SouthWestern American University

Honorary Doctorate

DOCTORAL, POSTDOCTORAL AND HON DEGREES Eligibility, Admission and Enrollment for D. Sc

1. A candidate seeking admission to a higher research degree in any of the science or technology subjects must have pursued outstanding research in the concerned discipline and obtained the minimum qualifications required for admission as mentioned below:

i. Must have obtained a Master Degree or an equivalent degree from a recognized University across the globe, in the concerned discipline, at least 3 (three) years prior to the date of application.
ii. Must have made a significant contribution to research in the concerned discipline with minimum 5 publications related to the main theme of the proposed thesis brought out in high impact factor journals rated 3.0 or above.

2. The application to D. Sc requires candidate to submit following documents:

i. His/her bio-data giving details of educational qualifications, fields of specialization, research experience, academic distinctions etc.
ii. The title of the proposed thesis along with details of the proposed research work.
iii.A brief account of his/ her recent research work on the subject relevant to the discipline in which he/ she has applied for D. Sc in about 1000 words showing the originality of the work and is contributory to the advancement of knowledge.
iv. List of publication, indicating the refereed / non-refereed nature of the journal. (Reprints / off-prints of some important publications should be attached.)
v. Attested copies of certificates in support of the qualifications and experience.

3. Candidate application will be considered as per the rules and prescribed regulations. On evaluating the eligibility documents submitted by the candidate, and if found suitable, the candidate will be provisionally admitted with an Advisor appointed to him/ her.

4. Once a candidate has been provisionally admitted by the program for higher research degree, he/she shall be required to pay the fees as prescribed by the University. Payment of fees will complete the process of admission. The period of registration shall count from the date of receipt of fees by the University.

Doctoral Degree Coursework Requirements

The doctorate is a research or performance degree and does not depend on the accumulation of credit hours. The three requirements of the degree are admitted to candidacy, residency, and completion and defense of a dissertation. The degree signifies that the holder has the competence to function independently at the highest level of endeavor in the chosen profession. Hence, the number of years involved in attaining or retaining competency cannot be readily specified. Rather, it is important that the doctoral student’s competency be assessed and verified in a reasonable period of time prior to conferral of the degree, generally five years from the admission to candidacy.

However, because of the contractual nature of graduate study, an individual student or graduate committee may propose an alternative plan by which the student can gain equivalent educational experience. For example, the plan of study may require the student to spend time in residence at a national or foreign laboratory, institute, archive, or research center as partial fulfillment of the residency requirement. Regulations described in the preceding sections governing admission, registration, etc., must be followed. In addition, the student must satisfy the requirements specified by the faculty responsible for the major field. Students applying for admission to a doctoral program, after having received a master’s degree, must file a new application for graduate work with the Office of Admissions.

Dissertation Research

The candidate must submit a dissertation pursued under the direction of the faculty of the University on some topic in the field of the major subject. The dissertation must present the results of the candidate’s individual investigation and must embody a definite contribution to knowledge. While conducting research or writing a dissertation, the student must register at the beginning of each term or summer during which credit is being earned. No residence credit will be allowed for special field assignments or other work taken off the University campus without prior approval by the associate provost for Graduate Academic Affairs.

Final Examination/Dissertation Defense

The final examination/dissertation defense is not given until the term in which all other requirements for the degree are to be met. After the candidate’s dissertation has been tentatively approved, the final oral defense of the dissertation may be scheduled. At the option of the faculty responsible for the degree program, a comprehensive final written examination also may be required. All doctoral final examinations and dissertation defenses are to the public and the university community. The student cannot be considered as having satisfactorily passed the final examination/ dissertation defense if there is more than one unfavorable vote among members of the examining committee. Results of each examination/defense must be reported to the school or college dean within 24 hours. Re-examination may not be scheduled without approval of the request by the school or college dean. All committee members are to be present for the final examination/ dissertation defense.

One committee member (but not the chair) may attend by audio or video conference, but should be available electronically during the entire time of the defense. If an examination cannot be scheduled at a time convenient to all committee members, the dean or designee may permit another faculty member to substitute for the original committee member, provided that the original committee member was not the chair. There can be no substitute for the chair. Only one substitute is allowed, and the request for a substitute must be made in writing prior to the examination/defense. The request for a substitute should be signed by the committee chair, the student, and both the original faculty member and the substitute faculty member. A substitute faculty member must have the same or higher graduate faculty status as the original faculty member and represent the same academic discipline or specialization.

Dissertation Submission

The requirements for a doctorate include acceptance of the dissertation and submission of the electronic dissertation. If there is a substitute faculty member scheduled for the final examination, the substitute signs the shuttle sheet; however, the original committee member is to sign printed copies of the dissertation. The dissertation must be presented to the University not later than the last day of classes of the semester or summer session in which the degree is expected to be granted.

The candidate is required to maintain close contact with the supervisor or chairperson of the graduate committee on these matters in developing a dissertation so as to incorporate the special requirements of the subject discipline.

Award of Honorary Degrees

The University confers honorary awards on persons of distinction who have either made significant contributions to the work of the University and/ or have earned recognition for other activities more widely associated with service to the University or education, culture, industry and commerce, public life and voluntary service, science and the law.

The University confers the following honorary degrees:

Doctor of Social Work
Doctor of Humanity
Doctor of Education
Doctor of Arts
Doctor of Science
Doctor of Martial Art
Doctor of Music
Doctor of Letters
Doctor of Business Administration
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Literature
Doctor of Fine Arts

An honorary degree at doctoral level is normally made to those who have made an outstanding contribution to the University or at a national and/or international level. An honorary degree at Masters level may be awarded to those who have made a major contribution to a specific area of the University or to the registrar. Self-nominations are not accepted. Individuals submitting nominations should identify any personal or professional relationship with or knowledge of the person nominated and not engage in or influence the consideration and approval process.

A South Western American University (virtual university) provides higher education programs through electronic media, typically the Internet. Some are bricks-and-mortar institutions that provide online learning as part of their extended university courses while others solely offer online courses. They are regarded as a form of distance education.

What is Southwestern American University?

Depending on a context, the term points to networked universities or to open and technology-enhanced education at the universities. However, virtual university courses are widely used to support face-to-face education.
University that provides education through the medium of the Internet rather than in physical classrooms.
Sometimes called telemetric university is an organization that provides higher education on the Internet. Among these organizations there are truly “virtual” institutions, existing only as aggregations of universities, institutes or departments providing courses over the Internet and organizations with a legal framework, yet named virtual because they appear only on the Internet.
A university that provides access to higher education programs through the internet or other electronic media format.
An institution involved as provider of learning opportunities to students, using a Web-based approach to deliver programs, courses, and support and is organized under the format of alliances/partnerships to facilitate teaching and learning to occur (based on the definition proposed by the Commonwealth of Learning).
A university that delivers courses (typically credit, but also non-credit) primarily online, that is, by networks such as the Internet or intranets, using asynchronous technologies, such as computer conferencing or Web-based technologies especially conceived for education.
The term virtual/college university (VCU) is used today to describe a broad range of entities and activities: corporate training centers, distance learning efforts of individual institutions, nonprofit and governmental education activities, and multi-state and international learning collaborative. Aside from institutional programs, most of these initiatives are not true “universities” in the degree-granting sense of the word.
An organization comprising one or many higher education degree-granting institution(s) that either provides some or all of its programs on the Internet or acts as a virtual organization.
A university that accommodates administration and lecturing staff without having any physical lecture theatres. This alleviates the need for limiting the number of students that can be enrolled simultaneously.
A university without one fixed campus; either an institution offering online/Net-based learning only, or a networked university having multiple campuses and offering Net-based learning facilities