A research student submits a 60, 120 or 180 credit dissertation for examination. Students must inform the Faculty Office of their intention to submit for examination prior to actual submission for examination, by uploading the following to PeopleSoft:
PLEASE NOTE: Due to the COVID-19 Lockdown, we are waiting for confirmation of the new final dates for submission of dissertations
What does ‘qualify’ mean?
A student qualifies when he or she has met the requirements for the degree/diploma which is ratified by the FEC and approved by SEC. Graduation may take place weeks or even months after this approval process. A student may apply for a transcript which will show that the qualification has been completed and that graduation will take place on a date some time in the future.
What does ‘graduate’ mean?
A student graduates at a congregation of the University of Cape Town. That is, a graduation ceremony where the degree or diploma is conferred upon him/her. The graduation date appears on the certificate and transcript.
Kindly note that the University of Cape Town does not undertake to reach a decision on the award of the degree by any specific date. We will inform you once your examination process has been completed.
Please note that these dates are not necessarily in line with the fee rebate dates – please see point 5 below for the deadlines for fees.
After consultation with the supervisor a candidate hoping to graduate midyear / end of the year is required to submit via PeopleSoft to the Faculty Office:
Dissertation
Please include the following in your dissertation - a signed declaration which states: "I know the meaning of plagiarism and declare that all the work in the document, save for that which is properly acknowledged, is my own. This thesis/dissertation has been submitted to the Turnitin module (or equivalent similarity and originality checking software) and I confirm that my supervisor has seen my report and any concerns revealed by such have been resolved with my supervisor."
A copy of your completed and signed EBE Faculty ‘Assessment of Ethics in Research Projects form’. This would have been completed when you registered for your dissertation.
Please note that only online submissions of the dissertation is required. You do not need to submit a hardcopy.
Please check your PeopleSoft within a week to see if your service request was accepted or declined. If no action was taken, please contact the Faculty Office.
3. Paper Requirement
Please note this requirement is only for those completing a 120 / 180 credit dissertation.
You are in addition required to submit a summary of the key aspects of the dissertation, presented in the form of a paper which is, potentially, of publishable standard, approved by the supervisor.
PLEASE NOTE: Due to the COVID-19 Lockdown, we are waiting for confirmation of the new date for receipt of the hardcopy paper by the Faculty Office.
Note: The Paper requirement is intended to develop a candidate's skills in academic communication through exposure to the discipline of preparing a scholarly, succinct overview of the subject of the research topic, with due attention to structure, detail, clarity of expression and referencing. If you have not already done so, you must liaise with your supervisor and take appropriate steps to satisfy this requirement.
You are required to submit the following to the Faculty Office:
Please note that if you intend submitting your Master's dissertation for examination between December and before the academic term commences the following year you will not be required to register.
If you submit your dissertation after the term commences you must re-register by the date set out on the registration programme. If you do not register and you submit your dissertation for examination, your dissertation will not be sent off for examination until you have re-registered.
5. Fees
The following is an extract taken from the Fees Handbook (Submission of Doctoral Theses and Master's Dissertations) on rebates. Refer to the Fees Handbook (No. 8.2) for the exact fee deadline dates. Kindly note that these are not Faculty deadline dates, but fee deadline dates:
PLEASE NOTE: Due to the COVID-19 Lockdown, we are waiting for confirmation of the dates for rebates on the annual academic fee for a doctoral thesis or master’s dissertation.
Revise and Resubmit
Where a student is required to revise and resubmit a thesis or dissertation the academic fee will be charged per quarter (ie. If the candidate must work for up to one quarter, he/she will pay 25% of the full fee; for up to two quarters, he/she will pay 50% of the full fee and so on).
NOTE 1: Full annual fees will be billed from the date on which the student is notified to revise and resubmit, and any fee rebate will be processed on resubmission.
NOTE 2: International students who are required to revise and resubmit a dissertation or thesis and who need to re-register at the start of a new academic year, may have their international term fee pro-rated up-front where there is a clear indication from the supervisor that the student is expected to submit in a period shorter than a year.
Should you be entitled to a rebate, this will only take effect once we know the outcome of your dissertation.
