Chronology of debates on the Academic Degree Title

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2 Chronology of debates on the Academic Degree Title 1997 Institute Senate begins discussion and recommends allowing students to make choice whether to have Science or Engineering Degree Title irrespective of the undergraduate degree of the students. April th Governing Board meeting of AIT Alumni Association, Request to continue retaining current system. 19 June 2003 The students of Pulp and Paper Technology FoS collectively make petition to Academic Senate Chair to request to change the AIT system of Academic Degree Titles(please see attached Annex -1) 30 July 2003 The Academic Senate recommends that each FoS should be given the option to decide whether it will award only one degree title (M.Sc. or M.Eng.) or both titles based on both the nature of its curriculum and background of students. 14 November 2003 The Academic Advisory Panel (AAP) of the Board of Trustees (having members with academia background from various universities like Stanford, UC-Berkeley, University of Tokyo, KAIST etc.) recommends awarding degrees based on the programs offered and not on the basis of student s undergraduate degree background. 28 July 2004 The Academic Senate considers the AAP recommendation but retains its 30 July 2003 decision. March 2006 The Academic Senate recommends to allow doctoral students to choose the degree title between PhD and DTechSc; and DEng was recommended to be given to students with engineering background. 27 August 2007 The Academic Senate opens discussion again and forms a Task Force to discuss the Academic Title Issue. 28 November 2007 The Academic Senate recommended revision in the regulation with a principle that degree should be based on curriculum offered at the FoS in AIT, and not based on previous undergraduate background of the student, but with one degree title M.S. <FoS/AoS. 26 November 2008 President mentioned in the Academic Senate meeting that the delay in implementation was due to the misunderstanding that the issue is still under debate as there were some discussions on this issue. 9 January 2009 President formally communicates the approval of the Academic September 2009 Senate s revised recommendation. The Institute Education Council re-opens the issue of deleting the M.Eng. degree from among the offerings after receiving further comments especially from faculty and alumni from the School of Engineering and Technology, and a member from the Institute s Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees. 24 February 2010 The Academic Senate deliberate on the PAC endorsed recommendation (that included Master of Engineering) and forms a task force to formulate recommendation considering current regulation, AS endorsed regulation and PAC endorsed regulation. (Please see attached Annex-2) 24 March 2010 The Academic Senate decides to conduct e-elections. 21 April 2010 The Academic Senate after two rounds of e-voting recommends retaining the current regulation, contradicting its previous recommendation of November 28, (Please see attached Annex-3 for e-voting results)

3 Summary of debates on the Academic Degree Title The issue of appropriate AIT Degree Title was initiated in 1997 by the then Institute Senate requesting for feedback as to its recommendation to exercise flexibility on the academic degrees, i.e., allowing the student to make the choice whether to have Science or Engineering after his/her degree title. The AIT Alumni Association, at its 26 th Governing Board meeting in April 1997, decided with a majority of votes to endorse retaining the current system in the awarding of AIT degrees. Every year individual students have made requests and complaints regarding the ongoing policy of AIT Degree Title. A group of students from P&PT FoS made a written complaint to the Academic Senate Chair on 19 June 2003 (please see attached Annex-1). The complaint was considered by the Academic Senate on 30 July 2003 and resolved that the The degree title to award to students should be decided by the field of study and the School in consideration of both the nature of the field s curriculum and student s background. Specifically, each field of study has the option to decide whether it will award only degree title (Master of Engineering or Master of Science) or both titles based on both the nature of its curriculum and background of students. The Academic Advisory Panel in its meeting held on 14 November 2003 opined that an academic degree title is value-added to the person attending the institution and should thus be awarded on the basis of the program offered, not one s previous background. It was understood, however, that only those with appropriate qualifications are admitted to the program. Academic Advisory Panel members included Professors from University of California at Berkeley, Stanford University, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Royal Institute of Technology at Sweden, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, University of Innsbruck at Austria, University of Tokyo, Colorado School of Mines, Mahidol University and National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA) at Thailand etc. The issue was again deliberated in the Academic Senate meeting held on 28 July 2004 where it was decided to retain the recommendation made in its meeting on 30 July 2003, which is basically the current regulation (Please see Current Regulation enclosed). The Academic Senate meeting held on 27 August 2007 noted that the issue of degree titles had been raised several times in the past and through s, and with occasional complaints from the students in various Fields of Study regarding the Academic Degree Titles awarded to them on the basis of their background; and in light of various initiatives like Professional, Flexible, Executive, two-phased and dual master s programs being offered by AIT, the need to streamline the Academic Degree Titles was felt. Thus, a task force was formed to review the policies on degree titles and to make appropriate recommendations. On the basis of task force report which recommended the revisions in the AIT Degree Title regulation based on the principle that degrees should be based on curriculum offered at the FoS in AIT, and not based on the previous undergraduate background of the student, the Academic Senate meeting held on 28 November 2007 endorsed the revised regulation for the consideration of the administration. (Please see AS revised regulation enclosed). The President then approved this AS revised regulation, but was put on hold after receiving further comments from faculty and alumni from the School of Engineering and Technology, and especially a member from the Institute s Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees who questioned the removal of Master of Engineering degree and AIT to offer only Master of Science <name of FoS/AoS>. The then VPAA was requested to again look into this issue

4 and report to the President s Advisory Council (PAC). The VPAA s Institute Education Council thus re-opens the issue of deleting the M.Eng. degree from among the offerings after receiving further comments especially. Upon receiving the report from VPAA, the PAC endorsed regulation which included Master of Engineering (Please see PAC endorsed regulation enclosed). The Academic Senate held on 24 February 2010 was then requested to reconsider its recommendation made on 28 November 2007 in light of the PAC endorsed regulation and send its recommendation to the President. The Academic Senate decided to hold e-elections for following recommendations with corresponding votes as indicated below in first round: 1. Current Regulation AS endorsed regulation PAC endorsed regulation Abstain 3 As per election regulations decided by the Election Committee, a second round of elections were held (dropping the PAC endorsed regulation) with corresponding votes as indicated below in second round: 1. Current Regulation AS endorsed regulation Abstain 3 Based on the e-elections, the AS then resolved to retain the current regulation.

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7 Annex -2 Current Regulation Doctoral program: The doctoral degrees offered by AIT are the degrees of Doctor of Engineering, Doctor of Technical Science, Doctor of Philosophy and Doctor of Business Administration, without further designation; their abbreviations are D.Eng., D.Tech.Sc., Ph.D. and D.B.A. respectively. Students who enter with an engineering background become candidates for the Doctor of Engineering while those with a non-engineering background become candidates for the degree of Doctor of Technical Science, Doctor of Philosophy, or Doctor of Business Administration. Master program: The two-year Master degrees offered by AIT are the degrees of Master of Engineering, Master of Science, Master of Business Administration, and the Executive Master Degree all without further designation; their abbreviations are M.Eng., M.Sc., M.B.A. and M.Eng.(Executive) /M.Sc.(Executive) / M.B.A.(Executive) respectively. The one-year Master degree offered by AIT are the degrees of Master of Engineering (Professional) and Master of Science (Professional) with abbreviation M.Eng.(P) and M.Sc.(P), respectively. Successful applicants are admitted to the M.Eng. or M.Sc. program depending upon their qualifications, except in the School of Management (SOM), where students are admitted to the M.B.A. program, and the fields of Natural Resources Management, Rural and Regional Development Planning, Gender and Development Studies, and Urban Environmental Management where students are admitted to the M.Sc. program, regardless of their undergraduate backgrounds. AS endorsed recommendation Master s Degree Regulation: The two-year regular Master degrees offered by AIT are the degrees of Master of Science in <name of AoS or FoS>, Master of Business Administration, Master of Agribusiness Management, and the Executive Master of Business Administration, all without further designation; their abbreviations are M.S. in <name of AoS or FoS>, M.B.A., M.A.B.M. and M.B.A.(Executive) respectively. The one-year professional Master degree offered by AIT is the degree of Professional Master in <name of AoS or FoS> with abbreviation P.M. in <name of AoS or FoS>. Doctoral Degree Regulation: The doctoral degree offered by AIT is the Doctor of Philosophy, Doctor of Agribusiness Management, and in addition School of Management also offers Doctor of Business Administration, without further designation; their abbreviations are Ph.D., D.A.B.M. and D.B.A. respectively. The Professional Doctoral degree offered by AIT is the Professional Doctorate in <name of AoS or FoS> with abbreviation P.D. in <name of AoS or FoS>. Note: M.Eng. and M.Sc. degrees awarded before the adoption of the new policy are equivalent to M.S. and D.Eng. and D.Tech.Sc. degrees awarded before the adoption of the new policy are equivalent to Ph.D. degree. PAC endorsed regulation (after further study) Master s Degree Regulation: The two-year regular Master degrees offered by AIT are the degrees of Master of Science <name of AoS/FoS>, Master of Engineering <name of AoS/FoS), Master of Business Administration, Master of Agribusiness Management, and the Executive Master of Business Administration, all without further designation their abbreviations are M.S. in <name of AoS or FoS>, M. Eng. <name of AoS or FoS>, M.B.A., M.A.B.M. and M.B.A. (Executive) respectively. The one-year professional Master degrees offered by AIT are the degree of Professional Master in <name of AoS or FoS> with abbreviation P.M. in <name of AoS or FoS>. Doctoral Degree Regulation: The doctoral degree offered by AIT is the Doctor of Engineering, Doctor of Philosophy, Doctor of Agribusiness Management, and in addition the School of Management also offers Doctor of Business Administration, without further designation; their abbreviations are D. Eng., Ph.D., D.A.B.M. and D.B.A. respectively. The Professional Doctoral degree offered by AIT is the Professional Doctorate in <name of AoS or FoS> with abbreviation P.D. in <name of AoS or FoS>. Doctoral students are allowed to choose the degree title between Ph.D. and DTechSc. Each Field of Study can select more than one degree to award to their students but with a clear rationale/justification and clearly defined admissions criteria. The degree title to be awarded should be according to the curriculum of the offered program, as well as reflect the competencies/skills acquired by the successful candidates. Only in circumstances when a student s choice of elective courses results in a significantly different specialization scheme that the degree title to be awarded can be individualized. An M.Eng. or a D.Eng. degree should be awarded in an engineering discipline with more practice-oriented courses and an internship with the industry or for professional programs in engineering disciplines where the admission requirement requires significant industry experience; and In the design of the M.Eng. curriculum, there should be a dialogue with industries/practitioners to see what skills/knowledge they are looking for.

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