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Changes to policy and curriculum

Show all changes for 2020/21

Research Degrees Handbook: Professional Doctorates

In January 2020, The Open University made an amendment to the Research Degrees Handbook: Professional Doctorates.

Changes made

  1. Online resources have been updated, including the addition of the Professional Doctorate Programme Website
  2. Clarification that the Code of Practice for Research is available in the Code of Conduct on the Research policies website.
  3. Amendment to text to confirm that the code of practice for supervision can be found in Appendix 2 of the Research Degree Regulations.
  4. Amendment to text removing mention of a write-up fee for students who are entering the fourth year of study as a full-time student, or eighth year as a part-time student (or at the end of the funded period)
  5. 2.10.4 - Addition of "Students applying for a Doctoral Loan from Student Finance England/Wales should contact the Research Degrees Team to request a course code. Once the course starts we will confirm your registration with Student Finance. You will not receive the first payment until after your course starts and will therefore need to pay your fees upfront using another payment method."
  6. 2.12.7 - Addition of "Please note self-funded students are not included in this grant."
  7. Removal of "You can also get up to speed with your revision by downloading exam papers free-of-charge." from Shop and Discounts section
  8. 4.1.1 - Clarification that students must have passed their minimum required registration period whilst also not having passed their maximum registration date
  9. 4.1.1 - Clarification that students should refer to section PD.15 in the regulations for further details on Research Degree Regulations
  10. 4.1.1 - Amendment to state that from Year 4+, examiner(s) will examine the thesis and provide a report for the Research Degrees Examination Results Approval Committee on the basis of their assessment of the thesis and the defence of the thesis at the viva
  11. 4.1.3 - Reference has been updated from Section 19 to 17
  12. 4.1.5 - Reference has been updated from Section 19 to 17
  13. 4.5 - If students have a concern, they can address it with the Lead/Programme Leader

Please talk to your Student Support Team if you need any further information. You can find out how to contact them on Contact the OU.