Chapter 7: Thesis and examination matters

7.16 Code of practice for the use of merit indicators arising from doctoral examinations

The Research Graduate School Committee recognises the importance of obtaining a measure of the quality of doctoral theses produced at Monash. This information will not only enable national benchmarking on thesis quality but help to inform the practices and policies that underpin Monash's endeavour for the finest quality research training.

Examiners of Monash doctoral theses (or equivalent) are invited to provide an indication of the merit of particular elements of the work on a five-point scale. These merit indicators are supplementary to the examiners’ formal assessment of the work for the award of degree and do not in any way contribute to the candidate’s examination outcome.

The thesis merit indicators collected by the university are not intended or considered to be a definitive measure of quality. They are primarily collected to provide the Research Graduate School Committee with a broad gauge of the quality of theses produced across the university.

This code of practice identifies the principles by which merit indicators arising from doctoral examinations can be used within and by Monash University. Monash staff have a shared responsibility to adopt this code and ensure that merit indicators are used within the framework provided.

1. Individual merit indicators will be sent with examiners’ reports to those members of the university who normally receive copies of examiners’ reports.
2. Individual merit indicators are not part of the formal examiner’s report. They should be treated as supplementary information. They will not be recorded on the student’s academic transcript.
3. The university cannot pass on individual merit indicators to a third party without permission of the student.
4. The use of individual merit indicators by students is optional.
5. Supervisors can only quote individual merit indicators with the permission of the student.
6. Individual merit indicators can be used internally for assistance in determining awards. No award should be determined solely using these indicators.
7. The university can use individual merit indicators for the purpose of monitoring and improving practice only when aggregated. Aggregations can be by supervisor, by department/school, by faculty, by time period, by campus or by any other category deemed appropriate by the Research Graduate School Committee. To aggregate by supervisor, merit indicators must be available for a minimum of three candidates. To aggregate by all other categories, merit indicators must be available for a minimum of five candidates.
8. Merit indicators can only be used for benchmarking purposes with other universities when aggregated and with permission of the Research Graduate School Committee.