Thesis Monitoring Committee (TMC)

Thesis monitoring exists for the benefit of the student.
The main purpose of the Thesis Monitoring Committee (TMC) is to explore issues relating to their progress, training, personal or other concerns that have arisen during the course of their MPhil or PhD, in an informal confidential arena with a small committee independent of supervisors.
Please note that in this document, DJCAD refers to the Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design; TMC refers to Thesis Monitoring Committee.

Purpose of TMC
The purposes of these committees are:
 To fulfil the University’s responsibilities to ensure that regular monitoring of the progress and welfare of each of its research students is conducted.
 To give students the opportunity to voice any concerns or opinions relevant to their progress and opportunities.
 To facilitate Duncan of Jordanstone in updating its understanding of the work of its research students and in identifying further opportunities for research.
 To facilitate Duncan of Jordanstone in monitoring and reviewing resource needs and potential.
 To ensure that School and University records are up to date.

TMC is not…
a) It should be noted that the purpose of the monitoring meeting should not be conflated with tutorial or critique. Should tutorial requirements be determined during the meeting, additional arrangements should be made.
b) Thesis Monitoring should not be confused with the Transfer Process. Transfer cannot be conducted during a monitoring meeting although preparations for, or results of transfer should be discussed and recorded through the monitoring procedure.

How it works
Procedure prior to the Thesis Monitoring Committee meeting
The DJCAD Postgraduate Office will prepare a timetable for thesis monitoring of research students. Full time students will be monitored every six months and part time students once per year. The Postgraduate Office will request progress reports from the student and each of the Supervisors.
A minimum of ten days before:
 The student will submit a progress report to the Postgraduate Office.
 The supervisors will submit progress reports to the Postgraduate Office.
 A copy of the progress reports and the previous TMC report will be sent to the Convenor of the Thesis Monitoring Committee by the Postgraduate Office.
 Members of the TMC should ensure that they read the reports prior to the Thesis Monitoring meeting.

Procedure at the Thesis Monitoring Committee meeting
The meeting will be chaired by the Convenor of the TMC.
The meeting should last approximately 30-40 minutes.
The student should take 5-10 minutes to outline their progress which will be followed by questions and discussion.

The following points should be covered in the discussion:
 Any action points from previous TMC reports if appropriate.
 Progress of the research.
 Difficulties associated with the research that have arisen.
 From the student’s viewpoint is supervision satisfactory? If not then what action can be taken to remedy this?
 Discussion of research training undertaken/ proposed/ available.
 Postgraduate facilities and support.
 Student’s proposed research programme for following 6-12 months.
 Discussion of preparation for ‘Transfer’, ‘Intention to Submit’, ‘Viva’ as appropriate.
 Check that student is aware of any ethical issues that may have to be considered and any relevant approval that may be required.
 Any comments of a sensitive nature from the student i.e. anything the student may want to raise that was not recorded on their progress form. Is any follow-up required?
 In the final year discuss future career plans/ funding proposals
 Has the thesis monitoring process been useful to the student?
 Check on any matters which the student may not wish included on the report.

Procedure following the TMC meeting
The Convenor of the TMC will prepare the Thesis Monitoring Report and forward it to the student and the other TMC member(s) for approval/ revision. The report should cover:
 Progress of research
 Supervision Issues
 Support and facilities
 Training needs
 Further comments and any action required and by who
Once agreed, the Convenor should send the report to the Postgraduate Office. Copies of the agreed report will then be sent to:
 The Student
 Other member(s) of the TMC Panel
 The Supervisors (subject to consent by the student)
 DJCAD Director of Postgraduate Studies
The Postgraduate Office will advise the relevant parties of action required and will monitor this.
Notification of the meeting and general issues arising from TMC’s will be reported to the Duncan of Jordanstone Research Degrees Committee.

Committee Structure
The Thesis Monitoring Committee should comprise a minimum of two people who must not be supervisors of the student being monitored. Members should normally have experience in supervising research students. A TMC need not contain a member of academic staff with expertise in the student's field of research, since the committee's role is primarily concerned with progress issues and whether the student-supervisor relationship is operating successfully. Every effort will be made to ensure that the Committee members remain constant throughout the student’s degree, though this will depend on staff availability.
Frequency of meetings
Thesis Monitoring normally is carried out on a 6 monthly cycle.
For full-time students the TMC will meet at least twice a year, and for part-time students at least once a year. The exact date of the first TMC will vary
Appendix PGR.3 Thesis Monitoring Guidelines
depending on the correlation between the student’s registration date and the annual timetabling of TMC’s.
Meetings will continue to be held until the research student has submitted his/her thesis including the write-up period.
Confidentiality
The Thesis Monitoring Report is confidential. The Supervisors’ Progress Reports to the Thesis Monitoring Committee should not be copied to the student and likewise the Student Progress Report should not be copied to the Supervisor. This is to ensure that both parties have the opportunity to make frank comment without prejudice. In the interest of transparency, a copy of the Thesis Monitoring Committee’s Report will be sent to the student and the Supervisors. However, the draft copy of the report must be sent to the student before circulation to give the student the opportunity to request any changes or exclusion of information from the report.
At the discretion of the Committee and with the agreement of the student, the Supervisor may be invited to participate at some point in the meeting.