Postgraduate prospectus

Postgraduate study: postgraduate courses

As a research-intensive institution with a commitment to providing high-quality education, the University of Essex provides an academically rigorous and stimulating education for its postgraduate students.

Our postgraduate taught courses and research degrees are offered as part of a University-wide Graduate School, which provides a focus for the needs of postgraduate students. You will find that your postgraduate studies provide you with the opportunity to develop your own ideas and interests, and to engage with thinking at the leading edge of your subject, as part of the research community in your department, school or centre and the wider academic and professional community.

Entrance requirements

The following information is a general guide to the entry requirements for postgraduate study. Please check the individual subject entries for specific requirements.

For taught courses: a good first degree, normally with upper second class honours, or equivalent.

For research degrees:

• a good first degree, normally with upper second class honours, or equivalent
• a well-developed research degree proposal in an area where the University is able to offer supervision
• evidence of research capability
• for a PhD, in most disciplines, a good performance in a Masters degree

Taught courses

The majority of postgraduates at the University of Essex are studying a taught course. We offer different taught courses across a wide range of humanities, social science, science and engineering, business and law disciplines, together with a range of interdisciplinary courses. We offer the following awards:

• Graduate Certificate
• Graduate Diploma
• Postgraduate Certificate
• Postgraduate Diploma
• Master of Arts (MA)
• Master of Science (MSc)
• Master of Law (LLM)
• Master of Fine Art (MFA)
• Master of Public Health (MPH)
• Master of Public Enterprise and Management (MPEM)
• Masters by Research (MRes)
• Master of Business Administration (MBA)

Masters courses

A Masters course is an academically rigorous programme during which you explore your chosen subject area in depth, reaching a high level of specialist knowledge in a short time. You draw on your knowledge and skills from undergraduate study or professional life to produce work of a high academic standard, informed by current thinking and debate in the subject area. The Masters courses at Essex provide you with the opportunity to demonstrate your academic potential in a research-intensive environment, with support from research-active staff and excellent facilities.

A Masters course lasts for twelve months of full-time study and consists of taught modules and a normally research-based dissertation totalling 180 credits. The balance of taught modules and research work within an individual course will vary according to the subject area. Typically, the research element of a Masters course will count for 60 credits and there will be 120 credits of taught modules, varying from 10 to 40 credits each. There are usually several compulsory modules and a range of optional modules.

Courses typically start at the beginning of the academic year in October and you take taught modules during the autumn and spring terms. If any of the taught modules includes an examination as part of the assessment, these will be held in May and June. The dissertation or other project-based work is submitted during September.

Students who achieve a Masters degree may wish to extend their knowledge with a research degree. Many who graduate with a University of Essex Masters choose to continue here for their research degree. Some of the University’s Masters may be taken as the first part of a Doctoral Programme, leading to a PhD after a further three years of full-time study.

EU students may wish to note that the University’s Masters courses are regarded as ‘second-cycle’ qualifications under the Bologna Declaration and consist of 90 ECTS credits.

Certificates and Diplomas

In some subject areas, Postgraduate or Graduate Certificates and Diplomas are also available, which last for six to nine months of full-time study and consist of 60 or 120 credits of taught modules, respectively. The Graduate Diplomas equip students who already hold a Bachelors degree with specific knowledge to enable them to proceed to a Masters in a different subject area. The Postgraduate Certificates and Diplomas consist of the modules and assessed work of a Masters, without the dissertation element.

Research degrees

A research degree gives you the chance to investigate your chosen topic in real depth and reach a profound understanding of it. In communicating that understanding to others, through a thesis or other means, you have a rare opportunity to generate knowledge. A research degree also allows you to develop new high-level skills, enhance your professional development and build new networks. It can open doors to many kinds of careers.

Students completing a research degree at Essex work at the heart of an internationally-acknowledged and well-connected research community. We offer world class supervision and training opportunities and encourage you to engage with other researchers, professionals, practitioners and research users where possible. We believe that academic research should make a difference and encourage you to find ways to make an impact, whether social, cultural, economic or intellectual, in everyday life.

Our research is supported by a wide spectrum of UK research councils, EU framework programmes, public-sector organisations and departments, charities, and private-sector industry and businesses. Engagement with all these external funders and stakeholders enriches and extends the quality and relevance of the experience and training that our doctoral students receive.

Our students have many opportunities to engage with our wider research environment and communicate their work. Many of our departments, schools and centres run their own postgraduate journals (print and online) and working papers. All offer doctoral research seminars and conferences and encourage you to present your work at such events, as well as taking a lead in managing, facilitating, promoting and chairing them. Advanced students can apply for University funds to assist them to present papers at national and international conferences.

Apart from academic outputs, you are encouraged to pursue other forms of knowledge transfer and can access training on this from our Research and Enterprise Office. We offer shared office and social space to all our doctoral students and excellent computing facilities. Our new Student Centre (due to open in 2012) will provide additional dedicated study, wi-fi and networking space for postgraduates.

The University has an international reputation for the quality of its research. In the last Research Assessment Exercise (December 2008), our standing as one of the UK’s elite research institutions was reaffirmed with 22 per cent of our research rated ‘world-leading’ and over 90 per cent recognised internationally for its quality. We re-confirmed our place as the UK’s leading university for the social sciences, with Government top, Sociology joint top, Economics third and Linguistics fourth nationally. The highest proportion of world-leading research at Essex was in Government and in Economics with 45 per cent and 40 per cent respectively classed as 4-star, while 35 per cent of research in Sociology was classed as 4-star.

However, we also scored strongly in other fields, featuring in the UK’s top ten in half of the 14 subject areas submitted. This included being rated second in the UK for History and for Essex Business School (Accounting and Finance subject area), ninth for Art History and tenth for Philosophy.

We offer the following types of research degree:

• Master of Arts by Dissertation (MA)
• Master of Science by Dissertation (MSc)
• Master of Philosophy (MPhil)
• Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
• Integrated Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
• Doctoral Programme (PhD)
• Professional Doctorates
• Doctor of Medicine (MD)

Master of Arts (MA) by Dissertation Master of Science (MSc) by Dissertation Master of Philosophy (MPhil)

With these awards, you present a dissertation at the end of the period of study, which sets out the results of investigative work carried out during the period. The MPhil programmes in the Department of Language and Linguistics combine two terms of specialist academic training followed by the submission of a thesis.

The minimum and maximum periods of registration for the different research degrees are shown in the table above.

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

There are several routes to a PhD within the University of Essex. Each requires you to conduct and present the results of original investigations and research. Whichever route is taken, it is our policy to register all PhD students initially as MPhil/PhD students. Assuming progress is satisfactory, confirmation of PhD status normally occurs in the first half of the second year of study (second half of the third year, if part-time).

• PhD: If you hold the necessary qualifications to embark upon the PhD, the normal minimum period of registration is three years of full-time study. A significant amount of training in professional and research skills is available to all students registered for a PhD.
• Integrated PhD (New Route PhD): In addition to the standard PhD, we offer a four-year route to PhD combining an intensive year of taught study with preparation and submission of a thesis. The first year includes research methods training, taught subject-specific modules and a dissertation. At the end of the first year you are formally assessed and an intermediate award, usually a Masters, may be made. On successful completion of the first year, you follow three years of supervised research, during which you continue to receive training in professional and research skills. Please see individual subject entries for details of which subjects offer the Integrated PhD.
• Doctoral Programme: This three-year programme combines specialist training with preparation and submission of a thesis, where the first year requires you to take a number of taught subject-specific modules, which may correspond to the taught elements of a Masters degree. After the first year, you continue with your supervised research and continue to receive training in professional and research skills and attend graduate research workshops. Doctoral programmes are available in accounting, economics, political science, refugee care, sociology and statistics.

You may commence a PhD in October, January or April. The Integrated PhD and the Doctoral Programme commence in October.

Professional Doctorates

Professional Doctorates are available in a number of subjects, offered by the School of Health and Human Sciences and the Centre for Psychoanalytic Studies. The doctorate combines professional training, teaching and research in a way that is relevant to current practice. They are available for initial training (full-time study) or for experienced professionals (part-time study).

Code of practice for research degrees

The University has a formal code of practice for research degree students, outlining the responsibilities of both you and the University. This code covers all aspects of research degrees, from admission and selection procedures, through supervision and progress monitoring, to final examination.

Skills training

Research skills training is provided by your department, school or centre and will be developed through a combination of one-to-one guidance provided by your supervisor and more formal workshops, seminars and specific research methods modules. Most departments, schools and centres have an annual research student conference which provide you with an opportunity to present your work.

There is also a University skills programme for research students, which provides an opportunity to acquire a set of generic skills to help you through your life as a research student and to prepare you for the next steps when you graduate.

Supervision

You will be allocated a supervisor whose role is to guide you through the different stages of your research degree. In some cases, you may have joint supervision by two members of staff. The support provided by your supervisor is a key feature of the research student experience. You will have regular one-to-one meetings to discuss progress with your research. Initially, your supervisor will help you to develop your research topic and plan. Twice a year, you will have a supervisory board meeting, which provides a more formal opportunity to discuss your progress and agree plans for the next six months.

Distance learning

If you are resident overseas, and hold very high qualifications and/or have considerable relevant expertise, you may register for a part-time research degree without residence at the University. You must demonstrate that you have the necessary basic research skills (or that arrangements have been made for the acquisition of such skills) and evidence of a high level of ability in the English language, if your first language is not English. Details of supervisory arrangements will be specified individually and will include, for example, the frequency and mode of contact with your supervisor and the periods of time to be spent at the University.