Academic Regulations
1. Candidacy commences when the University of Sydney (USyd) offers the applicant a place and advises the name(s) of its supervisor(s). Candidacy is conditional on satisfactory progress.
2. As soon as candidacy commences it is the responsibility of the MTC supervisor to take the initiative in arranging a meeting of the supervision panel. This should consist of the MTC supervisor and co-supervisor, the Principal Supervisor from USyd and the student.
At that meeting the following will be addressed:
2.1. The MTC thesis proposal will be endorsed or an agreement documented to modify it;
2.2. The first year milestones will be agreed upon;
2.3. The USyd document ‘Thesis Proposal: Information for thesis proposal advisory committee members’ will be reviewed and a preliminary plan agreed for the student to prepare for the presentation and defence of the thesis proposal. The preliminary plan should include names of other MTC academic staff members who will be present for the presentation.
2.4. A program of meetings with the USyd Principal Supervisor needs to be agreed.
3. Soon after the foregoing meeting a program of meetings between the MTC supervisor and the student needs to be agreed.
4. Part-time candidates are required to undertake the first two semesters as full-time residential students. Thereafter those wishing to reside outside Sydney metropolitan area must spend at least two weeks per year in Sydney.
5. All candidates are required to participate in MTC’s program of Advanced Topic Seminars and, where appropriate, Biblical Studies Research Seminars. This includes the presentation, at least once per year, of an abstract of their research to date. The MTC supervisor is required to attend this presentation. Normally, students are required to participate in all such seminars offered by MTC (usually four per year). However, students residing outside the Sydney metropolitan area may apply to the Postgraduate Committee for permission to participate in a lesser number. In such cases, students are expected to combine visits to Sydney for seminars with face-to-face consultations with their supervisor.
6. Changes to a thesis topic may be initiated by the student, the supervisor or the Postgraduate Committee. Changes must be approved by the Board of Studies on the recommendation of the Postgraduate Committee and then submitted to USyd through the Principal Supervisor.