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Masters  & PhD Programs:

Masters programs are designed for those seeking advanced higher degrees, often called graduate degrees. Those who complete such programs earn masters' degrees. These post-baccalaureate degrees typically require one to study two or more years beyond a traditional four-year bachelors' program, and are offered in a variety of fields. A master of arts degree, for example, is designed for those studying the liberal arts and may or may not require one to publish research or a thesis. A master of science degree is for those studying technical or science fields and does typically require some sort of published work. There are also a number of more specialized masters' degrees one can earn. One interested in business, for instance, may choose to pursue a master of business administration (MBA) degree. While many people earn masters' degrees because their target jobs require it, others do so to increase their earning potential or improve their chances of promotion. 

All research student funding bodies assume that a full-time PhD programme last for 3 years. In particular, one can only usually get 3 year PhD studentships. Further the Universities have ratified a policy that 3 years is the standard period for a full-time PhD programme. The pressure to ensure that 3 years is the canonical completion period for full-time students is further re-enforced by various bodies (HEFC, CVCP, CPHC, EPSRC, etc.) which only take into account completions within 4 years in their assessments of departments. For part-time students, there are no assumed periods of study. Pragmatically, however, 3 years of registered study and a few months of writing up seems the norm. It is Department policy, however, that PhDs should be entirely completed within 3 years.

Given the above, it is important for the department to ensure that full-time students are able to, and do, complete within 3 years. This has two facets: Firstly, expectations of projects must be such that they are large enough to constitute PhD work but small enough to be finished within 3 years. Secondly, that the department provides support, both resource as well as supervision, to enable a 3 year completion. Support after 3 years is reduced. Support after 4 years should be zero.

Currently, the policy is that submission of a thesis must happen within the year (for full-time students, 18 months for part-time students) following last registration, which is normally a 3 year period for full-time registered students. Separately there is the concept of a 'Course of Study', being the minimum period of registration before a thesis can be submitted. The minimum course of study is 2 years for full-time people and 3 years for part-time people. Since submission of the thesis can only happen after the completion of the 'Course of Study', departmental policy is to set this to the minimum to allow maximum flexibility. In particular, for full-time students the 'Course of Study' is usually set to 2.5 years allowing student to submit and be examined within the 3 year period. 

Research Groups - Research Groups are strong, broad-based, disciplinary teams associated with laboratories. These groups are formally established and constitute the focus for strategic development within the Department. 

A Goal Statement - A PhD programme is many things: 

Education in the area of interest and 'surrounding' areas. 
Training in doing research. 
Doing research. 
Training in doing a lengthy project. 
Training in presenting ideas; learning to communicate ideas. 
Fundamentally, a PhD programme is training how to think, how to construct hypotheses and arguments and how to communicate them, via papers, seminars and a thesis. Given that we are a Computer Science department, in the Maths and Physical Sciences Faculty (MAPS),  the thesis itself needs to be on some aspect of computing. 

The Programme: 
Starting from the premise that a PhD is a 36 month activity, this is like  a proposal for a timetable. This is not a rigid timetable but a skeleton offered as a starting point for discussion between the student and supervisor to arrive at a timetable that allows interesting work to be done but admits a 3 year completion. What is rigid are the viva activities at months 9, 24 and 30. 

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