The Hindu : Front Page : New regulations for D.Litt, D.Sc. approved

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Dec 22, 2005

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New regulations for D.Litt, D.Sc. approved

Staff Reporter

Bharathidasan University is the fifth varsity to offer these two degrees

TIRUCHI: Drawing up rigid quality guidelines for offering Doctor of Letters (D.Litt) and D.Sc. (Doctor of Science) degrees, the Bharathidasan University (BU) has joined the comity of four State universities offering post-doctoral degrees.

The University of Madras, Madurai Kamaraj University, Bharathiyar University, and Annamalai University have been offering these degrees so far.

Based on the recommendations made by a three-member committee comprising K. V. Krishnamoorthy, Syndicate member and member, Research Committee, M. Lakshmanan, Head, School of Physics, and VR. Muthukaruppan, former Vice-Chancellor, new regulations were put in place by the Research Committee and approved at the meeting of the Standing Committee on Academic Affairs, chaired by the Vice-Chancellor, C. Thangamuthu, on Wednesday.

As per the new regulations, a Ph.D candidate with a minimum of ten years of post-doctoral work is eligible for obtaining D.Sc. degree, provided he/she has to credit at least 10 publications (related to the main theme of the thesis) brought out in high impact factor journals rated 1.0 and above.

Responding to suggestions from members that quality be upgraded further, the Vice-Chancellor raised the average of the rating of 10 publications to not less than 1.5.

Candidates in Humanities/Languages should have a minimum of ten publications in reputed journals.

In case of books, reputed publishers of the likes of Oxford University Press and the Sahitya Akademy must have brought them out.

Likewise, the university has also brought in new regulations with regard to Ph.D. and M.Phil. The eligibility to register for Ph.D is a Master's degree with a minimum of 55 per cent of marks, or 5.51 and above in the 10.00 Grade Point Average Scale under Choice-Based Credit System.

Besides, the candidate will be required to undergo coursework in the first year.

Three courses, comprising 12 credits, should be undertaken in the first year.

Only upon completion of the course work before 1.5 years from the date of registration, followed by a comprehensive viva voce by the doctoral team, will the university confirm the candidate's registration for Ph.D.

Candidates who had qualified for Master's degree prior to December 31, 1985, with not less than 50 per cent of marks are eligible to take up Ph.D/M.Phil programmes.

Eligibility score

The rationale behind minimising eligibility score, said the Vice-Chancellor, was tough valuation two decades ago. The university has also done away with its clause emphasising on experience for candidates undertaking part-time M.Phil programmes, with a view to facilitating them to be in constant touch with the subject, and acquire higher qualifications without a break.

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