Several Graduate School policies and procedures have been modified and will take effect in the near future. A description of each of these changes is provided below:
Doctoral Degree Candidates
Master's/Specialist Degree Candidates
Student Funding
Admissions
Graduate Faculty
Currently, there is no requirement for taking the qualifying examination within a specified period of time after initial enrollment in a doctoral program.
Students first enrolled in a doctoral program in the fall 2005 semester will now be required to take the qualifying examination within five years of entry into the program . Extensions up to an additional three years may be requested. Extensions up to 12 months may be approved by the Dean of the Graduate School upon receipt of a request from the Director of Graduate Studies. Requests for extensions longer than twelve months must be considered by Graduate Council and will require the positive recommendation of the Director of Graduate Studies, the chair of the student's doctoral advisory committee, and a majority vote of Graduate Faculty in the program. If the qualifying examination has not been passed at the end of five years, or at the end of all approved time extensions the student will be dismissed from the program.
This new time limit applies to all programs, but the graduate faculty of a doctoral program (or group of programs) has the option to petition Graduate Council for a shorter or longer time limit. If approved, this modification will then apply to all doctoral students in that program.
POST-QUALIFYING RESIDENCY CREDIT
See http://www.research.uky.edu/gs/767.html
ASSESSMENT OF "GOOD PROGRESS" FOR ALL DOCTORAL STUDENTS
Many programs regularly assess the progress of their doctoral students. Beginning in the fall 2005 semester this will required of all programs . The Graduate Faculty of each doctoral program will define good progress to completion of the doctoral degree. This information will be included in the program's Graduate Student Handbook. The consequences of lack of good progress may also be included in the handbook. Each doctoral student's good progress toward the degree will be reviewed (at least) annually by either the Graduate Faculty in the program, the doctoral advisory committee, or other graduate education committee. Each student will be informed in writing of the results of that meeting by the Director of Graduate Studies or the chair of the advisory committee, or their designee.
MASTER'S/SPECIALIST DEGREE TIME LIMIT
Currently, students enrolled in master's/specialist programs have eight years to complete all requirements for the degree, but extensions up to an additional four years may be requested for a total of 12 years. Extensions up to two years may be approved by the Dean of the Graduate School . Requests for extensions longer than two years must be considered by Graduate Council. All requests should be initiated by the Director of Graduate Studies.
Students first enrolled in a master's/specialist program in the fall 2005 semester will now have six years to complete all requirements for the degree, but will still have the opportunity to request extensions up to an additional four years for a total of 10 years.
Programs may opt to shorten or extend the required time to complete the master's/specialist program. Petitions must be submitted to Graduate Council for approval. The program should be able to demonstrate that the six year time limit would be detrimental to the progress of their students or to the program itself. If the request is to extend the time limit, the program must demonstrate how students will remain current in the field over this extended time period. Any approved change in the time limit would apply to all students in the program.
KENTUCKY GRADUATE SCHOLARSHIP (KGS) ELIGIBILITY
The Kentucky Graduate Scholarship is a recruitment incentive scholarship which pays the cost of out-of-state tuition to students whose undergraduate GPA is 3.25 or higher. The following changes have been instituted:
ON-LINE SUBMISSION OF THE GSAS FORM FOR TEACHING, RESEARCH AND GRADUATE ASSISTANTS
Beginning in the fall 2005 semester, all departments must submit GSAS (Graduate Student Academic Staff) Notice of Appointment information online (we will accept paper GSAS forms on an exception basis only). The online GSAS form is located on the Graduate School Web site in the "For DGSs" section. Using the program/DGS logon, departments will be able to access a list of their graduate students and provide the appropriate information. Please note that HRS assignments must match the information on the GSAS form. Hiring departments, if different from the student's home academic program, should work with the academic department to complete the electronic GSAS. Timely and accurate GSAS information is important for: tuition scholarship and financial aid eligibility; student health insurance eligibility and coverage; accurate accounting and processing of RA/GA Universal Tuition; and consistent institutional data for reporting, surveys, and SACS requirements.
The Graduate School will provide the standard graduate tuition scholarship rate for graduate assistantships. The latest policies for scholarships are accessible via the GS Web site. For more information on tuition scholarship processing (or student health insurance eligibility), call the Fellowship Office at 257.3261 or e-mail gsas@uky.edu .
Currently, students can be admitted either "tentatively" or "provisionally" (or in some cases both "tentatively and provisionally") when certain requirements are lacking at the time of application. Most often, students are admitted "tentatively" when a final undergraduate transcript showing an awarded Bachelor's degree is lacking. The student has 30 days from the beginning of their first semester to present the transcript or they are declared academically delinquent. "Provisional" admission is often granted to domestic applicants who have yet to present GRE (or equivalent) scores. Alternatively, programs may request that an applicant is admitted in "provisional" status until certain deficiencies are corrected (for example, completion of specific undergraduate courses) or until the performance on initial course work can be evaluated. The student has one full-time semester (or up to 12 hr) to satisfy all provisional requirements. In reality, many students remain in provisional status for much longer periods of time. International students are typically not admitted in provisional status.
Beginning with students admitted in the spring 2006 semester, tentative and provisional status will be combined into a single entity; "conditional" admission. This new admission category will apply to both domestic and international students who could be admitted "conditionally" for:
These requirements will be monitored by the Graduate School and must be met prior to the date set for priority registration in the first semester of enrollment. Students will not be allowed to priority register if these requirements are not met.
Programs will also have the option to recommend that students be admitted "conditionally" for other reasons including:
These requirements will be monitored by the program; the Graduate School should be notified when they have been met so that the student's status can be changed to regular admission. Approval to proceed with the doctoral qualifying examination or the master's final examination will not be granted to students remaining in conditional status.
This new admission category will also affect students applying as Graduating Seniors/Part-time Graduate Students. Seniors at the University of Kentucky who lack no more than 6 credit hours for graduation, but who otherwise meet admission requirements, will now be admitted into the Graduate School in "conditional" status.
CHANGE IN PROCEDURE FOR APPOINTMENT TO FULL GRADUATE FACULTY STATUS FOR ASSISTANT PROFESSORS
In unique instances, an advanced assistant professor may be nominated by his or her chairperson for full membership in the Graduate Faculty. To be considered for this status by Graduate Council, a nominee must meet the following recently-adopted criteria:
Direct questions to grad.webmaster@email.uky.edu
Last updated May 9, 2005