ITAA Standard: Research, Postgraduate and Doctoral Provision

Scope and purpose

This standard explains ITAA expectations for institutions offering postgraduate research and doctoral-level theology degrees. It clarifies minimum institutional arrangements required to protect research students, maintain academic standards, and align institutional practice with internationally accepted characteristics for doctoral provision. The standard applies to all institutions seeking ITAA institutional or programme accreditation that include research or doctoral provision.

Principles

• Student-first protection: research provision must safeguard student learning, progress and fair assessment.
• Academic integrity: assessment and research outputs must meet scholarly standards appropriate to doctoral-level study.
• Research environment: institutions must provide a supportive environment with access to supervision, resources and opportunities for scholarly engagement.
• Legal compliance: institutions remain responsible for meeting all national and local legal and regulatory requirements; ITAA accreditation does not replace governmental recognition or statutory degree-awarding powers.

Research environment and resources

Institutions must demonstrate that postgraduate research students have access to an appropriate research environment. Evidence should include library/online resources, ethical review procedures, opportunities for scholarly interaction, and administrative support for research milestones (registration, progress monitoring, complaints and appeals). The environment must permit timely completion and opportunities for dissemination of research (conferences, publications) where appropriate.

Supervision and staffing

Supervisors must be suitably qualified and experienced in the candidate's field and in research supervision. Institutions must have documented supervisor selection, training, workload allocation and replacement procedures. Supervisory arrangements should include primary and secondary supervisors, regular documented meetings, clear expectations for milestones, and plans for supervisor unavailability or supervisory change.

Admission, progression and assessment

Entry requirements must be explicit and consistently applied, reflecting the demands of research and any programme-specific prerequisites. Progression monitoring must be systematic, with defined review points and remediation routes. Assessment must require original research or equivalent advanced scholarship that meets peer-accepted standards for doctoral degrees. External or independent assessment/examination procedures must be used where appropriate to assure academic standards.

Research ethics, integrity and misconduct

Institutions must publish and apply policies on research ethics, data management, authorship, and research misconduct. Students must be informed of procedures for ethical approval, recording of research data, and complaint and appeal routes. Allegations of research misconduct must be investigated fairly, transparently and in a manner that protects students and the integrity of the award.

Quality assurance and externality

Providers must embed research degrees within institutional quality-assurance systems. This includes regular review of programmes, external examiners or independent assessors for doctoral awards, and public information on award requirements. Institutions should benchmark against recognised sector guidance on doctoral characteristics and research-degree expectations.

Reporting and student support

Institutions must provide accessible student support (academic, pastoral and where applicable funding/advice), transparent information on fees and supervision expectations, and timely communication about progress decisions. Mechanisms for complaints, appeals and remediation must be published and accessible to research students.

Minimum documentary evidence for accreditation

1. Programme specification including qualification level and learning outcomes.
2. Admissions policy and eligibility criteria specific to research degrees.
3. Supervisor CVs, training records and supervisory assignment policy.
4. Research ethics policy and approved procedures.
5. Assessment regulations, external examiner arrangements and progression milestones.

Misuse and public information

Institutions must keep public information accurate and not imply governmental recognition where none exists. ITAA may investigate misuse of accreditation claims and take action if public statements are misleading. Institutions remain legally responsible for compliance with all applicable laws and for the lawful award of qualifications.