIRS

Research and Innovation Division

• The Research and Innovation Division shall render administrative and operational support to Departments, Faculties, Schools and Institutes with respect to MPhil and PhD/DPhil studies in the University.

Boards and Higher Degrees Committees

1. In the case of a Provisional Registration, the Departmental Board, School, or Institute shall reflect on the concept note, guided by, inter alia, whether it is:
2. valuable and has an impact to humanity, the discipline, innovation, industry and commerce, and academia in general; 
3. researchable, and or may lead to the development, promotion or creation of new knowledge, goods and or services, and or
4. whether the department and, or the university has the capacity in terms of the required infrastructure, supervision (even as externally hired), funding or whether there is potential for self and or external funding, and; 
5. Suggest and recommend supervisor(s).
6. Recommend to the Faculty Higher Degrees Committee granting of a provisional or Full Registration.
7. Faculty, School or Institute, shall grant or reject provisional registration thereafter recommend to DCAA to approach Senate for ratification.
8. In the case of a Full Registration:
9. the Departmental Board, School, or Institute shall reflect on the supervised proposal, guided by whether the proposed study is:
10. valuable and has an impact to humanity, the discipline, innovation, industry and commerce, and academia in general; 
11. researchable, and or may lead to the development, promotion or creation of new knowledge, goods and or services, and or
12. Whether the department and, or the university has the capacity in terms of the required infrastructure, supervision (even as externally hired), funding or whether there is potential for self and or external funding. 
13. Recommend to the Faculty Higher Degrees Committee for the granting of Full Registration.
14. Satisfy itself that the Departmental Board fulfilled Section 7.2.1 and grant, or reject provisional registration as recommended by the Departmental Board; report the decision to the Deans Committee on Academic Affairs (DCAA) for Senate decision.
15. In the case of a full registration, the Faculty Higher Degrees Committee shall satisfy itself that the supervised proposal:
16. Addresses the research, innovation and industrialisation needs of the university and country, humanity and or,
17. Potentially leads to the development, promotion or creation of new knowledge, goods and or services, and or
18. Whether the department and, or the university has the capacity in terms of the required infrastructure, supervision (even as externally hired), funding or whether there is potential for self and or external funding. 
19. Recommend to DCAA for the granting of a full registration or termination of studies.

The Deans Committee on Academic Affairs (DCAA) 

1. Recommend to Senate for Provisional, Full Registration, Termination or Extension of Studies decisions. 

UPGRADE FROM MPHIL TO PhD/DPHIL

A candidate registered for the MPhil degree may apply for upgrading to PhD/DPhil, after completion of not less than twelve (12) months’ studies if their supervisor(s) so recommend(s), upgrade registration to PhD/DPhil. The application shall be accompanied by a written recommendation from the Faculty Higher Degrees Committee, School or Institute, submitted to the Research and Innovation Division. DCAA shall make a determination and recommend to Senate for approval. The duration of further study, if any, which shall be required to pursue for the PhD/DPhil shall be prescribed by Senate.

DOWNGRADE FROM PhD/DPHIL TO MPHIL

A candidate registered for the PhD/DPhil, who wishes to downgrade to MPhil may apply for permission to downgrade to MPhil. The following shall be required by DCAA for recommendation to Senate: 

1. Supervisor(s), Faculty Higher Degrees Committee, School or Institute written recommendation.
2.  SUPERVISION OF MPHIL OR PhD/DPHIL 
3. Supervision Requirements

An MPhil or PhD/DPhil candidate shall conduct research under the guidance of a supervisor(s) as approved by Senate. All members of the supervisory team shall be suitably qualified scholars or may be experts/practitioners who shall report on each candidate’s progress at the end of each semester. Normally, a supervisor shall be permitted to supervise a maximum of five (5) MPhil candidates and four (4) PhD/DPhil.

Supervisor qualities and qualifications

1. The MPhil or PhD/DPhil supervisor must be a doctoral graduate with proven academic accomplishments, and or industrial experience in research; and must have a solid or respectful publication record in peer reviewed journals or assessed equivalents. 
2. Preferably, be in the professorial grade or have credentials that qualify them to be in that grade.
3. The MPhil or PhD/DPhil supervisor must be knowledgeable and possess deep, current content knowledge, and stays ahead of the supervisee for effective mentoring; demonstrates awareness of research, innovation and industrialisation needs and preferably, have experience in building collaborative relationships with a range of colleagues (internal or external) within own and adjacent disciplines and or research areas, research groups, and with stakeholders and other users of research.
4. Normally, two supervisors shall be assigned to each project, a main supervisor plus a co-supervisor. At least one of them must be an academic at the Midlands State University. In cases where the University has no capacity to supervise, all supervisors may be drawn from any national, regional, international university or research institute or institution.
5. Senate reserves the right to add or remove supervisor(s) from the recommended supervisory team.

Duties, Expectations of Supervisor and Supervisee

• The collective duties of the Supervisor shall be to:

1. Initiate the supervisee into sound research culture and practices acceptable in the field chosen for study; assist the supervisee progress semesterly and complete of set targets.
2. Guide supervisee on topic selection and refinement; proposal and thesis development; mentor candidate in paper presentations and article publications; lead on experiments, and compilation of the final thesis report in readiness for examination.
3. Assist in the search and application of research grants, and where applicable, facilitate filing for the protection of intellectual property (IP), through patents, copyrights, or industrial designs. 
4. The supervisor and supervisee shall thrive to identify or develop innovations, or create new products, or knowledge for dissemination to the society.
5. The medium language shall normally be English (UK). Where other languages, other than English, shall be used, translations into English (UK) shall be required at the expense of the candidate.

 

Supervision Allowances

1. Supervisors shall normally be paid an allowance at the end of every semester as shall be determined by the University, provided the candidate being supervised is registered and has been supervised for the semester upon submission of progress reports.
2. The supervisor(s) shall be paid the allowance for the semester in which the final thesis is submitted for examination.

Supervisee.

•  A supervisee or candidate shall maintain regular contact with the university and their supervisor(s).
• No break in the normal continuity of study shall be permitted, except by permission of the Senate. 
• An MPhil or PhD/DPhil candidate may be engaged in teaching at the University, provided that the total demand made by teaching duties does not exceed eight hours of work per week.

 Deferment of Studies

Deferment of studies shall be permitted. Normally, the deferment shall not be more than two consecutive semesters. The candidate must have the deferment process finalised before leaving the University as deferment shall not normally be done in retrospect.

•  Any extensions to the deferment period shall be approved by Senate.
•  At the expiry of the deferment, the candidate shall be required to regularise resumption of their studies.

Termination of Studies and Supervision

Termination of studies and or supervision shall be permissible.

1. Termination shall be ‘Voluntary’ wherein a candidate or appointed supervisor shall intentionally express desire to terminate their studies or supervisor contract any time of the year by notifying, in writing or otherwise, the university through the Research and Innovation Division. 
2. A candidate who wishes to voluntarily terminate their studies shall complete a ‘Termination of Studies Form,’ and submit a completed and signed form to the Research and Innovation Division together with a supporting letter detailing the reasons for intending to terminate their studies.
3. The Research and Innovation Division, together with Department and Faculty, School, or Institute may interview, even separately, the applicant after which studies shall be terminated. DCAA shall approach Senate for ratification.
4.  Termination shall be ‘Forced Termination’ wherein the candidate shall be obliged to cease undertaking studies due to:
5. Lapse in the maximum permissible period required to have completed the programme, or;
6. Failure to fulfil full registration requirements within the stipulated time, or due to;
7. Poor academic performance or gross failure to progress.
8. Failure to re-register after deferment of studies period has lapsed and no communication granted by the University.
9. Gross violation or failure to abide by binding and other University regulations, policy or procedure or;
10. Where the candidate has provided false information at the time of application or at any point thereafter.

•  A recommendation to terminate studies shall be made by the Faculty Higher Degrees Committee, School or Institute to the DCAA.

Termination of supervision 

• Supervisor(s) may voluntarily terminate or have their supervision contract terminated. A Supervisor may voluntarily express desire to terminate supervision contract with the University in writing.
• The Supervisor’s contract may be terminated should there be gross evidence of lack of supervision or violations of any standing University rules and regulations or as a result of failure to undertake the expected responsibilities of a supervisor.

Thesis Submission for Examination

•  Only a supervised thesis shall be eligible for examination. Candidates shall be examined by a board of examiners appointed by Senate.
•  MPhil candidates must have published at least one and PhD/DPhil at least two publications in reputable refereed journals emanating from their masters or doctoral research.
• The candidate shall present their work during a scheduled seminar series, have the thesis language-edited (proof of which must be an authentic editorial certificate or letter); thesis be subjected to an anti-plagiarism check with similarity index (SI) of less than 15% before the thesis is submitted for examination.

Examinations

•  There shall be examinations of the thesis produced at the end of the candidate’s period of study.
•  The Faculty Higher Degrees Committee, on recommendation of the departmental board; School or Institute shall recommend names of at least six (6) distinguished scholars, two of whom must be from Midlands State University, two from outside Midlands State University but in Zimbabwe, and two from an international institution.
  
• Three examiners from the recommended six (6) as in Section 15.2, one from Midlands State University, and two from outside the University shall be appointed to examine the submitted final thesis, and produce examiners’ reports within 30-days from the date of appointment.
•  Upon receipt of the three examiners’ reports, an Internal Examination Committee chaired by the Executive Director (or designate) Research and Innovation Division shall make a determination on whether or not the candidate proceeds for an oral examination/viva voce. 
•  If the thesis submitted for a degree is judged to be inadequate, the Internal Examination Committee may recommend to the Academic Board that the candidate be permitted to re-submit for examination in a revised form within a stipulated period.
• If granted by the Academic Board, the candidate shall register for the stipulated period. 
•  The candidate shall be deemed to have failed the degree if they do not re-submit the revised thesis within the stipulated period, and NO candidate shall re-submit the thesis for examination more than once. A candidate shall proceed to appear for oral examination or viva voce if at least two of the examiners passes the thesis in accordance to the set guidelines:
• The candidate shall be given one (1) month notice in writing of the pending examination. 
• The oral examination committee shall comprise of the Executive Director Research and Innovation Division (Chairing) or designate, Postgraduate Studies Manager, at least two (2) examiners; at least one (1) supervisor; the Executive Dean of the Faculty or Executive Director of the Institute; the Chairperson of the Department or Coordinator; one (1) Senior Academic member from the Department; one (1) Senior Academic member nominated by the Executive Dean of the Faculty or Executive Director of the School or Institute, the Deputy Registrar (Academic Affairs) and Research and Innovation Division technical and support staff nominated by the Executive Director

 Examination Verdict

• The final decision shall be endorsed by the Academic Board on the recommendation of the Examination Committee based on the thesis and oral examination (viva voce).

 Four categories shall be used as follows;

• The final examination decision to be recommended to the Academic Board for MPhil and PhD/DPhil candidates shall fall within one of the following categories: Pass.
• Pass subject to minor corrections to the satisfaction of the candidates’ supervisor(s) and the department.
• Pass subject to major corrections to the satisfaction of the candidates’ supervisor(s), department, faculty, school or institute Fail.
• In the event of a candidate failing, the candidate may submit a duly motivated appeal in writing to the Executive Director Research and Innovation Division within fourteen working days from the date of notification. 
• If the appeal is granted, an independent examiner shall be appointed who shall act as an arbiter. The verdict of the arbiter shall be final and binding.

Deferment of Oral Examination

• The oral examination may be deferred and candidate shall be allowed to take them at the next offering on the grounds of ill-health subject to a Medical Certificate issued by a properly constituted Medical Board. If on the grounds other than ill-health, the Executive Director Research and Innovation Division shall invite the applicant for an interview, thereafter and the University appropriately.
• It shall be the candidate’s responsibility to satisfy the University beyond reasonable doubt on why they wish to defer the oral examination (viva voce).

Publication of results and thesis archiving 

• Thesis Examination Results shall be published by the Registrar upon satisfactory fulfilment of all the stipulated requirements for the degree. 
•  A result pass list indicating the candidate’s performance in the examination shall be made available to the candidate.
• After the final thesis has been approved, print copies shall be bound in standard form Art Vellum or cloth; overcast; edges uncut; lettered boldly up back in gold (0.5-1.25 cm) degree; date and name; before the award of the degree is published by the Registrar. 
• Two bound copies plus a soft copy in PDF must be presented to the University with the approval of the Departmental Chairperson.
• Print and soft copies of the thesis that have been accepted for the award of the degree shall be distributed for archiving by the University.

Award of Degree

• An MPhil or PhD/DPhil degree appropriately designated shall be awarded to a candidate who was properly admitted to the University, has followed the approved programme of study over the stipulated period, and has fulfilled both the University, Faculty and Department, School or Institute requirements.
• The result of an examination held for the award of an MPhil or PhD/DPhil degree shall be presented to Senate for confirmation. Thereafter, the degree shall be conferred under the seal of the University upon each successful candidate.

 Cancellation of Award

• Notwithstanding confirmation of an award of a degree, Senate may at any time cancel an award, even with retrospective effect, if it becomes known that: 
• a candidate had entered the University with false qualifications, or
• a candidate had impersonated someone else, or
• a candidate had been guilty of an examination malpractice, or
• that there are other reasons that would have led to the withholding of confirmation of the award in the first place.
• In any such event, the decision of Senate shall be published on the University Notice Board and the candidate notified. 
• At the end of a candidate’s programme, the University shall issue to the particular candidate a complete transcript of their academic record.