Doctor of Theology

DOCTORAL PROGRAMME IN THEOLOGY

Director: Rev. Dr Joseph Titus P.
Members: Rev. Dr Stany C. Fernandes (Registrar)
Rev. Dr Anthony Dias (Dean of Theology)
Rev. Dr Stany C. Fernandes (H.O.D. Missiology)
Rev. Dr Joseph Titus P. (H.O.D. Scripture)

DOCTOR OF THEOLOGY (S.T.D.)

Scope

The scope of the third cycle is the completion of the scientific formation, especially through the writing of a doctoral dissertation that makes a real contribution to the progress of science, written under the direction of a moderator, publicly defended, collegially approved and published (V. G. Art. 49). The cycle concludes with the academic degree of Doctorate (V. G. Art. 74/c). During this period the students may be asked to engage themselves in some teaching activity.

Board of Doctoral Studies (BDS)

All matters concerning the doctoral programme will be the responsibility of the board of Doctoral studies. The board of Doctoral Studies (BDS) comprises of:

(i) the Director, who can be any member of the faculty elected from the theological disciplines of our institute that has 2nd and the 3rd Cycle (ii) the Ex-Officio members: the Registrar of the Institute, and the Dean of Theology and (iii) Heads of the Departments of the Disciplines having 2nd and 3rd Cycle. The director of the BDS will convene and chair the meetings as and when necessary. The board of Doctoral Studies shall be convened at least once a semester and all deliberation of the programme should be the outcome of the discussion of the board of Doctoral Studies.

Eligibility

For admission to the Third Cycle of Theology leading to Doctorate in Theology (S.T.D.), the applicant must hold a canonically valid Master’s/ Licentiate degree in Theology or its equivalent in the field of his/her doctoral research with at least a high first class. In the latter case, the student should pass a qualifying examination conducted by the Institute.

Admission Procedure

When a candidate approaches the Institute in view of pursuing his doctoral research, the registrar receives the contact details from the candidate and forwards the request to the director of BDS. The choice of the moderator is reserved to the candidate, provided the moderator chosen should be from our faculty.
The director of BDS looks into or verifies the following matters: (i) qualification of the candidate, (ii) verification of the certificates, and (iii) eligibility of the candidate to pursue his/her doctorate. Then the director of BDS recommends the candidate to the department and briefs the head of the department, the wish and nature of the research that the candidate likes to take up. The head of the department of the respective discipline convenes a departmental meeting and presents the preliminary information procured from the director of BDS to the members of the department. The department scrutinizes and approves the candidate for research to the director of BDS through the head of the department. In consultation with the moderator, the director of BDS will furnish a predoctoral programme for the candidate.

Admission shall be given only at the beginning of each semester,i.e., in June/July and October.
The candidate shall be introduced and recommended by his/her Major superior/Ordinary or a competent person acceptable to the institute.
A letter from the competent superior or a person who sponsors and accepts financial responsibility for the student needs to be submitted.
An intent of not more than 300 words explaining the reasons for enrolling in the doctoral programme, specifying the area of research and its relevance must be submitted.
copy of the master’s/licentiate dissertation.
True copies of the certificate and marks sheet of the previous academic degrees.
Certificate of language courses done (if any).
Two confidential testimonials: One from the Dean of the Faculty/ Head of the Department where the student completed the master’s degree, another from any competent academic person of the student’s choice. The testimonials are to be sent directly to the director of BDS. They are meant to offer information which would help in assessing the aptitude of the student for doctoral studies: his/her emotional stability, ability for creative and critical thinking, and for sustained research.
The applicant will be informed about his/her admission within one month after the deadline of the submission of the application. The BDS, if necessary, will hold an interview based on the applicant’s master’s dissertation before confirming the admission.

Requirements

Besides English, a doctoral candidate is required to have a working knowledge of the classical languages and modern languages pertaining to his/her area of research. A student who has already fulfilled this requirement needs to submit copies of his/her certificates at the time of registration. A student who has not fulfilled this requirement must attend language courses offered by the Institute – the choice of which depends on his/her area of research. The requirements including languages prescribed for particular area of research are the following

A. Language Requirements

A doctoral student in Biblical Studies must pass advanced Biblical Hebrew and advanced Biblical Greek and a contemporary European Language (German, French or Italian) pertaining to his/her area of research and pass the Examination.
A doctoral student in Missiology must pass Ecclesiastical Latin and a contemporary European Language (Italian or German or French) pertaining to his/her area of research and pass the Examination.
A doctoral student in Spiritual Theology must pass Ecclesiastical Latin and a contemporary European Language (Italian or German or French) pertaining to his/her area of research and pass the Examination.

B. Course Requirements

As part of the doctoral program, the head of the department will prescribe courses to be taken up by the candidate. These prescribed courses could be completed before the submission of the proposal.

Course on Citation Methodology: It is obligatory that the candidate who has been admitted to the doctoral program attends the methodology course conducted by the institute. This is in addition to the courses prescribed by the respective departments. Details (date and time) of the course will be intimated to the candidate.
Courseon Research Methodology: Acourseonresearchmethodology will be organized by the Institute offering directions on the nature of scientific inquiry, types, areas and elements of research and the new trends of research orientation. The course is obligatory.

C. Doctoral Symposium and Research Papers

a. Annually a Doctoral Symposium will be organized by the Institute for all the doctoral students in their various stages of research. Participation in this symposium every year is The candidates are also expected to brief their progress in their doctoral studies during the symposium. The Doctoral Symposium will be conducted in three sessions:

Orientation Session: This session is organized by the director of BDS and all the doctoral students of all the disciplines of the institute will be present in it.
Presentation Session: It takes place at the Departmental level, where the candidate presents every year a paper on his/her research. The title/nature of the paper will be the choice of the candidate and it should be approved by the moderator. The second cycle students could be invited to this session.
Final Session: A briefing of the status of their research is shared by each candidate in this final sharing. This session will be co-ordinated and headed by the director of BDS. A progress report of the candidate from the moderator is expected every year.

b. Background Papers: The student writes two research papers (approximately 25-30 pages) under the guidance of his/her The topics of the research papers must be approved by the moderator and must be submitted to the director of BDS.

c. The two research papers must be completed within one year after the registration. All the above requirements are to be fulfilled within two years after the

Moderator, Co-Moderator and Readers

The choice of the moderator is reserved to the candidate. Identification/Choice of the moderator is done in consultation with the director of BDS and the concerned Head of the Department. Moderators should be chosen from the department of the discipline the candidate wishes to make his/her research. The first moderator is to be chosen from the qualified members of the Institute and by way of exception the BDS may permit the choice of a moderator from outside the faculty. Admission process will follow only after the identification and fixing of the moderator.
When a topic is interdisciplinary, then the necessity for a Co-Moderator arises. In the event of the appointment of a Co-Moderator, the director of BDS in consultation with the HOD will decide on the choice of the same, preferably a person qualified in that particular discipline.
Technically, the readers are the evaluators. The readers (two) will be decided by the director of BDS in consultation with the Head of the Department. Of the two readers, one will be from the faculty of the Institute and the other preferably a qualified person (with reference to the topic of the dissertation) from outside the Institute.

Duration

Students in the Third Cycle are required to spend at least four semesters (two years) in research work, normally to be spent in Bangalore in regular contact with the Institute. Every year the registration should be renewed. The duration of the doctoral programme is not to be extended beyond five years from the date of the registration of the topic of research. In case of a special need, an extension of one year can be given by the director of BDS in consultation with the BDS and recommended by the moderator.

Submission and Preliminary Scrutiny of the Doctoral Proposal

Candidates are to submit their proposals after the completion of their basic doctoral program requirements. It is required that they do that within the same year in which they have been admitted to the doctoral program and not later than the completion of the second semester.

When the candidate, after fulfilling the requirements of the pre- doctoral programme, submits the proposal approved by his/her moderator to the institute on or before the stipulated time mentioned in the Institute calendar, the registrar receives the proposal and forwards it to the director of the doctoral studies. The review of the proposal shall be done at two levels as follows:

A. Review at the Department Level

A copy of the proposal is given to all the members of the respective postgraduate discipline to be reviewed in the departmental meeting. In case, the members of the department and the moderator of the candidate feel that the advice of a specialist is needed for a particular proposal, then they can invite the experts to review the particular proposal in the department meeting. The corrections proposed at the department level will be communicated to the candidate through the head of the Department with a copy to the moderator. The corrected proposal will be accepted by the registrar who will forward it to the director of BDS.

B. Review by the Board of Doctoral Studies

The director of BDS will distribute the corrected proposal to the members of BDS and fix a convenient date in consultation with the members of BDS for the presentation of the proposal by the candidate. Since the moderator is present in the review of the proposal at the departmental level, there is no need for his presence while the candidate is presenting his proposal to the board of Doctoral Studies.

The student must submit to the director of BDS six copies of his/her dissertation proposal which hasto be prepared under the guidance of his/her moderator.
The dissertation proposal should be about 1500 words, one and a half spacing, excluding the bibliography and should include the following: (i) the research concern, (ii) method(s) to be employed, (iii) tentative outline, (iv) possible new insight(s)/contribution to the field of study, (v) research time-line, and (vi) a list of important reference works.
Once the proposal of the candidate has been formally submitted to the Institute, the director of BDS will convene the members of the BPS within two weeks of the submission of the same.
The presentation of proposal will be done by the candidate for 20 minutes and the above mentioned members of the board will discuss with the candidate the feasibility of continuing the research. A decision of either acceptance or rejection will be taken by the BPS and the same will be intimated to the candidate at the earliest.
The BDS approves the doctoral thesis proposal in writing within a month after the proposal has been presented. The BPS may also give suggestions to be incorporated into the research.
The board of Doctoral Studies may reject the proposal if three of the five members are of the view that the proposal needs substantial modification, in which case, the proposal has to be resubmitted within two months for approval. The director of BDS communicates to the student its approval of the resubmitted proposal within a month. If the BDS does not approve the resubmitted proposal, it will take an appropriate decision in consultation with the moderator.
During the period of research and writing the doctoral dissertation, the doctoral candidate is expected to remain in regular contact with the moderator. The moderator is required to prepare an annual report on the performance and the progress of the candidate and send it to the director of BDS.

The Doctoral Dissertation

The objective of the dissertation, its length, time-duration, and other relevant points pertaining to this period of research are as follows:

The dissertation must lead to the progress of theology or of allied sciences. It must thus imply the discovery of new facts, or new correlation of facts, or a new interpretation of facts, or new solutions to problems, or a new interpretation of theological doctrines, or a new understanding of earlier theologians of genuine importance.
The dissertation must be written according to the norms of scholarship. The page limit for the Doctoral thesis is 275-350, including the Bibliography and the Appendix.
The dissertation should normally be completed within 4 years from the time the doctoral proposal is approved.
After the completion of the dissertation, the moderator has to approve it and send a formal letter to the director of BDS. The candidate should submit four unbound copies of the thesis to the Institute Office.
After the approval of the moderator, the dissertation will be sent to the Evaluation Jury which will be finalized by the director of BDS. The jury comprises of the following members: The director of BDS, the Moderator/Co-Moderator and two readers appointed by the director of BDS in consultation with the HOD.
Within 6 weeks (Institute working days) each member has to send his/her assessment in writing to the director of BDS. If all assessments are available, the results should be made known to the candidate by a formal letter. A copy of this letter will be sent to the Moderator/Co- Moderator. The corrections pointed out/proposed by the Evaluation Jury should be taken into account by the candidate and the corrected manuscript should be submitted to the office. Upon receiving the corrected manuscript, the director of BDS will officially confirm the date for the Public Defence of the dissertation which normally will take place after 4 weeks.
If two members of the Jury are not in favour of promoting the candidate to the public defence, the dissertation shall be revised and a second session may be arranged for approval after six months.

The Public Defence

When a candidate finishes his/her dissertation approved by the moderator for the Public defense, he/she submits it to the institute. The registrar will forward the work to the director of BDS. The director of BDS after consulting the department of the respective discipline in which the candidate had registered and pursued his/her research, will appoint the critical readers of the public defense. The director of BDS asks the head of the department of the discipline to discuss it in the department and to propose the readers for the public defense. The readers are appointed according to the area of specialization and the content of the research. Furthermore, the readers should be a permanent teaching faculty who teaches regularly for the 2nd & 3rd cycle in the particular discipline and preferably who holds nihil obstat or Missio Canonica or minimum 3 to 5 years of teaching at Postgraduate level.

The doctoral student shall defend his/her dissertation before a board of three examiners: the moderator and two readers (in case of co- moderator – four examiners).
The public defence shall be chaired by the director of BDS or his delegate, and shall have the duration of an hour and a half. In case the director of BDS himself happens to be either moderator or one of the readers, then, based on the discipline of the research, he can delegate a member (eligible as mentioned above) from the respective department to preside over the particular defense.
The BDS will fix the date and make the arrangements for the defence of the dissertation. The defence shall be held not later than six months from the time of the submission of the dissertation. The date of the public defence shall be communicated to the concerned persons atleast one month in advance.
The procedure of the public defence of the doctoral dissertation will be as follows: first, the candidate will expose the dissertation for not more than half an hour, and then the moderator and each of the two readers will be given twenty minutes each for examining the candidate.

Marks and Grading System

The grade is determined taking into consideration the aggregate of the marks obtained from the Seminars, Courses and the Dissertation in the following proportions:
Research Papers, Seminars and other courses: 20%
Written Dissertation: 60%
Public Defence: 20%.

Submission of the Corrected Manuscripts

The doctoral candidates should incorporate the corrections and suggestions proposed by the evaluation jury and submit their corrected copy to the Institute within a time frame of 3 months (maximum) from the day of defence with the renewal of annual registration fees. In order to be sure of the corrections made during the defence, the candidate gets the approval of the moderator in the format supplied by the institute.

Special Fees

Besides the annual fees the candidates shall pay special fees as prescribed in the Handbook – for the Dissertation Approval, for the Public Defence and Submission of the Corrected Manuscripts.

Publication and Eligibility to obtain the Degree

To obtain the Doctoral degree, the candidate has to publish his/her dissertation wholly or partially as recommended by the jury and shall submit 30 copies of the same to the Institute. The publication of the work is expected within two years of time of the submission of the corrected copy. When the above mentioned requirements are fulfilled, the candidate is eligible to apply for the convocation.

Bangalore, India