The Doctoral Degrees Board is responsible for all supervised doctoral degrees as well as senior doctorates by published works.

For more information on applications regarding doctoral degrees please contact the relevant faculty:

Candidates for the PhD may qualify for admission if they have:

  • a master's degree
  • an honours degree, or a 4-year bachelor's degree, plus at least 1 year's registration for the master's degree
  • a 3-year bachelor's degree plus at least 2 years registration for a master's degree

Please see General Rules for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy for more information.

Formal application for admission is made through the relevant faculty. Candidates are registered provisionally until their research proposals have been formally approved by the Doctoral Degrees Board.

Students registering for the PhD degree will be formally allocated a supervisor, who is responsible for providing guidance.

Please see Guidelines for the information and use of PhD candidates and supervisors for more information.

Fees

Please contact the Student Fees Office for any fee-related queries.

Period of registration

Candidates must be registered for at least 2 consecutive years, although registration for a year at another university may be accepted as part of that period.

No maximum period of time is prescribed for completing a thesis, but the university stipulates a "reasonable time", which is generally taken to be 5 years.

If a candidate is not making satisfactory progress, a faculty's Higher Degrees Committee may issue a warning, and, if necessary, may refuse re-registration.