8 ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES IN RELATION TO THE ADMISSION OF RESEARCH STUDENTS

Transcription

1 ADMISSIONS - RESEARCH STUDENTS SUMMARY OF PRINCIPAL CHANGES General changes None Secton 5.1 Refer to text 10.7 Refer to text 10.8 Refer to text 10.7 Refer to text (Amendments to verson 07.0, UPR SA02 are shown n talcs.) Structure 1 INTRODUCTION 2 SCOPE 2.2 Research Centres/Research Insttutes 3 DEFINITIONS 3.1 applcant 3.2 'research student 3.3 'programme of research tranng' 3.4 nternatonal student 4 ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF COMMITTEES AND BOARDS 4.1 Academc Board 4.2 Recrutment and Admssons Polcy Revew Commttee 4.3 Research Degrees Board 4.4 Charman of the Recrutment and Admssons Polcy Revew Commttee 5 GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF ADMISSIONS 6 RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES ASSOCIATED WITH AGREEMENTS OTHER THAN THOSE INVOLVING THE PROVISION BY THE UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATIONAL SERVICES 7 ADDITIONAL PRINCIPLES GOVERNING THE ADMISSION OF CERTAIN GROUPS OF APPLICANTS 7.1 Applcants wth dsabltes 7.2 Applcatons from people who are at rsk or who may be a rsk 7.3 Applcatons to outsde the Brtsh Isles 7.4 Academc Technology Approval Scheme (ATAS) 7.5 UK Vsa and Immgraton (UKVI) 8 ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES IN RELATION TO THE ADMISSION OF RESEARCH STUDENTS 8.3 Delegaton of authorty 8.4 Where the Dean of School or hs or her nomnee s absent 8.5 Wthdrawal of delegated authorty 9 APPLICATIONS 10 CONSIDERATION AND REJECTION OF APPLICATIONS 1/11

2 10.6 Rejecton of applcatons 10.7 Request for the revew of the decson of a Dean of School/Head of Department (or nomnee) 10.8 Complants 11 ENTRY REQUIREMENTS 12 INFORMATION TO PROSPECTIVE APPLICANTS 13 OFFERS 14 ADMISSION OF APPLICANTS WITH DISABILITIES 14.1 Statement of general polcy 14.2 Applcants who become dsabled whlst they are students of the Unversty - statement of polcy 14.3 Dsclosure by an applcant of a dsablty 14.4 Students choosng or alterng all or part of a programme of research tranng after admsson - statement of polcy 14.5 Procedures for the admsson of dsabled students Prncpal/Academc Supervsors 15 COMPETENCE IN THE USE OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE 15.1 Statement of polcy 16 DETERMINATION OF APPLICANTS TUITION FEE STATUS 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Ths document (UPR SA02) has been approved by the Academc Board wth effect from 1 September UPR SA02 may be amended only wth the pror approval of the Academc Board and/or, as approprate, the Standng Workng Party on UPRs. 2 SCOPE 2.1 UPR SA02 apples to applcants, research students and to staff admttng research students to the Unversty and governs the admsson of all research students (full-tme and part-tme) ncludng research students who wll be based overseas. 2.2 Research Centres/Research Insttutes Secton 8.2, refers. 3 DEFINITIONS For the purposes of ths document the followng defntons wll apply: 3.1 applcant : a person applyng to the Unversty of Hertfordshre for admsson as a research student; 1 Academc Board Mnutes 684.2, 16 June 99; 716.1, 1 December 99; 731.3, 15 March 2000; 795.2, 14 March 2001; 861.2, 6 March 2002; 956.2, 5 March 2003; 62.2, 10 March 2004; 139.8, 9 March 2005; 257.3, 1 March 2006; , 7 March 2007 and 479, 12 March 2008; 667, 10 March 2010; 9, 16 March 2011; 123, 14 March 2012, 292 and , 19 June 2013; and 359, 12 March 2014; 480, 11 March 2015; 512, 24 June 2015, refer. 2/11

3 3.2 'research student : a person enrolled by the Unversty who has, or ntends, to apply to the Research Degrees Board of the Academc Board for regstraton of a programme of work leadng to a research award of the Unversty; 3.3 'programme of research tranng': the programme of study specfed n the Research Degree Schedule whch apples to the research degree for whch the research student has or wshes to regster a programme of work; 3.4 nternatonal student : a person from a country outsde the Unted Kngdom. 4 ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF COMMITTEES AND BOARDS 4.1 Academc Board Subject to the overall responsblty of the Board of Governors, the Academc Board s responsble for determnng the Unversty's prncples, polces, regulatons and procedures relatng to the admsson of all students to Unversty programmes. The Academc Board receves reports on the outcomes of the Unversty s student recrutment actvtes and the actvtes of the Unversty s admssons servces. 4.2 Recrutment and Admssons Polcy Revew Commttee The Recrutment and Admssons Polcy Revew Commttee s a commttee of the Academc Board and s responsble to the Board for revewng the Unversty s polces for the recrutment and admsson of students and makng necessary recommendatons to the Board. 4.3 Research Degrees Board The Research Degrees Board s a commttee of the Academc Board. Its responsbltes nclude, but are not lmted to, montorng and revewng the operaton of the Unversty s polces, procedures and practces for the admsson of research students and for related matters and for makng a report to the Recrutment and Admssons Polcy Revew Commttee not less than once n each Academc Year. (Note for gudance: Deans of School have overall responsblty for the admsson of research students (secton 8, refers). Unless ndcated otherwse n the text of ths document, those matters whch reman the responsblty of the Research Degrees Board have been delegated to Heads of Research Degrees (Research Insttutes).) 4.4 Charman of the Recrutment and Admssons Polcy Revew Commttee It s the responsblty of the Charman of the Recrutment and Admssons Polcy Revew Commttee to advse the Academc Board and the Chef Executve s Group on the further development of the Unversty s admssons prncples, polces, regulatons and procedures. 3/11

4 5 GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF ADMISSIONS 5.1 The admsson of ndvdual applcants s at the dscreton of the Unversty. It should be noted that the Unversty regards decsons concernng whether an applcant satsfes the general prncples of admsson set out n secton (5) and the entry requrements for the research degree for whch regstraton wll be sought, to be matters of academc judgment. 5.2 In exercsng ths dscreton, the Unversty wll be guded by the followng prncples whch wll be appled to applcants, ncludng those wth pror experence: v v v v the applcant's chosen area s consstent wth the Unversty's current research strategy; the Unversty has the necessary expertse amongst ts staff to provde a programme of research tranng n the applcant's chosen area; the Unversty s able to provde the necessary resources from the tme of the student's admsson untl the concluson of hs or her perod of regstraton (the provson of such resources beng subject to the student's satsfactory progress on hs or her programme of research tranng); the applcant meets the crtera for elgblty set out n UPR AS10 2 and relevant Research Degree Schedule for the award for whch he or she wshes to regster a programme of work; there should be a reasonable expectaton that anyone admtted as a research student has the potental to complete successfully a programme of research tranng; n consderng each ndvdual applcant for admsson, evdence wll be sought of the applcant s personal, professonal and educatonal experences that provde ndcatons of hs or her ablty to meet the demands of, and beneft from, a programme of research tranng; the Unversty ams to ensure n the admsson and treatment of applcants and students that no-one receves less favourable treatment because of characterstcs protected by UK legslaton 3 or because of famly or care responsbltes, socal class, trade unon actvty, beng an ex-offender or other unreasonable grounds. 6 RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES ASSOCIATED WITH AGREEMENTS OTHER THAN THOSE INVOLVING THE PROVISION BY THE UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATIONAL SERVICES 6.1 Where an agreement nvolvng a research opportunty, such as a Research Studentshp or a Research Assstant post, requres that the ndvdual enrols as a research student of the Unversty and subsequently seeks regstraton as a research degree canddate, an offer shall not be made to the ndvdual unless he or she has made an applcaton for admsson as a research student and that applcaton has been consdered n accordance wth the requrements of ths document. 6.2 Where the ndvdual's applcaton for admsson as a research student s rejected, he or she shall not be apponted to the research opportunty. 2 UPR AS10 Research Degrees Generc Insttutonal Regulatons 3 The followng are protected characterstcs under the provsons of the Equalty Act 2010: age, dsablty, gender re-assgnment, marrage and cvl partnershp, pregnancy and maternty, race, relgon or belef, sex, sexual orentaton. 4/11

5 7 ADDITIONAL PRINCIPLES GOVERNING THE ADMISSION OF CERTAIN GROUPS OF APPLICANTS 7.1 Applcants wth dsabltes (Secton 14, refers) The Unversty s commtted to developng educatonal opportuntes whch can be accessed by all sutably qualfed applcants and welcomes applcatons from dsabled people. 7.2 Applcatons from people who are at rsk or who may be a rsk Where the rsk s deemed to be solely to the applcant, to enable the applcant to come to an nformed vew of hs or her ablty to meet the demands of a programme of research tranng, reasonable efforts should be made to provde hm or her wth approprate advce and assstance ether from the Unversty s own servces or from other approprate external agences Where t s beleved that an applcant mght consttute a rsk to the Unversty, the matter must be referred by the Dean of School (or nomnee) to the Pro Vce-Chancellor (Research and Internatonal), who wll normally consult the Vce-Chancellor Whlst the Unversty would not seek to further penalse an ex-offender or any other applcant who mght be a rsk, there wll, nevertheless, be occasons where t wll be approprate for an academcally sutable applcant to be refused entry to the Unversty other than on academc grounds, for example, where the requrements of an external body prohbt the admsson of ex-offenders or where the applcant mght consttute a rsk to other people. 7.3 Applcatons to outsde the Brtsh Isles Pror to the ssue of an offer letter to an applcant who wll be based outsde the Brtsh Isles, the Dean of School should seek the approval of the Research Degrees Board usng the relevant form. Ths s to ensure that all approprate academc matters, sklls tranng and ethcal requrements have been consdered and are n place to support the applcant on enrolment. 7.4 Academc Technology Approval Scheme (ATAS) From 1 November 2007 the UK Government ntroduced the Academc Technology Approval Scheme (ATAS). Havng an ATAS certfcate s mandatory for some postgraduate research students to study certan specfed subjects n the UK The Unversty wll ssue all non-eea applcants to whom t offers a place wth a completed Unversty ATAS Informaton Sheet to enable them to apply for ATAS clearance. The document wll be ssued at the same tme as ther offer letter. 7.5 UK Vsa and Immgraton (UKVI) Students are expected to have met, as necessary, any vsa and other requrements of the UKVI When the Unversty s satsfed that the academc and fnancal requrements to undertake a research degree have been met by the applcant, the Unversty wll rase a Certfcate of Acceptance of Study (CAS) under Ter 4 of the Ponts Based System operated by the UKVI. The CAS certfcate number must be quoted n the offer letter. 5/11

6 8 ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES IN RELATION TO THE ADMISSION OF RESEARCH STUDENTS 8.1 Deans of School are responsble for the admsson of research students. Where admsson s beng sought for a dual or jont award and/or for an applcant to study n hs or her home country, the Research Degrees Board must be consulted pror to an offer beng made to the applcant and the ssue of an offer letter (sectons 10.4 and 10.5, refers). 8.2 In certan cases the resources requred to support a research student wll be provded by a Research Centre or a Research Insttute. In such crcumstances, the relevant Drector of Centre or Head of Research Insttute wll assume the responsbltes assgned wthn ths document to Deans of School. 8.3 Delegaton of authorty Deans of School are permtted to delegate authorty to admt research students to nomnees n accordance wth the followng regulatons and procedures: the nomnees must ether be the Assocate Dean of School (Research) or another member of the Research Degrees Board; the Dean of School must notfy the Head of Research Degrees n the relevant Research Insttute and the Assstant Regstrar (Academc Servces), n wrtng, of the name of any person to whom he or she has delegated authorty; 8.4 Where the Dean of School or hs or her nomnee s absent In the absence of the Dean of School or the person to whom authorty has been delegated (secton 8.3, refers), advce should be sought from the Assstant Regstrar (Academc Servces) where the sgnng of an offer letter s deemed to be urgent. 8.5 Wthdrawal of delegated authorty A Dean of School wll not be deemed to have wthdrawn delegated authorty untl: the Head of Research Degrees n the relevant Research Insttute has receved wrtten notfcaton of the wthdrawal and the Dean of School has notfed the member of staff from whom delegated authorty s beng wthdrawn The Dean of School must also send wrtten notfcaton of the change to the Assstant Regstrar (Academc Servces). 9 APPLICATIONS 9.1 All applcatons must be made on the relevant Unversty applcaton form. 9.2 On behalf of the Research Degrees Board, Heads of Research Degrees (Research Insttutes), n consultaton wth the Drector of Professonal Doctorate Programmes or relevant Research Tutor, are requred to specfy for ther respectve dscplne areas: gudelnes and operatng procedures, the format and content of any addtonal materal that applcants are requred to submt wth ther applcaton forms, together wth the name of the member of staff to whom applcatons must be sent. 6/11

7 9.3 An ndvdual wll not be deemed to have made an applcaton to the Unversty untl a completed postgraduate applcaton form, together wth all of the addtonal materal specfed by the relevant Head of Research Degrees (Research Insttute), has been receved by the member of staff desgnated for ths purpose by the Head of Research Degrees (Research Insttute). 10 CONSIDERATION AND REJECTION OF APPLICATIONS 10.1 Admssons decsons wll nvolve at least two (2) members of Unversty staff who are aware of the general prncples of admssons (secton 5, refers) Wthn the framework of procedures for the admsson of research students determned by the relevant Head of Research Degrees (Research Insttute) on behalf of the Research Degrees Board, the Dean of School wll make approprate provson for the consderaton of applcatons and the ntervewng of applcants and wll specfy the arrangements for consderng applcatons from prospectve research students who wll be based outsde the Brtsh Isles Where an applcant has declared a dsablty, the Dean of School (or nomnee) wll also consult the Dsablty Advser Where the applcaton relates to a dual or jont award whch would be made by the Unversty of Hertfordshre and another Hgher Educaton nsttuton, the pror approval of the Research Degrees Board s requred. The Dean of School (or nomnee) wll submt a proposal for approval by the Research Degrees Board Where, followng enrolment, a research student wshes to change the focus of hs or her research and/or the content of hs or her programme of research tranng, that proposal wll be consdered n accordance wth the prncples, polces, regulatons and procedures set out n ths document and that proposal may be rejected on the grounds gven n ths document Rejecton of applcatons Where an applcaton s rejected, the letter notfyng the applcant of the decson wll be sgned by the Dean of School unless he or she has delegated authorty to a nomnee, n whch case the letter must be sgned by the nomnee (secton 8, refers). (Note for gudance: By sgnng the letter of rejecton, the Dean of School (or nomnee) sgnfes that he or she s satsfed that all Unversty requrements have been met.) 10.7 Request for the revew of an admssons decson of a Dean of School/Head of Department (or nomnee) (Note for gudance: Where an applcant s a mnor (under the age of 18) the applcant may desgnate a parent or guardan to act on hs or her behalf.) The Unversty regards decsons concernng whether an applcant satsfes the general prncples of admsson set out n secton (5) and the entry requrements for the research degree award for whch regstraton wll be sought, to be matters of academc judgment. A Dean of School (or nomnee) should always be prepared, n response to a request by an applcant, to revew hs or her decson and, where they judge t approprate, to offer the applcant a frst or further ntervew by another sutably qualfed member of the Unversty's academc or research staff who has not been nvolved n the earler decson to reject the applcaton. 7/11

8 v v Any applcant who s dssatsfed wth the decson of a Dean of School (or nomnee) should be advsed to consult the Pro Vce-Chancellor (Research and Internatonal), ether personally or n wrtng, to request a revew. Where the Pro Vce-Chancellor (Research and Internatonal) consders t approprate, he or she may drect that the applcant be called for ntervew. The applcant may appeal to the Vce-Chancellor n wrtng f he or she s dssatsfed wth the outcome of the revew (10.7,, refers) and must be advsed of ths rght n the Unversty s wrtten response to hs or her representatons to the Pro Vce-Chancellor (Research and Internatonal) Complants (Note for gudance: Where an applcant s a mnor (under the age of 18) the applcant may desgnate a parent or guardan to act on hs or her behalf.) The process for dealng wth requests for the revew of an admssons decson s set out n secton Complants by applcants concernng the admnstraton of these admssons polces, regulatons and procedures (UPR SA02) or the processes that t descrbes or other ssues that have arsen wll be progressed by means of UPR SA16 4. A copy of UPR SA16 4 must be provded to anyone wshng to make such a complant. 11 ENTRY REQUIREMENTS Entry requrements and the crtera used to determne applcants' elgblty to regster for a research degree are set out n UPR AS10 2 and the relevant Research Degree Schedule. 12 INFORMATION TO PROSPECTIVE APPLICANTS The Unversty wll make reasonable efforts to ensure that all nformaton and publcty materal assocated wth research degree programmes s clear, accurate and of suffcent detal to nform applcants' choce. 13 OFFERS 13.1 An offer of a place mposes an oblgaton on the Unversty to admt the applcant and should not be wthdrawn wthout the applcant's specfc consent, except where: v the applcant fals to meet the condtons of the Unversty s offer and/or the applcant s found to have made a false statement on the applcaton form or has otherwse sought to mslead the Unversty and/or the applcant has wthheld pertnent nformaton, such as falure n a prevous programme of research tranng and/or the applcant has not accepted the offer of a place by the specfed deadlne. 4 SA16 Student and Applcant Complants 8/11

9 13.2 An offer of a place must not be made condtonal on the applcant wthdrawng an applcaton to another nsttuton All offers must be made n wrtng by means of an offer letter sgned by the Dean of School unless he or she has delegated authorty to a nomnee, n whch case the letter must be sgned by the nomnee (secton 8, refers). (Members of staff must ensure that they do not make an offer of a place to any applcant unntentonally, ether n wrtng or orally, for example, durng the course of an ntervew.) (Note for gudance: By sgnng the offer letter, the Dean of School (or nomnee) sgnfes that he or she s satsfed that all Unversty requrements have been met and that the necessary resources are avalable (secton 5.2,, refers).) 13.4 All offer letters wll be constructed usng the current verson of the template publshed from tme-to-tme by the Secretary and Regstrar. The template wll ncorporate a statement consstent wth the followng: "If you accept ths offer your tuton fee status wll be determned n accordance wth current Unversty polcy and you wll be requred to comply wth the Unversty s regulatons concernng the payment of fees." (Notes for gudance: Secton 16, refers. The current template for the letter referred to n secton 13.4 may be obtaned from Academc Servces.) 14 ADMISSION OF APPLICANTS WITH DISABILITIES 14.1 Statement of general polcy The Unversty s commtted to developng educatonal opportuntes whch can be accessed by all sutably qualfed applcants and welcomes applcatons from dsabled people The Unversty s admssons process s accessble for dsabled applcants. The procedures provde opportuntes for the dscusson of any reasonable adjustments whch may be necessary In accordance wth the Equalty Act 2010, the Unversty wll only reject a sutably qualfed applcant for a reason related to dsablty where: the reason s fully justfed by the Unversty on the bass of ts general prncples of admssons (secton 5, refers); necessary adjustments would not be reasonable Applcants who become dsabled whlst they are students of the Unversty - statement of polcy In admttng any applcant to the Unversty, t s mplct that the Unversty wll endeavour to make reasonable adjustments to support students who become dsabled whlst they are regstered at the Unversty of Hertfordshre, n accordance wth the prncples set out n ths secton (14.1). 9/11

10 14.3 Dsclosure by an applcant of a dsablty The Unversty encourages dsabled applcants to dsclose ther dsabltes as early n the applcaton process as possble n order to ensure that any necessary support arrangements can be put n place before applcants arrve at the Unversty. The Unversty s Statement on Dsablty Dsclosure by Students s publshed on-lne at: Students choosng or alterng all or part of a programme of research tranng after admsson - statement of polcy Some dsabled research students may not have dentfed precsely, at the tme of ther applcaton to the Unversty, the content of the programme of research tranng whch they would wsh to follow In such crcumstances, the Unversty wll endeavour to make reasonable adjustments to enable the student to pursue hs or her desred programme of research, as f the student were a new applcant for that programme. Smlarly, the polces and procedures descrbed above wll apply equally to research students who wsh to change ther programme of research n such a way that a reassessment of needs must be carred out Procedures for the admsson of dsabled students Informaton concernng the procedures for the admsson of dsabled students may be obtaned from the Student Centre (Telephone ) or va: Prncpal/Academc Supervsors Where approprate, the Dean of School (or nomnee) wll appont a Prncpal/Academc Supervsor or other approprate member of staff, n advance of entry, so that the Prncpal/Academc Supervsor (or equvalent) may become famlar wth the applcant's addtonal needs and ease the applcant's entry to the Unversty. After admsson, the Prncpal/Academc Supervsor (or equvalent) and Dsablty Advser wll ensure that, as far as reasonably possble, the student s addtonal needs are met. 15 COMPETENCE IN THE USE OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE 15.1 Statement of polcy It s the Unversty s polcy that no research student shall be admtted unless he or she has the competence necessary n the Englsh language to enable hm or her to follow hs or her chosen programme of research tranng and to submt a dssertaton and to be examned n the Englsh language (orally and n wrtng) Applcants are requred to provde satsfactory evdence to ths effect and the Unversty reserves the rght to requre applcants to undertake an examnaton to determne ther competence n the Englsh language Applcants from overseas should have a mnmum IELTS score of /11

11 16 DETERMINATION OF APPLICANTS TUITION FEE STATUS The determnaton of applcants' tuton fee status s the responsblty of the Head of the Student Centre (or nomnee). Mrs S C Grant Secretary and Regstrar Sgned: 1 August /11