Research Services

Higher Degrees by Research - information for students

Roles and Organisation

Organisation

Higher degrees by research are under the governance of the Higher Degrees Committee (Research) (HDC(R)), which for example, approves enrolments, receives reports via your Research Progress Panel (RPP), authorises examiners and receives their reports and recommends degrees are conferred. Other staff concerned with research degrees are your supervisors, your school/programme/department’s postgraduate coordinator, Research Progress Panels, Faculty Higher Degrees or Research Committees and Research Services, Research Students section.

This page provides a brief introduction to some of the roles of staff who are important to higher research degree students and the governing and administrative organisations.

For information about the organisation of Supervisors and Research Progress Panels roles see the Supervision, progress and milestones page.

Post-graduate coordinator

The role of the Postgraduate Coordinator is to attend to the organisation of higher degrees by research in your area. It could be your school or programme/department. Some of the tasks of postgraduate coordinators are:

• assisting potential HDR Students to find possible supervisors
• recommending supervisors and Research Progress Panel (RPP) members
• recommending enrolment
• arranging an alternate supervisor when your primary supervisor is not available for more than three months for PhD students or two months for masters students.
• overseeing resources such as office space
• receiving progress reports

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Faculty Higher Degrees Committees

Faculty Higher Degrees Committees (or in some faculties, the research committee if there is no separately constituted higher degrees committee) oversee postgraduate research within the faculty, monitoring, coordinating and planning resources, scholarships, staffing, and other aspects of HDRs.

Higher Degrees Committee (Research)

As well as the administrative tasks mentioned under Organisation, the HDC(R) is responsible for higher degrees, and their scholarships, policies and procedures. It is ultimately responsible for all major decisions regarding your candidature. Many of them will be agreed between you, your supervisor and your RPP. The HDC(R) will review a decision when requested in writing by an HDR Student.

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Higher Degrees Appeals

Requests for HDC(R) to review a decision relating to higher degrees by research should be made to the Manager Research Students who attends to the administration of HDC(R).

Appeals against a decision to fail a thesis, or that a thesis must be revised, or to terminate candidature are made to the University Appeals Committee. You can enquire about appeals at the Research Services office.

Complaints

If you have a complaint or need to discuss something you feel is not right or unfair talk about it with your supervisor. If it concerns your supervisor and you've raised with him or her and you have been unable to resolve it then talk to your Post-graduate Coordinator, other senior staff in your department (or program or unit) or, if no one in your department can help, talk to your Head of School.

Where possible complaints and problems should be resolved in your department (or program or unit).

The Supervision of Research Students Procedures and Research Progress Panels Procedures describe how you can request a review and how it can be escalated beyond your immediate department if necessary. These state that a written request for review of a Research Progress Panel meeting or complaint of unsatisfactory supervision must be investigated and describe some general outcomes available.

HDR students, like all others, may take a concern or grievance to the student complaints office. Contact details are on this link: http://www.latrobe.edu.au/students/complaints/contact

When a complaint or grievance is not resolved through the relevant faculty, school or administrative department the University Ombudsman is also able to provide advice and assistance. The University Ombudsman may attend to academic matters or administrative decisions or actions.

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Research Services Office

The Research Students section (previously known as Scholarships and Candidature) of Research Services carries out the administration of higher research degrees. It received your candidature and scholarship applications and processed enrolment, entering data into the student information databases. The Research Students office keeps records of all the necessary information for your candidature, including supervisors, progress reports, how long you have been enrolled in a higher research degree, any study away from the university, suspension of enrolment, extension, examiners, examiners’ reports and so on.

If you need help with a procedure, or don’t know what to do in a particular situation, the Research Students office staff will be able to advise you what to do or refer you the appropriate academic staff.

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