California Code of Regulations › Title 5 - Education › Division 7.5 - Private Postsecondary Education › Chapter 3 - Institutional Operating Standards › Article 2 - Admissions and Academic Achievement Standards › Section 71865 - Minimum Educational Requirements in Order to Award a Graduate Degree

Current through Register 2024 Notice Reg. No. 28, July 12, 2024
(a) A Master's
				  degree may only be awarded to a student who demonstrates at least the
				  achievement of learning in a designated major field that is equivalent in depth
				  to that normally acquired in a minimum of 30 semester credits or its equivalent
				  or one year of study beyond the Bachelor's degree.
(b) A professional Doctoral degree may only
				  be awarded to a student who has completed a prescribed level of study normally
				  requiring a minimum of three academic years of full-time graduate study or the
				  equivalent in part-time study; or, if the program leads to a profession or
				  occupation requiring state licensure, which satisfies the requirements of the
				  state agency. The degree shall include the name of the field in which it is
				  offered (e.g., Juris Doctor or Doctor of Music).
(c)
(1) A
				  Doctor of Philosophy degree (Ph.D.) is a research-oriented degree requiring a
				  minimum of three years of full-time graduate education or the equivalent in
				  part-time study. Such a doctoral program shall include substantial instruction
				  in both theory and research at an advanced level in a designated field and
				  specialty, and may only be awarded to a student who has completed a program of
				  study that includes research methodology and demonstrated learning achievement
				  through original research directly attributable to the student. Each
				  educational program leading to a Doctor of Philosophy degree shall involve
				  preparation for scholarship and systematic inquiry.
(2)
(A)
				  Each Doctor of Philosophy program shall include a minimum of two formal
				  evaluations of the student by a doctoral committee. The doctoral committee
				  shall be composed of at least three members of the institution's own faculty
				  who meet the qualifications in subdivision (c)(3).
(B) The first evaluation shall consider the
				  student's qualifications, including the student's knowledge, skills, and
				  conceptual framework, for undertaking rigorous inquiry into the student's
				  designated field.
(C) The second
				  evaluation shall consider the design procedures and products of a formal
				  original inquiry proposed and completed by the student.
(3) The faculty members who serve on each
				  student's doctoral examining committee shall meet the following qualifications:
(A) Each member shall have earned a Doctoral
				  degree from: an institution that is approved by the Bureau or previously
				  approved by a predecessor agency of the Bureau; or an accredited institution in
				  the United States or Canada; or other state approved institution that documents
				  that the institution at which the faculty member earned his or her degree is
				  equivalent to an institution that is approved by the Bureau; or an institution
				  outside the United States or Canada and in addition provides a comprehensive
				  evaluation of the degree performed by a foreign credential evaluation service
				  that is a member of the National Association of Credential Evaluation Services
				  (NACES).
(B) The chair and the
				  majority of the committee shall have earned degrees related to the student's
				  field of investigation.
(C) A
				  minimum of 50% of the faculty on the committee shall have degrees conferred by
				  an institution accredited by an accrediting association recognized by the
				  United States Department of Education or the American Bar Association, unless
				  the accreditation does not exist.
(D) All of the faculty shall have three or
				  more years of field or research experience related to their degrees obtained
				  after they obtained their degrees.
(E) All of the faculty shall have been active
				  in their field of scholarship or profession during the five year period
				  preceding their participation on the committee.
(4) The formal evaluation procedures shall
				  provide the committee as a whole with the opportunity to jointly examine the
				  candidate.
(5) If the candidate is
				  not physically present and the evaluation must take place by telephone or other
				  means of electronic communication, one of the following shall apply:
(A) One faculty member on the student's
				  doctoral committee from the main location (i.e., the state in which the program
				  is licensed or otherwise officially approved) must be present at the location
				  where the doctoral student is examined.
(B) A proctor, selected and approved by the
				  doctoral committee, shall sit as an observer with the student at the distant
				  location and verify, under penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of
				  California, the identity of the student and the facts that the student received
				  no prompting by anyone and did not have access to unallowed materials during
				  the evaluation process.
(6) If a project includes more than one
				  student, the individual student's role and contributions shall be clearly
				  identified and documented.
(7) The
				  institution shall maintain a written record of the evaluations. This record
				  shall include the names and signatures of all committee members who
				  participated in the evaluations.