(i) The Master and Doctorate degree programmes of the University of Agriculture, Abeokuta shall normally consist of an approved combination of courses, laboratory practicals and field practicals and field practical work, with a research project, which shall be written up as a thesis.

(ii) Applications for the Registration of Titles of Theses and the appointment of External Examiner shall be submitted to the Board of the Postgraduate School not earlier than six months and not later than three months before the completion of the programme for both the Full-time and Part-time students.

(iii) Copies of the draft thesis shall be submitted through the College Dean to the Dean of the Postgraduate School at least three months before the expected completion of the Programme. The Dean of the Postgraduate School shall send the draft copies of the thesis to the External Examiner and Supervisors for review in preparation for the viva-voce on the thesis on a date to be communicated to the External Examiner.

(iv) The Examiners shall send their reports on the draft thesis to the Dean of the Postgraduate School who shall arrange for the conduct of the oral examination, only if the External Examiner and at least two internal Examiners certify that the thesis has merit. Before a candidate is presented for oral examination of his thesis, he shall produce a written certification signed by all his supervisors that his research work has been satisfactorily completed.

(v)  Each student shall have an Examination Panel, which shall be approved by Senate on the recommendation of the Board of the Postgraduate School. The composition shall be:
(a) Head of Department (Chairman)
(b) External Examiner
(c) Major Supervisor (if not Head of Department)
(d) One other Internal Examiner from a related discipline outside the Department (To be nominated by the Dean of the College).

{One nominee from the Secretariat of the Postgraduate School shall be in attendance during the examination that shall be open to the University Community.}

(v) Soon after the completion of the oral examination, a report on the examination written on the appropriate report form shall be submitted through the College Dean to the Dean of the Postgraduate School for processing.

At the end of the examination, the examiners shall recommend any of the following as may be appropriate.
(a) That the degree be awarded without further amendments to the thesis
(b) That the degree be awarded after some corrections or amendments have been made (and shall list those items to be corrected/amended)
(c) That the thesis be re-examined after major corrections/revisions would have been carried out (and they specify the defects).
(d) That the degree be not awarded (and they shall give detailed reasons).

{When minor corrections are recommended, all the internal examiners shall be expected to go through the revised copy and shall certify the satisfactory completion of the recommended corrections}

(vi) If the candidate is successful in his Examination, he shall be required to make the necessary corrections/amendments as recommended by the Examination Panel within three months, to the satisfaction of the internal examiners who shall certify that all corrections have been satisfactorily effected before the final copies are then printed and appropriately bound. Six copies of the bound thesis shall be submitted to the Dean of the Postgraduate School who shall distribute the copies as follows.

One copy to the University Library,
One copy to the College Library,
One copy to the Postgraduate School,
One copy to the Department,
One copy to the Major Supervisor,
One copy to the Student.

(viii) If the thesis is not considered to be of sufficient merit for the specified degree, the candidate shall have six months within which to bring the work to the quality expected.

(ix) If the candidate fails the oral examination, he shall not be re-presented for a repeat examination until after six months of the first attempt.

(x) The thesis of a candidate may not include materials already submitted for the award of a degree in any other University, and shall not be part of a previous thesis for a higher degree of the University of Agriculture, Abeokuta.

(xi) A candidate shall not be qualified for the award of a Master’s or Doctorate Degree until he has passed all the prescribed courses, submitted a satisfactory thesis, passed his oral examination and not less than the minimum number nor more than the maximum number of semesters as stipulated for the programme.

The effective date of the award of the degree shall be the date the corrected thesis is certified by the Postgraduate School.