4.1 Having been offered and accepted a place to study for a research degree, all candidates shall enrol as a student of the University at the start of their programme of research, and must complete online enrolment again each year to ensure they remain a student at Brookes, until conferment of the degree. Enrolment is a prerequisite for registration for a research degree and all candidates will enrol as Probationer Research Students.
4.2 Probationer Research Students will be required to register their research proposals during the first year, from 3 months of enrolment for full-time students and within a maximum period of 9 months for part-time students.
Exceptionally, if a student has not registered their proposal by the fifth meeting of the appropriate RDC subject Sub-Committee meeting following first enrolment; on the recommendation of a student’s supervisors and the Faculty or Departmental Postgraduate Research Tutor, the Research Degree Committee will terminate the student’s enrolment, on the recommendation of a student’s supervisors and the Faculty or Departmental Postgraduate Research Tutor, the Research Degree Committee will terminate their enrolment (see Section 7).
4.3 If satisfactory progress has been made and the candidate’s application for registration has been approved by the Research Degree Committee, students will be formally registered as MPhil, MPhil/PhD, PhD or Professional Doctorate research students according to the degree applied for at registration.
4.4 Full-time candidates are required to pay the full fee for the following minimum enrolment periods:
- MPhil: 2 years
- MPhil/PhD: 3 years
- PhD direct: 2 years
After completion of the relevant minimum enrolment period, full-time candidates shall pay a continuation fee until the submission of the thesis when no further fees will be due unless the candidate is required to resubmit the thesis for re-examination.
4.5 Full-time candidates who register for the degree of PhD direct and who complete in under the 3-year period shall be eligible for a waiver of fees for the remaining minimum enrolment period. MPhil candidates with the possibility of transfer to PhD are only eligible to pay the continuation fee if they have paid the full fees for 3 years. Professional Doctorate students must pay the course fee for 5 years before being eligible to pay the continuation fee.
4.6 Part-time candidates shall pay the appropriate part-time fee from initial enrolment to the submission of the thesis.
Part-time candidates are required to pay the part-time fee for the following minimum enrolment periods. However, if the thesis is not submitted at the end of this period the appropriate fee should be paid until submission of thesis for examination:
- MPhil: 3 years
- MPhil/PhD: 6 years
- PhD direct: 3 years
- PhD by Published Work: 1 year
- Professional Doctorate: 5 years (2 years taught and 3 years research)
After completion of the relevant fee payment period, part-time candidates shall pay a continuation fee until the submission of the thesis. Once the minimum period of registration has expired and the student submits their thesis for examination, there will be no further fees due unless the candidate is required to resubmit the thesis for re-examination.
4.7 Very exceptionally, the University has agreed that research students are given 1 extra month to the fee payment deadline to complete and submit their thesis for examination without having to pay any further fees. This is a special concession for research students and cannot under any circumstances be extended. If a student is unable to meet one of the fee submission deadlines set out below, the fees for that instalment period must be paid.
4.7.1 Therefore, having paid the required fees for at least the minimum number of years as set out in this section, in order to be eligible for the fee waiver at submission, a student must have submitted 1 electronic PDF copy of their thesis by email to the Research Degrees Team, with the completed, fully signed copy of the RDC Sub-submission form by 4:00pm on one of the following fee payment deadlines: the last working day of September; January or June of each academic year – in order to be eligible for the fee waiver.
If a student does not meet one of these deadlines, the fees for that instalment period must be paid before the thesis can be sent out for examination. This additional period of 1 extra month to submit the thesis for examination without having to pay fees, cannot be extended under any circumstances. It should be noted that this is a fee payment deadline and is not associated with a student’s maximum period of registration on the programme.
4.8 Following submission of the thesis for examination, students must complete Online Academic Enrolment and remain fully enrolled as a student at Brookes until the degree is awarded, no fees are payable for the examination period.
If, however following the viva examination, the examiners recommend that the candidate is required to revise their thesis and resubmit it for examination within 1 year, the candidate will be required to pay the re-submission fee until resubmission of the thesis.