In South Africa and various other countries this the way a Master's 
dissertation ("thesis" in the US?) or a PHD thesis ("dissertation" in the US)  
is supervised and appraised:
 
1.  A supervisor is appointed by the Department.  A co-supervisor is appointed 
in about 50% of the cases.
 
2.  At least two external examiners from other universities/countries are 
appointed.  The supervisor(s) and student are not allowed to have any contact 
with these external examiners. 
 
3.  After the thesis/dissertation is approved by the supervisor(s) it is sent 
to the external examiners.
 
4)  The reports of the external examiners are final and the student and 
supervisor(s) are not allowed to respond to  the reports. However, in certain 
extraordinary cases an arbitrator could be appointed.
 
There are several aspects in this system that I am not happy with (long story!)
 
I would therefore appreciate it if I could hear from colleagues in other 
countries and especially the US about the systems that they are using.  I am 
especially interested in the US system where there are apparently no external 
examiners.  A supervisor(s) and a committee, consisting of colleagues in the 
Department, are appointed whose decision on whether the thesis/dissertation 
should be accepted is final.  Is this correct?   I would appreciate more detail 
in this regard, e.g., how many members in the committee, what happens if there 
is a conflict in opinion between the supervisor and committee, or among the 
committee members?  
 
Regards from this side of the ocean.
 
Dap
 
 
 
********************************************************************
Dap Louw, Ph.D.(Psych.), Ph.D. (Crim.)
Head: Centre for Psychology and the Law
Extraordinary Professor: Department of Psychology
University of the Free State
P.O. Box 339 
Bloemfontein 
9300 South Africa 
Tel: (051) 401-2444 (work)
Fax: 051 401 3556
Email: [email protected]
Cell: 083-391-8331

********************************************************************

_____________________________________________________________________

University of the Free State: This message and its contents are subject to a 
disclaimer. 
Please refer to  http://www.ufs.ac.za/disclaimer for full details. 

Universiteit van die Vrystaat: 
Hierdie boodskap en sy inhoud is aan 'n vrywaringsklousule onderhewig. 
Volledige besonderhede is by http://www.ufs.ac.za/vrywaring  beskikbaar. 
_____________________________________________________________________

---
You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected].
To unsubscribe click here: 
http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=18596
or send a blank email to 
leave-18596-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu

<<attachment: Louw,_Dap.vcf>>

Reply via email to