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Paediatric Infectious Diseases Postgraduate Programme

A. Definition of the Programme

1. The Medical Sciences Board shall offer a Programme in Paediatric Infectious Diseases at postgraduate level.
2. The Medical Sciences Board shall appoint for the supervision of the Programme an Organising Committee which shall have the power to arrange lectures and other instruction.
3. The Programme is available on a part-time basis only.
4. The following awards shall be available within the Programme:
- i. Postgraduate Certificate in Paediatric Infectious Diseases
- ii. Postgraduate Diploma in Paediatric Infectious Diseases
- iii. Master of Science in Paediatric Infectious Diseases

5. Students may be admitted to the Programme to study for the Postgraduate Certificate or the Postgraduate Diploma or the MSc. The MSc is only available to students who have completed the Postgraduate Diploma.
6. Students registered for the Postgraduate Diploma who have satisfied the examiners in the requirements for the award of the Postgraduate Certificate and who do not wish to continue their studies may end their registration at that point and be awarded the Postgraduate Certificate.
7. Students who have completed the Postgraduate Diploma, and subsequently apply for admission to the MSc, will be required at that point to matriculate and be accepted by a college.
8. Candidates for the Postgraduate Diploma will be expected to have completed the Postgraduate Certificate not more than two years before registering for the Postgraduate Diploma. Candidates for the MSc will be expected to have satisfactorily completed the Postgraduate Diploma not more than four years before registering for the MSc, and to show evidence of current experience in the field.

9. The Postgraduate Certificate will be taught over three terms, the Postgraduate Diploma over six terms, and the MSc over three terms.

10. Every candidate for an award will be required to satisfy the examiners in the following:

- i. Two written assignments, each of not more than 4,000 words, one for each of Modules 1 and 2 in the Schedule below;
- ii. One multiple choice examination covering material taught in Modules 1 to 3 in the Schedule below;
- iii. Attendance at the annual Infections in Children Conference.

- i. Four written assignments, each of not more than 4,000 words, one for each of Modules 1, 2, 4 and 5 in the Schedule below;
- ii. Two multiple choice examinations, the first covering material taught in Modules 1 to 3 in the Schedule below and the second covering material taught in Modules 4 to 6 in the Schedule below;
- iii. Attendance at two annual Infections in Children Conferences.

- A dissertation of not more than 15,000 words on a subject selected by the candidate in consultation with the supervisor and approved by the Organising Committee.
11. Written work for the Postgraduate Certificate and the Postgraduate Diploma shall be submitted via the University approved online submission system according to the deadlines and instructions in the course handbook published at the beginning of each academic year.
12. The dissertation for the MSc shall be uploaded to the University approved online assessment platform in the format to be prescribed in the course handbook, no later than noon on the 30th September in the final year of the course, or the immediately preceding Friday if that date falls on a weekend.
13. The examinations will be taken in Trinity Term of each year of the Postgraduate Certificate and the Postgraduate Diploma. Dates for the Infections in Children Conference will be published in the course handbook.

14. Candidates who fail to satisfy the examiners in any of the assessments are permitted to resubmit work in respect of the part or parts of the examination that they have failed on not more than one occasion without being required to repeat attendance at the relevant module or modules. The resubmission will normally be within one year of the original failure.

15. The Organising Committee may deem satisfactory completion, including the associated coursework, of modules 1, 2, 4 or 5, prior to registration for the award as having met the examination requirements in respect of that module. Such discretion will normally only be exercised if the time elapsed between commencement of the accredited module concerned and registration for the award is not more than two years. The maximum number of modules taken prior to registration for the award that may count in this way shall be one for the Postgraduate Certificate and two for the Postgraduate Diploma.

16. If any student who has previously successfully completed the Postgraduate Certificate and ended their registration on the Programme is subsequently admitted to the Postgraduate Diploma, the Organising Committee shall have the discretion to deem satisfactory completion of the Postgraduate Certificate as having met the examination requirements in 10. above. Such discretion will normally only be exercised if the time elapsed between completion of the Postgraduate Certificate and registration for the Postgraduate Diploma is not more than two years.
17. If a student who has been awarded a Postgraduate Diploma or Postgraduate Certificate is subsequently awarded a higher award, the MSc or Postgraduate Diploma will subsume the lower award.