Confirmation of Status
By the end of your 9th term, you must have completed your Confirmation of Status as a DPhil student. You are required to apply for this in good time by completing the ‘GSO.14.MSD’ form. You will be sent reminders by both the GSA and your supervisor(s) to complete this form, and to arrange a presentation and an interview prior to submitting the form. It is not possible for you to submit for examination until your DPhil status has been confirmed.
Assessors:
Assessors should be approached by the supervisor and approved by the DGS. Assessors should normally be internal to Oxford, but can be external to the department. At least one of them should have had no direct supervisory involvement with the student, the other one could be the student’s supervisor. [Please note: From Michaelmas Term 2014 onwards, supervisors may no longer be confirmation assessors.] The choice of assessors is usually also agreed with the student.
‘GSO.14.MSD’ form:
The application form for Confirmation of Status (GSO.14.MSD) can be found here. The form must be completed and signed by the student, the supervisor, the College and the DGS prior to the presentation and interview.
The student should provide the proposed timetable and dates for their thesis submission on the GSO.14.MSD form. The GSO.14.MSD should also include a statement of the skills training the student has undertaken so far. A full thesis contents list should be attached, detailing the list of any key remaining experiments and also giving the dates of when draft chapters will be passed to the supervisor(s).
Once the completed GSO.14.MSD form has been returned to the Graduate Studies Administrator, a 'Confirmation of DPhil status' assessment form (see below) will be sent to the assessors, as well as guidelines for Confirmation of Status Assessors in the Medical Sciences Division.
Presentation & Interview:
Students are required to give a presentation of their research, which has to be attended by their assessors. This will then be followed by the interview. The interview will be conducted by the appointed assessors in a private room based on the presentation and the quality of work completed .
‘Confirmation of D.Phil. status’ Assessment Form:
After the presentation and interview, a ‘Confirmation of D.Phil. status’ form must be completed by the assessors and returned to the Graduate Studies Administrator, who will then submit all paperwork to the Graduate Studies Office.
Further information of the Confirmation of Status can be found on WebLearn