Doctor of Philosophy (Education)
Overview
The Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) program is completed by a research thesis on an approved topic under the guidance of a staff supervisor. For some students relevant units taught at the University may be prescribed after consideration of a candidate's background studies and research experience. The degree of Doctor of Philosophy signifies that the holder has completed a program of postgraduate education in research under proper academic supervision, has submitted a thesis that the examiners have declared to be a significant contribution to knowledge and which demonstrates the candidate’s capacity to carry out independent research.
A candidate for the PhD must be an enrolled student in the university and is required to carry out a prescribed program of research for a specified period under the direct supervision of a member of the academic staff. The candidate, together with supervisor, is responsible for developing the research program to be followed. Both report at regular intervals on the progress of the project. The PhD requires a candidate to submit a thesis, the length of which may vary across disciplines but which would not normally exceed 80,000 words. Residential seminars are held twice a year.
Location
Supervised from DWU Madang
Admission
Applicants would normally have graduated with a Master’s degree which requires the completion of a thesis or research project to an acceptable standard. Graduates with an upper Honours pass in the Bachelor degree will be considered on a case-by-case basis. Candidature may be undertaken on a full-time or part-time basis and by on-campus or flexible learning mode. A PhD project should be designed to take no more than three years of full-time equivalent candidature and a corresponding number of years part-time. Application should be made by contacting the Director of Research. Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) considerations may be possible in some cases.
Program structure
When a student is accepted into the PhD program, the student receives provisional candidature. This candidature is until the successful presentation of the Research Proposal, which includes the request for Ethical Research Clearance. Provisional candidature usually lasts 6 months of full time study. This time is spent doing advised coursework and preparing the Research Proposal as well as regular meetings with a personal research supervisor.
The PhD is administered and promoted by the Postgraduate Studies and Research Board. This Board is responsible for the monitoring and organisation of the degree.
It is usual that students will be required to complete a number of methodological coursework units. These units are designed to ensure that research skills are appropriate for the intended project. These units are available in distance mode. All students, either on-campus or off-campus, are expected to participate in the research seminar fortnights in each semester. Likewise, participation in University research activities is strongly encouraged to the extent that this is practical.
Candidature is confirmed when the Research Proposal is submitted at an acceptable standard and accepted. The Research Proposal contains a review of the literature, a statement of the research problem to be studied and a discussion of how the problem will be investigated. A part of the Research Proposal is the Application for Research Ethics Clearance. The confirmed PhD candidate is now ready and permitted to undertake data collection. The main tasks of the confirmed research student are to collect and analyse the data, draft and edit thesis chapters and assemble the thesis in the approved format. These tasks are completed with the guidance of the research supervisor.
Each research student is expected to be in regular, open and frank communication with her/his research supervisor. The six-monthly research reports contribute to the relationship by ensuring that appropriate oversight is conducted and that problems do not become larger than they need to be.
The major steps in the PhD journey include
Provisional candidature. This usually includes coursework of research methodology
Research proposal and research ethics clearance
Confirmed candidature – data collection, data analysis
Thesis writing
Submission and examination of thesis
Final Acceptance of the thesis and graduation
Requisites to complete the award
The Postgraduate Studies and Research Board determines on the basis of examiners’ reports of the thesis and the supervision and research reports over the period of candidature that the student has satisfied all the requirements of the PhD.
