Important notice for staff and any potential candidates for the MD (Unsupervised)

As you would be aware, the new Monash University (Academic Board) Regulations were promulgated on 28 May 2014.  The regulations resulted in a number of changes to higher degrees by research (HDR), including the disestablishment of all unsupervised HDR programs, namely the Staff PhD and the MD (unsupervised).  This change to practice arose following a review of programs within the Go8 which revealed that Monash is the only University that has allowed unsupervised HDR enrolment. Unsupervised enrolment is not endorsed by the Australia Deans and Directors of Graduate Studies (DDoGS) and is also not supported by the Higher Education Standards Panel Research Training Standards coming into effect next year.  Current enrolments in the unsupervised HDR programs are not affected by the changes in the regulations. 

Due to the unique administration of the MD (unsupervised), formal enrolment is only made for one day on the date of thesis submission for external examination.  However, the University is aware that there may be academic staff or potential candidates who have been working towards submitting a thesis for the MD (unsupervised) and for whom the regulation changes will have a direct and negative impact.  To support candidates in this category, the University is willing to accept a case for thesis submission for the MD (Unsupervised) for a limited period of time, if the candidate meets all the requirements of entry into the degree as outlined in the previous regulations (http://monash.edu/legal/legislation/revoked-statutes-and-regulations/research-graduate-school-committee-regulations/doctor-of-medicine-regulations.pdf).

The thesis must be submitted to the Faculty for the first stage of review, the Preliminary Review Panel, by Monday 13 October 2014.

To ensure that prospective candidates meet the eligibility requirements prior to thesis submission, they must send the following information to me in the Faculty by 9am on Monday 25 August 2014:

1.      Completed MD (Unsupervised) application form (attached) with academic transcript/s and evidence of citizenship – one copy only required

2.      Summary of no less than 200 words describing the theme of the work (as per question 3 of the application form)
3.      Proposed timeline of thesis preparation including a statement of research/work completed to date

 Applications received after this date will not be accepted.  The Faculty and Monash University Institute of Graduate Research (MIGR) will review each case to ensure eligibility requirements are met and will advise each candidate accordingly.

Read more here.