Submission of Application

The application and supporting documentation shall be submitted to the appropriate Department for preliminary consideration. The Departmental Board will make recommendation to the Faculty Higher Degrees Committee. If the Higher Degrees Committee consider that the application has sufficient merit, it will recommend to the Academic for the approval of the Research topic and the Supervisor(s) to facilitate provisional registration. Once provisionally registered, a candidate is expected to develop a full proposal together with the approved supervisor(s) within six months and thereafter apply for full registration.

Applications are submitted on the official forms and there are no deadlines for the submission of applications. Acceptance and rejections are determined by the academic on behalf of Senate on the recommendations of the Faculty Higher Degrees Committees.

Before submission of an application form for a research degree, you must identify a supervisor with expertise in a specific area of research.

Your Home Department

All research degree candidates belong to “home” department. this is the department which will interview and accept you and which your supervisor will be ordinarily be based. In some cases, where the requisite expertise resides outside the department, a supervisor may be from outside the department or the university. It is important to contact the department where you wish to study for purposes of identifying a supervisor with whom you will discuss your research interests.

Entry Requirements

The normal entry requirements for a Master of Philosophy Degree is an appropriate Honours Degree in the First or Upper Second Division. Other qualifications may be considered by the Senate on the recommendation of the Department and Faculty Higher Degrees Committee.

For a Doctor of Philosophy Degree, the normal entrance requirement is an appropriate Masters Degree

Supporting Documents

Applications for PhD and MPhil Degree programmes must provide the following supporting documents with their application:

1. Copies of all relevant diplomas, certificates and transcripts
2. International applicants must provide official copies of their entire course transcripts that include explanations of the mark schemes used.
3. If your supporting documents are not in English, we require an officially translated version as well as copies in the original language.

1. The title of your proposed thesis
2. The main aims of your research
3. The methods of research
4. How your research will relate to current thinking on the subject.