About the School of Graduate Studies, University of Port Harcourt
The School of Graduate Studies is an arm of the University that has the responsibility of administering all graduate programmes in all the Departments/Faculties, Centres and Institutes. The School has a Board that functions on behalf of the University to consider and approve all matters relating to higher degrees and reports to the Senate. The Board meets statutorily on the 2nd Tuesday of every month to perform its functions.
Principal Officers
The Dean is both the academic and administrative head of the School and is ably assisted by the Associate Dean. The other principal officers of the School are:
The Graduate Studies Officer (GSO), who represents the Registrar and is responsible for all administrative duties. The GSO also serves as Secretary to the Board.
The Deputy Bursar, is the Bursar’s representative and supervises the finances and accounts of the School, even though the Dean is the Chief Accounting Officer.
Other Units
The other key units in the School are:
Admissions/documentation: The unit is responsible for admission processes which include processing of application forms, registration of students, documentation and issuance of transcripts.
Results/Board Office: This office receives and processes results and deals with all matters concerning results e.g corrections in approved results, transcripts and certificates. It is also in charge of the Board meetings. Final copies of students’ Theses and Dissertations are submitted to this office in both hard and soft copies for onward transmission to the University Library, via the School Library.
Records Unit: Files of old and new students are housed in the unit.
The Library: Copies of students’ Theses/Dissertations are kept there, from where a copy of each is sent to the University main Library, along with corresponding soft copies from the Results/Board Office.
All the four units are under the supervision of the GSO.
Accounts: There are two offices, Account 1 and Account 2. The Deputy Bursar oversees the Unit.
Major Functions/Activities of the School
The major functions of the School are admission and graduation of post graduate students, except students in the Post Graduate Diploma Programmes that are admitted by the Departments, Centres and Institutes.
Issuance of Statements of Results, Success Letters and Transcripts.
These items are e-processed because the formats are in the cloud. The preparation and issuance are handled by staff in the Documentation and GSO’S offices, under the supervision of the GSO.
Orientation Ceremony for New Students
The School organizes orientation ceremonies for each set of students admitted every academic session. In addition to the Principal Officers of the School, other key officers of the University that are invited to address the students include the Vice Chancellor, the Registrar, the Bursar and the University Librarian. Others are the Director of the Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer Office, who does the anti-plagiarism check of all Theses and Dissertations.
SGS Seminar for Ph.D Students
This is one of the major activities of the School. It is organized for Ph.D students who have successfully presented their work at the Departmental and Faculty levels. A Ph.D student cannot be presented to an external examiner for the final defence of his/her Thesis without a successful presentation at the SGS Seminar.
The Associate Dean, handles this assignment and a Panel of four senior academics drawn from the Faculties assesses the presentations.
Ph.D Theses can only be sent out to external examiners after corrections have been duly effected after SGS Seminar presentation.
External Defense for Ph.D and Masters Students
It is a policy of the School that the defense for Ph.D Theses is done at the School, while the defense for Masters Dissertations is held at the Faculties. However, if a Department has both, the two sets can be taken at the School. For the latter, the School sends a Dean’s Representative, preferably a Professor. A Department intending to present Ph.D and Masters students for external defense must present to the School, the following:
- External Defense Clearance forms to be verified by the Deputy Bursar and approved by the Dean.
- Receipts of all school fees, including that of the session in which the defense will take place.
- Receipts for defense fees payment
- A copy of the antiplagiarism certificate of the work or signed antiplagiarism results sheet in which the students’ names appear.
- Spreadsheets of the students to confirm that the students have passed all taught courses.
The School insists that a Ph.D student who fails the external defense the first time should be examined by the same external examiner in his/her second defense. Failure at the second and final chance seals the fate of the student.
Anti-Plagiarism Check
As a policy approved by Senate, all Theses and Dissertations must be checked for plagiarism before the Graduate School Seminar (PhDs) and before being sent to external examiners. The IPPTO Unit which is under the office of the Vice Chancellor and headed by a Director