Attachment III

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UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT BERKELEY
School of Social Welfare
August 2001

PH.D. PROGRAM QUALIFYING EXAMINATION

The qualifying examination is a three-hour oral exam addressing your mastery of your three chosen fields of study and the written materials you have submitted for the examination. It is conducted by a committee of five faculty members proposed by you and approved by the Graduate Division. Considering both the written materials and the oral examination, the committee assesses your performance and reports to the Graduate Division. When passed, this examination marks your completion of required course work, mastery of three fields of study, and readiness to proceed to the dissertation. In the event of a not pass, and if the committee recommends reexamination, you may repeat the examination, generally after a lapse of at least three months.

Eligibility. To be eligible to apply for the qualifying examination, all your required courses or equivalent examinations must be completed or in progress. You should discuss the requirement for social science theory course work/study with your proposed examination chair (see Attachment XI). You may have no more than one incomplete grade on your record.

Time Expectations. While you may take this examination in spring of your second year, the expectation established by the doctoral committee for so doing is the spring semester of the third year (fourth year for combined MSW/Ph.D. students). If you fail to meet these expectations, you will be asked to submit a written request to the chair of the doctoral program explaining your need for an extension of the normal period of preparation and outlining your progress to date. To be eligible for the Normative Time Fellowship you must meet this timeline.

Fields of Study for the Qualifying Examination. You select three fields of study for the qualifying examination: (1) a social welfare problem area and related policies and institutions; (2) a field of social science theory and research containing theories, concepts, empirical data, and methodology appropriate for guiding research within the problem area; and (3) a field of social welfare intervention pertinent to the problem area. See Attachment IV for a list of examination fields and the Social Welfare faculty members who are prepared to supervise in those areas.

Petition for Approval of a Field Not Listed. You may petition the doctoral committee for approval of a field of study not on the list, provided it is a subject of academic teaching and research and has a substantial body of literature. Petitions generally consist of a brief statement, including the name(s) of the faculty member(s) who will supervise the preparation of your field bibliography and paper in the proposed field, the title of your paper, and a sample bibliography as evidence that there is a body of scholarly literature associated with it. Petitions are submitted to the Chair of the doctoral subcommittee "Petitions for Qualifying Examination Fields Committee & Research Review Committee." This should be done as early in your planning process as possible, but at least one month before you apply for the qualifying examination.

The Examination Committee. The qualifying examination is conducted by a committee of five faculty members proposed by you in consultation with your adviser, and approved by the Dean of the Graduate Division. You should consider your proposed committee members' qualifications in relation to your fields of study and their availability to serve. Ideally, the three faculty members who will later comprise your dissertation committee will be part of your qualifying examination committee, although this is not a requirement. The same person cannot chair both committees. Your dissertation committee chair is of primary importance to you, as this person has the major responsibility for guiding the research for your dissertation research.

Graduate Division Eligibility Requirements for Committee Members. With rare exceptions, committees are composed only of tenure-track Berkeley campus faculty members--Berkeley Academic Senate faculty who hold the title of assistant professor/adjunct assistant professor or higher. In the School of Social Welfare, Dr. Terrell and Adjunct Professor Grossman also have Graduate Division approval to serve on examination and dissertation committees. They may not chair committees unless co-chairing with a senate faculty member. The majority of your committee members must be social welfare faculty. One must be from another department of the Berkeley campus. This "outside" member must be from a Berkeley campus department; Graduate Division does not grant exceptions to this rule. While you may request that a tenure-track faculty member from another campus with expertise not available from Berkeley faculty be allowed to serve on your committee, this person cannot serve as your "outside" member. Your committee chair should approve your plan before you ask faculty from another campus to serve on your committee.

School of Social Welfare Eligibility Requirements for Committee Members. The faculty members who supervise the preparation of your field bibliographies are the “major examiners” and are normally social welfare faculty. If a faculty member from another Berkeley department has expertise not found in the School, you may be permitted to use an outside person as one of your major examiners. Often, the faculty members supervising your field bibliographies also supervise the preparation of your research papers, but this is not mandatory. All of the persons supervising your field bibliographies, the person supervising your dissertation prospectus, and at least one of the faculty supervising your papers must sit on your committee.

Written Materials Submitted for the Qualifying Examination. You must submit the following written materials to the Doctoral Assistant at least six weeks before taking your examination.

• Field Bibliographies. For each of your three chosen fields of study you prepare an extensive bibliography reflecting your knowledge of the literature of the field. Bibliographies are prepared in individual tutorials supervised by faculty members expert in their respective fields, at least two of whom must normally be from the School of Social Welfare. See Attachment VI , “Guidelines for Field Bibliographies."
  
  
• Research Papers. In courses or individual tutorials with faculty from the School of Social Welfare and other departments, you prepare three substantial research papers, one within each of your three chosen fields of study. See Attachment V, "Guidelines for Papers for Ph.D. Qualifying Examinations."
  
  
• Dissertation Prospectus. During your second and/or third year of study you prepare a prospectus of the research proposed for your doctoral dissertation while enrolled in SW 295. Your prospectus must be approved by your dissertation chair before you schedule your qualifying orals.

  The prospectus describes the problem and objectives of your proposed research, the background of the problem and its significance to social welfare, related theory and research, and your proposed methods of data collection and analysis. The faculty member who supervises its preparation will serve on your qualifying examination committee in addition to chairing your dissertation.

The dissertation prospectus you prepare for your qualifying examination does not necessarily lock you into that particular research plan. Your topic and dissertation committee members are formalized at the time you apply for advancement to candidacy and your prospectus is reviewed at the mandatory meeting with your dissertation committee (see your doctoral student Handbook, p. 9, for details.)

Procedures for Submitting Written Materials. Your application for the examination (form available from the Doctoral Assistant) must be submitted to the Doctoral Assistant at least six weeks before the proposed date of the examination. The application must be signed by your three major examiners and either your dissertation chair or faculty adviser. A Graduate Division approval form is also due at this time (available from the Doctoral Assistant). This form is forwarded to the Graduate Division for final approval of your committee before proceeding with your examination.

Your papers, bibliographies, dissertation prospectus, and signed cover sheet must also be submitted to the Doctoral Assistant at least six weeks before the proposed date of your examination. Copies required are as follows:

• Five copies of your research papers, each copy having (either on the paper itself or on a separate sheet) an evaluation by the supervising faculty member in the form of a grade and/or written comments.
  
  
• Five copies of your field bibliographies.
  
  
• Five copies (in addition to the original) of the "Cover Sheet of Required Materials," signed by the major examiners who supervised your field bibliographies and by the person supervising your dissertation prospectus.
  
  
• Seven copies of your dissertation prospectus. (One copy is distributed to each of your committee members, one is for your student file, and one is kept in the Social Welfare Library.)

The Doctoral Assistant will distribute your materials to your committee with the appropriate evaluation forms. Each of your research papers must receive the approval of at least three of the five examiners, including the faculty member for whom it was prepared if that person is serving on the committee, before the oral examination is conducted.

Scheduling your Examination. Please confer with your doctoral committee members regarding a date and time for your qualifying examination. Once this has been established, inform the Doctoral Assistant who will reserve a room for the exam and prepare the necessary forms. You must have your written materials to her at least six weeks before the exam.

Advancement to Candidacy. After you have successfully completed your examination, the Doctoral Assistant will provide an application for advancement to candidacy for the Ph.D. degree. Apply for advancement to candidacy as soon as possible after you pass your qualifying examination. The current application fee is $65.

On the application you submit your proposed dissertation title and the names of the three faculty members who have agreed to serve on your dissertation committee. Your dissertation chair must sign your application and specify whether or not human subjects are involved in your proposed research. You must have approval from the campus Committee for Protection of Human Subjects before you begin your data collection if your research involves human subjects or identifiable data (call the Committee for Protection of Human Subjects, 642-7461 or access their website at: http://cphs.berkeley.edu:7006/). The Doctoral Assistant will sign your application for the dean, make a copy for your file, and forward it to the Graduate Division, who will mail you a notice of advancement to candidacy.

After being advanced to candidacy, most students enroll for a minimum of two additional semesters working with the members of their dissertation committee. (In a few cases, students complete the dissertation in a single semester.) If you have been continually registered except for two semesters of approved withdrawal and are making corrections to the final draft of your dissertation, you may apply to pay a "filing fee" in lieu of full registration fees. (See your Handbook and the Doctoral Assistant for details.) However, you must register for each semester you use University facilities or faculty time other than that required to read the final draft of your dissertation.

Dean's Normative Time Fellowship Program. Graduate Division administers a program intended to provide an incentive to reduce the average time taken to obtain the doctoral degree and to provide an equitable assessment of fees for students if they advance to candidacy within the prescribed time-frame for advancement in their program. This means that a Ph.D. student or a MSW/Ph.D. student must be advanced before these time-frames expire in order to be eligible for the Normative Time Fellowship. Once you are advanced to candidacy, the Graduate Division will calculate the number of semesters for which the student is eligible for the fellowship. If eligible, a student will receive $7,000 plus fees (and nonresident tuition for international students) for up to two semesters remaining in normative time. A student with two semesters of eligibility in normative time will receive a grant totaling $14,000 plus fees. Graduate Division's definition of normative time in Candidacy is: three years for Ph.D. students and four years for MSW/Ph.D. students. Normative time is defined as the calendar time calculated to the nearest semester needed to be advanced to candidacy, assuming full-time, uninterrupted study. The Dean of the Graduate Division may approve up to one year withdrawal in the case of serious illness or parental leave. All other withdrawals count towards your normative time.

Your candidacy application must be received by June 30th in order for you to qualify for the normative time fellowship for Fall and the last day of the Fall semester to qualify for the normative time fellowship in the Spring.

These fellowships may not be used while students are employed by the University.

For more information on the Dean's Academic Progress Fellowship (this is a pre-candidacy fellowship) and on the Dean's Competitive Fellowships see Attachment I-A.

Example: For Ph.D. Students in Social Welfare normative time to passing the QE and being advanced to candidacy is 6 semesters:

Time to Advancement	Your Student Advances by the End of Semester #	Then Your Student is Eligible for:
6	6	2 semesters of DNTF
6	7	1 semester of DNTF (plus eligible for Competitive)
6	8	1 semester of DNTF (plus eligible for Competitive)
6	5	2 semesters of DNTF
6	9	Competitive only

MSW/Ph.D. Students add 2 semesters to "Time Advancement" column.

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