Presidential Advisory Committee of Michigan Technological
University
PROPOSAL 05-05
(Voting
Units: Academic Units)
Change in
Course-work Only Master’s Requirements
Background
MTU currently offers Masters degrees that require only course-work. There is no thesis, report or practicum. This proposal is to make the oral
examination for course-work Masters degrees optional at the
departmental level.
The proposal was developed
by the Graduate Faculty Council and endorsed by the Dean of the
There is concern that
dropping the requirement for an oral exam lowers expectations for
students. There is also some sentiment
that every graduate degree should have some “capstone” experience. Since 12 of the 30 required credits in the
Plan C Masters degree can be 3000 and 4000 level courses, some reviewers
thought that a Plan C Master’s without an oral examination would simply be a
“bigger bachelors” degree.
Plan C Masters degrees are
not offered by all departments.
Generally those departments that do offer them endorse this change. Most opposition to the change is among
faculty in departments that do not offer the course-work only Masters
degrees. The compromise arrived at in
Graduate Faculty Council was to make the oral examination in the course work
Master’s degrees optional at the departmental level.
Proposal:
The oral examination for
course-work Masters degrees is optional at the departmental level. Each department will establish a policy
regarding an oral examination for course-work only Masters degrees. The policy
established for a program within a department must be applied to every student
in that program.
Proposal Defeated 27 October 2004