Upgrading to MLitt or PhD candidature

When you begin a research degree you are initially registered as a research Masters student. Musicologists are either registered on a one-year MPhil or a two-year MLitt; composers on a two-year MMus. To become a PhD candidate, you must upgrade your registration. To be permitted to do this you must participate in a formal review of your work so far. This process involves the submission of a substantial piece of writing, a plan for the next stage of your work and an interview with either one or two internal assessors.

Students wishing to upgrade should discuss the process with their advisors as early as possible. MPhil students should begin discussing it no later than half-way through their full-time year; MLitt and MMus students certainly by the end of the first year of full-time study or at the start of the third year of part-time study.

MPhil to MLitt or PhD

Candidates registered for MPhil who wish to proceed to MLitt or doctoral work may apply to upgrade their registration to MLitt/PhD (in most cases, you will be required to upgrade to MLitt, with the option of upgrading again from MLitt to PhD twelve months later). The process should be completed no later than the tenth month (normally July, assuming you commenced studies the previous October), to allow you the remaining two months to complete the MPhil should you not be permitted to upgrade to MLitt. Part-time students should have upgraded by the twenty-second month of registration

Successful upgrade is dependent on the following:

• The assessment by an academic assessor other than the advisor of a draft chapter, or chapters, of 8-10,000 words in total, an extended piece of analytical work or a fully-annotated piece of editing. For certain projects, such as those with an interdisciplinary dimension, a second assessor may be required.
• The assessment of a bibliography in support of the submission.
• The assessment of a synopsis of the thesis showing the scheme of chapters and a summary of their contents together with a schedule of work still to be completed.
• Successful completion of any relevant training units.
• An interview with the assessor of the submitted work in the presence of the advisor.
• The assessors will be looking for evidence of a clearly-defined and realistic proposal, competence in the proposed field, and the potential to deliver lucidly-argued and original work on time.

MLitt to PhD

If you wish to submit for a PhD you must upgrade your registration within two years of initial registration (allowing for any suspensions of study) if you are a full time student, or four years if you are a part-time student. Your advisor will normally advise you of the appropriate time to request an upgrade, but you have a right to ask to be upgraded.

Successful upgrade is dependent upon the following:

• The assessment of a draft chapter (or chapters) of the thesis of no less than 10,000 and no more than 15,000 words in total by two academic assessors other than your advisor.
• An interview with the two assessors in the presence of your advisor.
• The assessment of a bibliography of the thesis.
• The assessment of synopsis of the thesis showing the scheme of chapters together with a summary of their contents and a schedule of work still to be undertaken and a realistic timetable for completion. The assessors will be looking for evidence of a clearly-defined and realistic proposal, competence in the proposed field, and the potential to deliver lucidly-argued and original work on time.

MMus to PhD

If you are a composer wishing to submit for a PhD you must upgrade your registration within two years of initial registration (allowing for any suspensions of study) if you are a full time student, or four years if you are a part-time student. Your advisor will normally advise you of the appropriate time to request an upgrade, but you have a right to ask to be upgraded.

Successful upgrade is dependent upon the following:

• The assessment by two academic assessors other than your advisor of a portfolio of works, at least one of which should normally be complete and, if possible, performed. Others may be partially completed, but the sections submitted should be fully worked-out in full score, professionally presented and sufficiently substantial to give a clear sense of the whole piece. Where the portfolio does not include music for orchestra or large ensemble, and in cases where your aim is to write for such an ensemble as part of the PhD submission, you are expected to include a piece of orchestration in your upgrade submission (of a work to be agreed with your advisor)
• An interview with the two assessors in the presence of your advisor.
• The assessment of a brief commentary (2,000 to 3,000 words in total) on the works submitted, together with a bibliography
• The assessment of an analytical essay on a work (or works) by an established composer of the late 20th or 21st century, that you consider to be relevant in some way to the portfolio you have submitted. The essay should be 4,000 to 5,000 words, and should aim to discuss issues that have a bearing on your own creative practice. The essay should observe the same scholarly conventions as those of musicology submission at this level and a bibliography should be included.