Dr James Knapton
Information Compliance Officer
C J Kerr
By email
Reference: FOI-2014-126
7 April 2014
Dear C J Kerr,
Your request was received on 24 March 2014 and I am dealing with it under the terms of the Freedom
of Information Act 2000 (‘the Act’).
You asked:
Please provide copies of any and all policies and procedures by which the university informs
students on Doctoral Training Centre (DTC) PhD courses, and/or their PhD supervisors, that the
4 year time limit on PhD submission starts from the beginning of the course and not from the
beginning of research on the subject of the PhD after one year, and that there is no fast-track
process for extending this limit to five years so as to match the time available to other PhD
students for their research.
Please also provide copies of any and all policies and procedures for checking whether this
information has been received and understood.
If these policies or procedures have changed since January 2009, please provide copies of any
previous versions which have been valid at any time since January 2009.
There are no University-/School-level policies or procedures of the specific types mentioned in your
request. The Board of Graduate Studies issues procedural information on completion and submission
but this is aimed at all PhD students and not specifically at those on DTC courses or programmes:
http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/students/studentregistry/exams/submission/phd/preparing.html
If you are unhappy with the service you have received in relation to your request and wish to make a
complaint or request an internal review of this decision, you should write to Dr Kirsty Allen, Head of the
Registrary’s Office, quoting the reference above, at The Old Schools, Trinity Lane, Cambridge, CB2
1TN or send an email marked for her attention to xxx@xxxxx.xxx.xx.xx. The University would normally
The Old Schools
Trinity Lane
Cambridge, CB2 1TN
Tel: +44 (0) 1223 764142
Fax: +44 (0) 1223 332332
Email: xxx@xxxxx.xxx.xx.xx
www.cam.ac.uk
expect to receive your request for an internal review within 40 working days of the date of this letter and
reserves the right not to review a decision where there has been undue delay in raising a complaint. If
you are not content with the outcome of your review, you may apply directly to the Information
Commissioner for a decision. Generally, the Information Commissioner cannot make a decision unless
you have exhausted the complaints procedure provided by the University. The Information
Commissioner may be contacted at: The Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water
Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF (http://www.ico.org.uk/).
Yours sincerely,
James Knapton