Approved by Resolution №24/5 of May 7, 2012 by the TSMU Academic Council 

Regulations

For the Master’s Degree, Tbilisi State Medical University Article 1. General Provisions

1.  Regulations for the Master’s Degree regulate rules and terms for persuing education programmes and research for the Master’s Degree at Tbilisi State Medical University, hereinafter referred to as TSMU. (May 15, 2017, №24/3)

2.  Master’s Degree - research-based second cycle academic degree which aims at further training of Bachelors and researchers. (May 15, 2017. №24/3)

3.    Master - holder of a second cycle academic degree conferred upon a Master Student following earning number of credits specified in the Master program (May 15, 2017. №24/3)

4.       Master student- student reading for the Master’s Degree

5.       Reading for the Master’s Degree aims at:

a.  training students for research and pedagogical activities in the institutions of higher education;

b.    change in specialty;

c.    enhancing qualification;

6.  It shall be mandatory for a Master student to persue research under supervision along with taught courses that will enable him/her to present a thesis. (May 15, 2017. №24/3)

7.     Supervision and activities of the Master’s Degree are carried out in accordance with the Law of Georgia on Higher Education, statutes of the University and these regulations.

Article 2. Rules for Developing Master Program

1.    Supervisor or supervisors, in case of joint supervision, may be holders of Doctor’s or Master’s Degrees with the professional experience of at least 5 years.

2.    It is the duty of a supervisor or supervisors in case of joint supervision to conduct and superintend taught courses and research.

3.    Master program and supervisors shall be approved by the TSMU Academic Council with the proposal of the Faculty Council and Vice-Rector.

4.  Master program shall be approved by the Faculty Council following positive expert examinatioun by the Quality Assuarance Service of the Faculty by established rules and criteria.

(May 15, 2017. № 24/3)

5.     Master program put forward for expert examination shall include:

a.  Title of the Master program in the Georgian and English languages. (May 15, 2017. №24/3)

b.  academic degree to be conferred upon a Master student in the Georgian and English languages as well as teaching language (May 15, 2017. №24/3);

c.  CVs of a supervisor or supervisors;

d.  goals and anticipated outcomes of the program, qualification, knowledge, competence, skills and field of employment of a Master student upon completion of the program;

e.  admission requirements;

f.  structure of the Master program;

g.  syllabi of all taught courses for Master program;

h.  detailed description of research;

i.  material-technical description of the facilities required to undertake research and consent of a partner institutuion if the latter is instrumental to conducting research;

j.  financial estimate of the Master program.

6.  Master program may be jointly developed and persued with a partner university and, in such cases, the program shall include, except for the requirements laid down in paragraph 5 of this article, name of a partner university and documents required for joint education program. (May 15, 2017. №24/3)

7.  Expert examination of the Master program following its technical expert examination at the Department of Research Coordination, Master and PhD programs shall be conducted by Quality Assurance Service of the Faculty in agreement with the Quality Assurance Service of the University by established rule. (May 15, 2017. №24/3)

8.  Quality Assurance Service along with the Curriculum Committee shall submit conclusion and recommendations on the Master program to the Dean of the Faculty concerned within one month .

9.  Dean of the Faculty concerned shall present a Master program together with materials of expert examination to the Faculty Council. Following positive conclusion by the Faculty Council program shall be submitted to the Academic Council for approval. (May 15, 2017. №24/3)

10.  Master Program approved by the Academic Council shall be published by the Printing Body of the University, posted to the website and followed by admission contest.

11.  All changes to the approved program shall be made by decision of the Academic Council through motion brought by the Faculty Council.

Article 3. Admission to the Status of Student for the Master’s Degree

1.  The following may be admitted to the status of student for the Master’s Degree: a holder of the Bachelor’s Degree or Master’s Degree or another equivalent higher degree.

2. To be eligible to persue studies for Master’s Degree it is required that candidates take General Master’s Examination and other examinations set forth by the institution of higher education. (May 15, 2017. №24/3)

3.  To be eligible to persue examinations set forth by the institution of higher education it is required that candidates overcome minimum competence margin established by Georgian legislation for the General Master’s Examination.

4.  Admission to the Master’s Degree is by contest.

5.  Admission contest is announced by the Department of Research Coordination, Master and PhD programs which involves:

a.  Assessment of the submitted documentation;

b.  examination in the field of specialty and foreign language;

6.  applicants shall submit:

a.  Personal statement;

b.  diploma of the Bachelor’s Degree or Master’s Degree or of another equivalent higher degree or a copy of such diploma signed by a notary;

c.  statement of support from the last job or institution of higher education;

d.  copy of an ID card.

7.  Registration of applicants for Master's degree shall be conducted within 10 days of the date of publishing of the Rector's Legal Act on Registration on the official website.

8.  Candidate admitted to the Master’s Degree by contest is a Master Student at TSMU.

9.  To facilitate student mobility to and from accredited institutions of higher education, exemption from General Master’s Examination shall be granted in accordance with the rules and dates established by the Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia to:

a.  Candidates who have lived in a foreign country for the last 2 or more years and earned appropriate academic degree in that country;

b.  students who have lived in a foreign country for the last 2 or more years and read for Master’s Degree in an institution of higher education authorized by the legislation of that country.

10.  Funding sources for Master’s Degree shall be:

a.  State grants for Master’s Degree;

b.  state research grants disbursed in accordance with the priorities set by the Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia;

c. (removed) (May 15, 2017. №24/3);

d.  foreign research grants;

e.  funding by legal entities of public law;

f.  programs of international organizations;

g.  individual donations.

11.  Master Student may be granted suspension of the status of student for the Master’s Degree based on the following:

a.  Personal statement;

b.  failure to appear on the register;

c.  academic leave;

d.  a. such respectable reasons as continuation of studies in a foreign country, military service, illness, guardianship of the family members or etc;

d.   b. pregnancy, childbirth and child care;

e.   failure to attend more than 35% of the hourload durig a semester;

f.   criminal offence prior to verdict enforcement;

g.   other cases by legislation (May 15, 2017. № 24/3).

12.  Master student may be deprived of the satus of student for Master’s Degree based on the following:

a.  personal statement;

b.  Completion of the education programme;

c.  move to another educational institution;

d.  arbitrary absence for more than 5 years;

e.  failure to earn appropriate number of credit units three times for the same taught course;

f.  expulsion for gross and regular violation of the disciplinary code and /or violation of the terms laid down in the contract or in cases set forth by legislation;

g. death. (May 15, 2017. №24/3)

   13.  Rector shall issue an individual legal act through motion of the Faculty Council on depriving a Master Student of his/her status.

    14. (removed). (15.05.2017. №24/3)

15.  A Master Student suspended from Master program is entitled to submit a request of reinstatement to the TSMU Rector. Dean of the Faculty concerned shall present to the Rector a conclusion on compatibility of passed and current education programs and indicate at what level studies should be continued by a Master Student. (May, 15, 2017. №24/3)

16.  Legal act on suspension/ reinstatement of the status of student for Master’s Degree shall be issued by the TSMU Rector.

17.  Procedures of suspension of and reinstatement to the status of student for the Master’s Degree shall be regulated by the statutes of the University. (May 15, 2017. №24/3; February 26, 2019 №24/4)

18.  Academic mobility for Master students of the University and other accredited institutions of higher education shall be authorized by the TSMU provided a student has spent at least one academic year with the status of Master Student.

19.  Rector, based on decision by the Faculty Council concerned, issues individual legal act on admission of a mobile student to education program. Decision shall include information on compatibility of a read program with that to which a student wishes to be admitted, number of credit units and at what level studies should be continued. (May 15, 2017. № 24/3)

Article 4. Reading for Master’s Degree

1. Reading for the Master’s Degree comprises two academic years yielding 120 credit units and encompasses taught courses as well as research, the latter being 25% of the Master program.

(May 15, 2017. №24/3; February 26, 2019 №24/4)

2.  Master program is available to study full time or by individual learning plan which is generated to meet student’s aspirations and level of knowledge, has its specific hour load and manner of persuit. (May 15, 2017. №24/3)

3. Studying component encompasses specific disciplines of Master program among which are elective ones that a Master atudent is free to select. Volume of studies and research persued by a Master student is measured by credit units. A single credit unit consists of 30 hours out of which maximum 15 hours can be allocated to contact hours. (May 15, 2017. №24/3)

4. Student is entitled, based on reasoned report, to request an individual learning plan and engage in its generation. Individual learning plan is approved by the Faculty Council. Number of contact hours for one credit in case of individual learning plan shall not be less than 3 hours. (May 15, 2017. №24/3)

5.  A single academic year comprises two semesters.

    6.  Credit unit is earned upon successful completion of taught courses of Master program and its positive assessment. Assessment shall take into consideration:

a.  interim assessment of a student which, in its turn, encompasses grading for independent work, daily performance and current rating or other components as well;

b.  assessment for final examination. (May 15, 2017, №24/3).

7.  Ratio of various assessment components shall be defined by syllabus. In the final assessment, which is the sum of interim assessment and final examination, the share of the latter shall not exceed 40%. (May 15, 2017. №24/3)

8.  Master Student who may earn total of at least 51 points for both interim assessment and final examination shall be admitted to the final examination. (May 15, 2017. №24/3)

9.  Assessment of a Master Student by various components shall be recorded in attendance and assessment journal and assessment sheet.

10.  five positive gradings are:

a.  (A) excellent - 91-100 points;

b.  (B) very good - 81-90 points;

c.  (C) good - 71-80 points;

d.  (D) satisfactory - 61-70 points;

e.  (E) pass- 51-60 points; two negative gradings are:

a.  (FX) fail (41-50 points)- indicates that in order to pass examination student requires more work and is granted an opportunity to retake examination.

b.  (F) no performance (below 41) - indicates that work undertaken by a student is unacceptable and therefore the latter must retake the subject. (May 15, 2017. №24/3)

11.  Master Student shall be granted an opportunity to retake examination in the same semester with time gap of no less than 5 days between final examination and additional examination. (May 15, 2017.

№24/3)

12.  Master Student shall be entitled to challenge the results of final examination and interim assessment within three days of the date of issuing results.

13.  Master Student qualified under (F) no performance shall register the subject(s) he or she is obliged to retake before the start of the term.

14.  Master Student qualified under grade (FX) Fail, or who failed to appear for examination shall be granted an opportunity to retake examination, and, if, in such case, sum of points earned for additional examination and interim assessment is (F) or (FX) or (failed to appear), Master Student shall qualify under (F).

15.  100-point grading system is applicable to assess practice, master thesis and/or other works.

16.  It is the duty of a Master student to register courses that he/she chooses to study before the start of each academic year within period set forth by the Dean’s Office and to take responsibility for the credits to be earned. For each academic year Master Student may register courses which earn no more than 75 credit units.

    17. (removed). (May 15, 2017. №24/3)

Article 5. layout of a Thesis, Public Defense and Assesment

1.  Master Student shall undertake independent research in the relevant field and present the results in the form of a thesis.

2.    Supervisor may be Doctor or Master in the relevant field or have professional experience of at least 5 years. Other supervisors may bear Master’s Degree or other equivalent degree. (May 15, 2017.

№ 24/3; February 26, 2019 №24/4)

3.  Subject of a thesis and supervisor(s) shall be proposed by the supervisor and approved by the Faculty/School Council.

4.  Master Student shall be admitted to defense of a thesis provided he/she has completed taught courses of the Master program.

5.  Master Student shall defend his/her thesis publicly and within the timeframe laid down in the Master program. (May 15, 2017. №24/3)

6.  Thesis shall be Defended with the proposal of the Faculty/School Council at the session of the Qualification Commission approved by the Rector.

7.  Members of the Qualification Commission shall be reperesentatives of the Faculty/School, supervisors of the Master program, reviewers and scientists of the relative field/specialty. Commission shall consist of at least 5 members. Session of the Qualification Commission shall be authorized to perform its duties in the presence of at least 2/3 of its members.

(May 15, 2017. №24/3; February 26, 2019. №24/4)

8.  Thesis shall include review of the literature, relevance of research, goal, objectives, subject and methods, results, conclusions and references.

9.  When preparing thesis, candidates shall adhere to page layout instructions as follows: print MS WORD 2003-2007; page size-A4; font size-12;space-1,5; top and bottom margins-2,5 cm; right margin-1cm; left margin-33cm; page number- at least 30.

10.  Published papers (if any) and supervisors’ assessments shall be appended to thesis. (May 15, 2017. №24/3; February 26, 2019. №24/4)

10.1  Following submission of a Master thesis, Faculty/School Council shall put forward two reviewers. Reviewer shall not be a supervisor of a Master program and/or involved in research.

(February 26, 2019. №24/4)

10.2  Within two weeks of submission of a Master thesis, reviewers shall present wtitten conclusion which shall evaluate theoretical and practical worthiness, adequacy of design and methodology, objectivity and reliability of original material of research, structure, layout and language fluency of a thesis. Conclusion shall underscore whether thesis satisfies requirements, confirm that result reported in a thesis has not been treated in any previously defended thesis and determine admissibility of a thesis to defense. (February 26, 2019. №24/4)

10.3  Master thesis shall be admitted to public defense provided one reviewer presents positive conclusion. (February 26, 2019. №24/4)

11. (removed) (May 15, 2017. №24/3).

12. (removed) (May 15, 2017. №24/3).

13. (removed) (May 15, 2017. №24/3).

14. (removed) (May 15, 2017. №24/3).

15. (removed) (May 15, 2017. №24/3).

16.     Date of defense shall be approved by order of the Rector.

17.  Chair of the Qualification Commission shall communicate the date and place of defense to the Master student in writing no later than 2 weeks before defense.

17.1.  Defense procedure.

17.1.1.   Defense shall be open to public. Minutes shall be taken.

17.1.2.   Master Student shall make PowerPoint presentation of a thesis and underscore relevance, goal and objectives of a thesis. State of the art of the subject of research, objects and methods of research, results and conclusions shall also be mentioned.

17.1.3.   Defense procedure comprises:

·        Presentation of a thesis (15-20 minutes);

·        discussion;

·        assessment of a thesis by reviewers

·        final assessment. (February 26, 2019. №24/4)

17.2.  Assessment of a thesis.

17.2.1.    Assessment of a thesis is held on closed session of the Qualification Commission upon completion of the defense.

17.2.2.    Members of the Qualification Commission make their assessments by 0 - 100 point grading system. (appendix № 2)

17.2.3.   Final assessment is the arithmetic mean of the points given by each member of the Qualification Commission.

17.2.4. Thesis shall be defended provided the latter earns at least 51 point by following grading system:

91-100 points – excellent 81-90 points –very good 71-80 points – good

61-70 points – average

51-60 points – satisfactory

0-50 points – unsatisfactory

17.2.5.   It is the duty of the Secretary of the Qualification Commission to take minutes of the defense procedure. Each member of the Qualification Commission shall record points given to a thesis in the assessment sheet and append his/her signature (appendix 2). The secretary of the Qualification Commission shall record assessments made by each member of the Qualification Commission as well as final assessment in the minutes (appendix 3). Members of the Qualification Commission append their signatures on the document. Assessment sheets and minutes of the session of the Qualification Commission shall be passed to the Department of Research Coordination, Master and PhD programs, added to the personal records of a Master student to be stored within timlenes defined by legislation.

17.2.6.    Upon completion of the session Chair of the Qualification Commission shall communicate decision made by the Qualification Commission to the Master Student.

17.2.7.     Decision on assessment of a thesis and Conferral of the Master’s Degree made by the Qualification Commission shall be approved by the Faculty Council.

17.2.8.    In case of failure to appear for the defense for respectable reasons such as illness and etc., thesis shall be presented within 1 moth or at subsequent defense with the consent of the Faculty/School concerned.

17.2.9.    In case of negative conclusion by both reviewers or failure to earn at least 51 points for a thesis, the latter shall be presented at the subsequent defense with the consent of the Faculty/School concerned. (February 26, 2019. №24/4).

17.2.10.    Thesis shall be submitted for defense for no more than two times preserving studying component.

17.2.11.      Master Student shall submit request to the Faculty/School Council for additional defense within 1 month prior to the defense (May 15, 2017. №24/3)..

Article 6. Diploma Certifying Conferral of Master’s Academic Degree

1. Upon completion of Master’s program Master’s Academic Degree shall be conferred upon a Master student and diploma to which supplement is appended shall be issued.

2. (removed ) (May 15, 2017. №24/3).

3.   Decision on conferral of the Master’s Academic Degree or depriving a Master student of his/her status shall be made by the Faculty/School Council. Based on this and proposal of the Dean of the Faculty concerned, the Rector shall issue Order. (May 15, 2017. №24/3).

4.   Under exceptional circumstances and based on decision of the Academic Council, requirements laid down in this regulations shall be exceptionally altered.

Article 7. Final Provisions

1. Ammendments and additions to the regulations shall be made by decision of the Academic Council of the University based on proposal of the Faculty Council in accordance with the Law of Georgia on Higher Education and statutes of the University.

See the appendix in the main pdf document