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Re - 10 Regulation For Conduct of Master of Philosophy (Mphil) Programme

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com Annexure – 2

RE – 10
Regulation for conduct of MASTER OF PHILOSOPHY (MPhil) Programme
[Approved by the Executive Council in its 29th meeting held on 01.12.2017
vide resolution No. EC29.5.1 (ii)]
(Under Ordinance OC-6)

1. Preamble:
Sikkim University shall offer research programmes in different subjects and also
in inter-disciplinary studies leading to the award of the Degree of Master of
Philosophy. The Departmental Research Committee (DRC) that shall consist of
all faculty members who are eligible to guide research scholars at M. Phil level
in a department shall oversee the selection procedure and also monitor the
research progress of any duly enrolled M. Phil Scholar of the department.

2. Eligibility Criteria:
Applicants for admission in the M. Phil programme of the university must be a
Post Graduate with at least 55.0% marks in aggregate or its equivalent CGPA at
the PG level in the relevant or its allied subject as may be on offer by the
university as per its annual prospectus. A 5.0% relaxation shall be applicable
for students belonging to ST/SC/OBC category in terms of pass percentage and
reservation as applicable under the relevant provisions of the state/central
government rules shall apply.

3. Admission Procedure:
All eligible applicants of all categories seeking admission in the M. Phil
programme must have to sit for a compulsory entrance test which shall be
conducted by the university only once in a year normally in the month of June.
a. All admissions in M. Phil programmes offered at this university shall only be
through an entrance test which shall be based on a written test and a
personal interview.
a. Only those candidates who would qualify in the written test shall be
considered eligible to appear for personal interview.
b. The merit list for admission shall, however, be drawn taking into
consideration the combined score of both the written tests and personal
interview.
c. In case of a tie, the score of the qualifying examination of the concerned
candidates shall be considered.

4. Procedure for Conduct of the Entrance Examination:


a. The Written Examination:
i. Ordinarily, the written examination shall be of 90 minutes duration
for which the concerned departments shall set the paper which shall
be scaled evaluated against 50 marks and the DRC shall decide on
the type and number of questions to be put in the written test paper.
b. The Interview:
i. The personal interview shall be evaluated against a total of 50 marks.

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ii. There shall be an Interview Board constituted for conducting the


interviews with not less than at least three (3) members of which, the
HoD/IC of the concerned department shall be the Chairperson.
iii. In case of a department where HoD/IC shall not be available, the
Dean of the concerned school shall preside over the proceedings of the
interview panel.
iv. In case, a particular department has less than three eligible members
who could sit in the panel, the HoD/IC of the department shall inform
the same to the Dean of the school who shall than nominate adequate
member(s) from within the school to enable the department duly
constitute the panel.
v. Only faculty members having at least a M. Phil degree shall be eligible
to act as member in such interview panels.

5. Admission:
A merit list of candidates based on their performance in the Written
Examination as well as Interview shall be drawn and notified by the Head/In
Charge of the Department immediately after the evaluation is over. Copy of this
notification shall be endorsed to the (i) Dean, (ii) Registrar, (iii) Controller of
Examinations and (iv) Finance Officer.
a. On the basis of this notification, the selected candidates shall have to
provisionally register them by paying the prescribed fee within the stipulated
date.
b. While drawing such list of candidates to be considered for provisional
registration, the Department shall pay due attention to the reservation policy
of the Government of India as may be on force on the date of such selection.
c. Employed candidates, if selected for provisional registration, must produce
written evidence to show that they have been granted leave for three
semesters by their employer.
d. A maximum of 10.0% of the available seats may be allotted to foreign
candidates to be admitted against supernumerary seats. Since it is usually
not possible for foreign students to come and appear in the written
examination cum interview, the selection of such applicants may be carried
out only if the DRC finds their testimonials satisfactory and compliant to the
provisions of the university rules and regulations. In case, the number of
such applicants found suitable for admission by the DRC exceeds the 10.0%
limit, the DRC shall draw up a merit list of all such applicants on the basis
of their academic records.
e. Granting admission to candidates belonging to Afghanistan, Bangladesh,
China, Myanmar, and Pakistan may be avoided unless specifically
recommended by the Indian Council of Cultural Relations, Government of
India under exchange programmes. In case selected for admission, they shall
be allowed to take admission only on production of student visa valid for the
entire tenure of the course of study along with a certificate indicating that
they are not suffering from any infectious diseases and that, the source of
funding for their studies in the university is duly approved. They may,
however, be issued Provisional Admission Certificate on request if they need
it for facilitating procurement of the required student visa.
.
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6. Course Work:
A one-semester course work of 12 credits is mandatory for all entrants on
joining the programme. The distribution of these credits shall be as under:
i. Four (4) credits for Research Methodology. This is a compulsory course and
may include quantitative techniques and knowledge of computer use.
ii. Four (4) credits shall be assigned for a paper on recent advances in the area
of research work to be undertaken by the new entrant.
iii. Four (4) credits shall be assigned to a non-lecture based non taught paper in
which the candidates shall review the literature and write a research
proposal covering the area of their research interest and, shall have to give a
seminar at the end of the semester. Neither any sessional tests shall be held
nor there shall be any attendance requirement in this paper but for the other
two papers 75% attendance is essential.

7. Coursework Evaluation:
a. The evaluation of the course work shall be done by the concerned faculty
members in the Department. The selected scholars are expected to develop
critical thinking and learn the skill to communicate in academic language
during the course work and, this shall form the basis for such evaluation.
b. In order to be eligible for registration a student must score at least a 6.0
CGPA or its equivalent as the case may be, failing which, the student shall
have to drop out and/or seek readmission in the programme in a later
academic session.
c. A candidate failing to secure ‘A’ or 6.0 SGPA in the course work may be given
one additional chance to repeat either Paper I or Paper II provided they duly
apply for providing them with such a chance subject to the condition that
such request must be made within a calendar month of the date of
declaration of the result and provided further that the applicant pays the
requisite fee as may be fixed by the university from time to time.
d. Unsuccessful students shall not be permitted to register themselves for the
degree but they shall be provided with a certificate, if requested for, showing
the actual grade or SGPA secured by them in the coursework.
e. Only those students who would satisfy the stipulated registration
requirements shall be allowed to register as regular scholars.
f. Registered scholars shall be eligible to draw fellowships/scholarships etc. as
may be granted by the University.

8. Allotment of Supervisor
A supervisor shall be allotted by the department concerned for each of the
candidates admitted strictly in adherence to the following:
a. Allotment of Supervisor for a selected candidate shall be done by the DRC.
While deciding on such allotment, the DRC shall take into consideration the
number of seats available under the concerned faculty member, his/her area
of specialization and the research interest of the candidates as was indicated
during the interview.
b. The allotment of such Supervisors shall not be left to the individual choice of
the candidate or a faculty member.

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c. The Head/IC of Department will ensure that the process of allotting a


supervisor is completed within a month from the date of declaration of the
course work results.
d. The DRC may allot another Supervisor to a candidate at any stage of his/her
research work if the original supervisor resigns from the University, gets
terminated or suspended on disciplinary ground from the service of this
university or proceeds on long leave. Such a decision of the DRC will have to
be endorsed by the Board of Studies and School Board subsequently.
e. At any given time, a Supervisor shall not have more than the prescribed
number of registered M. Phil scholars working under her/his supervision
except under circumstances when DRC shall be constrained to allot a
Supervisor more candidates exceeding the prescribed limit for such purpose
on account of sudden faculty shortage consequent upon the suspension,
termination or proceeding on long leave by members of the faculty.
f. A teacher on probation who is otherwise qualified to supervise an M. Phil
research work shall be permitted to supervise M. Phil scholars.
g. Only faculty members having at least an M. Phil degree from a recognized
university shall be eligible to act as Supervisor of an M. Phil student.

9. Monitoring of Work Progress:


a. The Supervisor shall closely monitor the progress of research work
undertaken by each of the candidates pursuing their degree under her/his
supervision.
b. A registered candidate shall be required to submit to the Head of
Department an elaborate progress report of their work duly endorsed by the
Supervisor at the close of each trimester. A candidate failing to submit two
such consecutive trimester reports may be deregistered by the Vice-
Chancellor on recommendation of the DRC.
c. Any dereliction on the part of the candidate that may be noticed by the
Supervisor, if ignored even after repeated cautioning, shall be reported to the
DRC for further necessary action. Provided if the DRC is convinced that the
concerned candidate is ignoring his research activity without any valid
reason, it shall issue the candidate a warning and keep him under
observation for three months. At the close of three months since issuance of
the warning, the DRC shall review the candidate’s performance during the
period under watch. In case, the DRC still remains unsatisfied with the
performance of the candidate during the period under watch, it may
recommend deregistration of the candidate. In case the recommendation is
duly accepted, the fellowship of the candidate shall forthwith stand
terminated.

10. Submission of Thesis:


a. An M. Phil thesis shall have to be submitted to the office of the Controller of
Examinations within 18 months counting from the date of admission.
b. In case of genuine difficulty, the DRC, on the written recommendation of the
Supervisor and HoD/IC, may consider extension of time by a maximum
period of one semester only and recommend approval of such extension from
the Vice-Chancellor. The university, however, under no circumstances shall
pay any fellowship to such candidate beyond 18 months.

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c. Failing to submit the thesis in time (including the extended time if any) shall
result in automatic deregistration of the candidate and s/he, in such case,
shall no more remain eligible for award of the degree. To pursue the degree,
such candidate shall have to seek fresh admission.
d. At least a month before the scheduled submission date, the candidate shall
be required to give a pre-submission seminar that shall be arranged by the
Head of the Department on a written request from the candidate duly
recommended by the Supervisor. The candidate may suitably revise the
thesis prior to its final submission in the light of the discussions held during
the seminar.
e. Three copies of hard bound; neatly type-written thesis shall be submitted
along with identical number of soft copies of the same in CD/DVD.
f. The final thesis must have to be submitted along with the following
documents:
i. A declaration from the candidate that the thesis is a work of his own and that
it has not been submitted earlier to this or any other university for any degree.
ii. A plagiarism test certificate duly signed by the candidate and countersigned by
the Supervisor
iii. Copy of the Registration Certificate
iv. No due certificate from the Librarian.
v. No due certificate from the Finance Department.
vi. No due certificate from the Warden of the hostel concerned, if applicable.
g. The hard bound type copy of the thesis shall have to conform to the following
specifications:
i. It has to be typed in A4 size paper.
ii. Type font used shall be Times New Roman, 12 point and text printing shall be
double spaced, and only on one side of the paper.
iii. Left margin shall be one-and-a half inches while right, top and bottom margins
shall only be of one inch.
iv. The shin of the thesis shall indicate, from top to bottom, M. Phil, Family Name
of the candidate and the year of submission.
v. The cover page shall have the title of the thesis at the top followed by name of
the candidate, name of the Department, name of the School, a line stating
“Submitted in partial fulfillment of the degree of Master of Philosophy”, month
and year of submission.
vi. The thesis shall be written in English except when it is related to a language
other than English.
h. All theses shall be subjected to mandatory plagiarism test as per norms. In
case, a thesis fails the plagiarism test, it shall be returned to the candidate
for needful action at the end of the candidate. In such cases, the candidate
shall be allowed to resubmit the thesis after making necessary changes in it
within a period of three months from the date of such return. In case, the
candidate fails to resubmit the thesis within the stipulated timeframe, the
thesis would be deemed as withdrawn and no further action shall be taken
for getting the thesis evaluated.

11. Appointment of Examiners:


a. The Supervisor shall, in the prescribed format, submit a panel of three
external examiners having expertise in the relevant field of work to the Vice-
Chancellor through the concerned Dean of the School.
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b. The examiners so empanelled must be at least at the level of Assistant


Professors having a PhD degree. The Supervisor shall provide complete and
up to date postal addresses of all the proposed examiners giving in full their
PIN code, email ID and cell phone number.
c. An M. Phil thesis shall be evaluated by two examiners including the
Supervisor. In such cases where the Supervisor is related to the candidate,
the panel of examiners shall be submitted by the HoD. In case, the HoD and
the Supervisor happen to be the same person, the examiners list shall be
submitted by the Dean of the concerned school. In such cases, both the
examiners shall have to be external experts and the Supervisors report shall
not count for the purpose of evaluation.
d. The examiners empanelled shall have to be selected from within the country.

12. Evaluation:
a. The office of the Controller of Examinations shall establish contact and seek
acceptance of the relevant examiners from the empanelled list as shall be
approved by the Vice-Chancellor within a fortnight counting from the date
submission of the thesis.
b. In case, an examiner declines to accept the examinership offer, the next
member in the empanelled list of the examiners shall be approached.
c. Once the Examiner accepts the examinership, the office of the CoE shall
forward the thesis along with other necessary supporting papers such as the
evaluation form, remuneration form etc., to the examiner within a week from
the date of receipt of the acceptance.
d. The examiner shall be requested to send hardcopy of the report complete in
all aspect to the office of the CoE within 30 days counting from the date of
receipt of the thesis. A reminder may be sent to the examiner from the office
of the CoE a week prior to the expiry of the deadline.
e. If an examiner fails to submit the report within the deadline, the CoE shall
send him a final reminder extending the time by another 15 days. If any
examiner is still fails to send the report, the CoE shall invite the next
examiner from the approved panel to evaluate the thesis.
f. In case, the external examiner gives an unfavourable report, the CoE shall
send the thesis to another examiner from the approved panel of examiners
and if the report of this second examiner also remains unfavourable, the
candidate shall be deemed to have failed.
g. The thesis shall be evaluated against 12 credits or 300 marks of which 100
marks shall come from the viva-voce.
h. Each of the examiners shall evaluate the thesis against a total of 100 marks
and a minimum of 50.0% must have to be scored from each of the examiners
in order to qualify for defending the thesis in viva-voce.
i. In order to be eligible to be awarded the degree, the aggregate score of the
candidate must stand at least at 50.0% of the total score, i.e. 150 marks.

13. Viva Voce and Defense of the Thesis


a. Once the reports received from both the examiners are found favourable, the
office of the CoE shall inform the concerned HoD to initiate steps for
conducting the viva voce in consultation with the concerned Supervisor.

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b. The evaluation Committee to be entrusted with the responsibility to conduct


the viva-voce shall consist of the concerned Supervisor as the Chairman, the
external examiner and one faculty member from the School to be nominated
by the Dean. The HoD of the concerned department shall request the Dean
to nominate a member in the committee under intimation to the office of the
CoE.
c. Office of the CoE shall take at least three feasible dates from the external
examiner on which the examiner can take part in the viva-voce proceeding
and pass on the information to the HoD concerned for the needful at his
end.
d. The HoD, in consultation with the Chairman and nominated member of the
committee, shall finalise the actual date for holding the viva voce.
e. The evaluation committee shall submit, through the HoD concerned, its
report to the office of the CoE on the same day the viva-voce was held.
f. The day, date, time and the place for holding the viva voce shall be notified
by the concerned department at least seven days in advance. Such a notice
shall be circulated to all the departments under the School and shall also be
uploaded in the University’s website.
g. In case of successful defense, the office of the CoE shall compile the final
result and submit the same along with all attendant reports including that of
viva voce to the Vice-Chancellor for approval of the same. Once approved the
office of the CoE shall formally notify the result.
h. If the defense is not satisfactory the committee would record the reasons for
the same and suggest an appropriate date for a repeat viva voce after 30
days from the date of the first viva voce subject to the condition that the date
so fixed must not exceed a period of two months at the most.

14. Depository with the University:


Post successful completion of the evaluation process and notification of the
award, the University shall upload the thesis in its D-Space Repository and one
hard copy shall be sent to the Central Library of the University for record and
referential use.

15. Award of Degree:


a. The result shall be officially notified by the CoE within seven days from the
approval of the Vice-Chancellor. The result notification shall clearly mention
the date of such notification, the name of the candidate, registration number
of the candidate and the date of registration, title of the thesis, degree
awarded, name of the Supervisor, name of the Joint Supervisor(s) if any,
name of the Department and name of the School. The notification shall also
be uploaded in the University website.
b. Formal award of the degree shall only be made on the day the university
holds its next Convocation.

16. Removal of Difficulties


Notwithstanding anything contained as at above, the Vice-Chancellor shall have
the power to remove any difficulty faced in the implementation of the above
regulations.

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