PhD in Horticulture

PhD in Horticulture

1. Program Goal

 To contribute to the national food security and sustained development through training of competent professions that would bring about increased availability of quality food and the creation of enabling environment that supports the commercialization of agriculture.

  2.Program Objective

The major objectives of the currently running PhD level training in horticulture are to:

• Produce highly qualified graduates with the knowledge, attitude and skills necessary for promoting horticultural crops production, processing and marketing.
• Generate and/or adopt appropriate technologies through client oriented, demand driven and problem solving research activities in the areas of horticultural crops, production and processing.
• Actively involve in the dissemination of appropriate technologies to ultimate users through the college’s well cherished community outreach programs, workshops, net working and consultancy/advisory services.

a.Professional ProfileThe training in Horticulture at PhD level will produce professionals that are:

• Highly qualified in terms of their profession for both practical and scientific aspects of horticulture.
• Subject matter experts on production, management, processing, marketing and value addition of horticultural crops.
• Primary resourceful persons to serve for consultation on investment in horticulture industry and policy issue pertaining to their specific field.
• Horticultural researchers who are capable of planning and conducting of research to bring about changes in yield and quality of various horticultural crops.

b.Graduate Profile Students who complete their PhD study in the field of horticulture will be equipped with the knowledge and practical skills that will enable them to work capably within three broad job sectors:

• As researchers, they can engage in research institutes, universities, and other higher education institutes to actively involve in research activities in horticulture and related fields;
• As teachers or trainers, they will have a broad range of opportunities, varying from teaching in universities, development worker for an NGO or a governmental body, as a consultant for private enterprises/ companies, as an extension worker for farmers and regional communities and so forth. 
• As policy makers, involve in policy formulation and implementation in the field of horticulture and related disciplines
• PhD graduates might also opt to take up their own business as private investors or entrepreneurs or mangers within a commercial farm or business And of course there are still different job sectors where they might be engaged in. 
• Supervisors and managers in different organizations,
• Team members in innovation, production and propagation of feasible and appropriate post-harvest technology tools and methods.

 The potential employers for PhD graduates It is presumed that most of the candidates for the existing (revised) PhD program are already affiliated to their sponsoring institutions, however, graduates may opt for new job opportunities and the followings are identified as their potential employers:

• Federal and regional agricultural and related offices,
• National, regional and international research centers,
• Higher learning institutions,
• NGOs,
• Unions/Cooperatives,
• Private horticultural farms,
• Spices, herbs and medicinal plants processing industries,
• Coffee and tea processing industries,
• Fruits and vegetables processing industries,
• Quality standardization agency,
• Food safety and quality analysis laboratories,
• Exporting agencies of agricultural products. 

 c.Admission Requirements Students seeking admission into PhD in Horticulture program must have M.Sc degree in Horticulture, Plant/Crop Science, Biology, or related agricultural sciences supported with a research thesis. All graduate students must have adequate background in horticulture, plant/crop physiology, agricultural statistics (biometry), plant protection, genetics and plant breeding. PhD students (candidates) are advanced level trainees, and they should not be required to take/pass written and oral entrance exams. Rather, it is recommended a mandate to be given to the Graduate Council of the host department to verify the relevance (eligibility) of the applicant for the PhD program, taking into account mainly the applicant’s training background and the overall admission requirements of the University. Inclusion of research fund agreement (sponsorship) should also be considered as one of the admission criteria. i.Administration of Graduate Standards in the Department

•  Graduate Committee Appointment – The Graduate Committee is appointed by the department head each academic year and is composed of staff actively engaged in advising graduate students. The Graduate Committee chairperson will serve as liaison with the Graduate School. Final decisions on acceptance/rejection of applicants and award of departmental assistantships are made by the department head.
• Graduate Committee (Council) Duties – During review of the applicants for admission, the Graduate Committee should ensure that established criteria are met. This includes assurance that a suitable advisor is available for any potential graduate student.
• Admission Appeals – Appeals of admission are made to the Graduate Committee chairperson. 

 ii.Advisory Committee

• Appointing advisory committee – Members of the Advisory Committee may be suggested by the student and approved by the major advisor. Committee members should be selected for their background in the area of specialization and their potential contributions as consultants or active participators in the student’s research. The committee should consist of a minimum of three or a maximum of five staff members, including at least one from outside the student’s major department. Membership on advisory committees is a major responsibility that teaching staff should not enter into unless they are prepared to make a commitment to fulfill the responsibilities of a committee member. These responsibilities include careful review of the research proposal with suggestions for improvement, providing technical expertise that complement the skills of the major advisor such that the student has at his/her disposal a wide array of technical skills required to complete a current research problem in horticulture and a willingness to teach such techniques to the student, thesis/dissertation review to ensure that the research is completed and presented in a manner that facilitates publication, a keen eye to the possibility of ethical breaches, and fair-minded participation on the student’s oral and written examinations.

• Changing committee memberships- Changes in a student’s committee will be granted only upon approval of all committee members, new and old. A form will be available at the Graduate School for change in committee composition.

iii.Approving Dissertations The focus of a plan of PhD degree is an original research project, culminating in a dissertation. The research project is supervised, and the dissertation is evaluated and approved by a committee of three teaching staff members, chaired by the student’s major advisor. Research proposal – The proposal is expected to be specific and detailed, including the following components: a)Introduction – a statement as to why the work is important.b)Review of literature this should be sufficiently detailed to show that the student is familiar with the current state of the literature in the specific area.c)Objectives one or more short factual statement/s indicating the nature of the study.  d)Procedures described in sufficient detail for the committee to assess whether or not they are suitable for attaining the stated objectives. This proposal need not be lengthy, but should clearly define what the student plans to do. The proposal may change as the results of preliminary experiments are learned. Radical changes to the proposed research should be discussed in subsequent committee meetings. Once the student, with the counsel and guidance of the advisor, has selected a thesis problem, a proposal as outlined above will be prepared for review and approval by the Advisory Committee. A dissertation that contributes knowledge of importance sufficient to warrant its publication will be offered by the PhD candidate. Once a student has become familiar with the resources and ongoing research within the department, the student and major advisor select an area of research and then proceed to develop a specific proposal. The research proposal must be approved by the student’s major advisor, and then submitted to the Advisory Committee for final review and approval.  Dissertation submission- All theses/ dissertations must be submitted electronically and in hard copies checked by the Graduate School. Five hard copies of the final copy of the thesis/ dissertation are generally prepared. 

• The PhD degree examination requires submission of dissertation by the candidate, based on the results of his/her research.
• At list three months before the dissertation is submitted, the candidate shall, through his/her advisor, give notice of his/her intention to submit the thesis. He/She shall do this in writing to the Chairperson, Postgraduate Studies Committee, submitting at the same time, the proposed title and general scope of the work. 
• Every dissertation for the PhD degree must be accompanied by declaration by the candidate stating that it is the candidate’s own original work and that it has neither been submitted nor concurrently being submitted in any other institution. The dissertation for examination must be submitted in five copies, one for the graduate program/school, one for the department, one for the library, one for the major adviser, and one for the student.
• The dissertation shall contain a statement of copyright by the author. 
• Every dissertation submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy must be satisfactory with respect to its format and Literary presentation.

 The dissertation must contain an abstract of not more than 350 words, and this shall concisely indicate the problem investigated, the procedures and research methods employed, the general results and new contributions made, and the major conclusions reached. 

• A PhD candidate may also submit in support of his/her dissertation any relevant publications of which he/she is the sole or joint author. In case of joint authorship, he/she will be required to state his/her own contribution to the publication. 

iv.Examinations and degree award  

• The examination process shall comprise two parts, namely (1) Examination of thesis, and (2) Oral Examination. 
• For every PhD candidate, Postgraduate Studies Committee shall appoint, on recommendation of the relevant Department/Departmental Graduate Committee, at least three qualified examiners of whom one shall be external to Jimma University College of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine. 
• The Internal examiners shall be required to submit their report about the thesis within a maximum period of one month and external examiners a maximum of two months from the date of receipt. If reports are not received within two months for internal examiners and three months for external examiners, new examiners shall be appointed. Mailing time and other constrains will however be taken into account before new examiners are appointed.

Each examiner shall summarize his/her report about the dissertation with a definite recommendation for one of the following actions: 

• The thesis submitted is of an acceptable standard, and that the candidate be allowed to sit for a viva voice examination before incorporating comments and typographical errors suggested by examiners.
• The Thesis be rejected but may be re-submitted after a further period of research and/or study ranging from 6-9 months.
• The thesis be rejected outright.

A thesis recommended by examiners for re-writing and re-examination after one re-submission and re-examination will be rejected. Candidates allowed to sit for Viva Voce shall be examined to ascertain that:  

• The dissertation presented is the original work of the candidate. 
• The broader subject in which the study is based is fully grasped by the candidate; and. 
• The weaknesses in the dissertation (if any) can be adequately clarified by the  candidate.

 The Viva Voce examination panel  A.At the end of viva voce examination which shall normally not exceed three hours, the panel members shall sign an examination results form, giving specific recommendation for one of the following actions: 

• The PhD degree be awarded to the candidate subject to making minor corrections and revisions in the thesis as detailed in the viva voce proceeding and in the thesis by examiners. 
• The PhD degree not be awarded due to failure by the candidate to defend the thesis successfully. The candidate be allowed to re-write and resubmit the thesis for re-examination.
• Candidate fails outright (reasons detailed in viva voce proceedings). 

B.The Chairperson of the viva voce panel shall submit to Postgraduate Studies committee the recommendation of the panel and a comprehensive report approved by the oral panelists detailing all the questions addressed to the candidate and the answers given to those questions.  C.The candidate shall be required to submit five corrected hard bound copies of the thesis within two months after viva voce, upon submission and error free certificate will be issued by the Postgraduate Studies Committee. Failure to submit the corrected copies within two months without compelling reasons will mean discontinuation from studies. D.The Final decision on the award of the PhD degree shall be made by Postgraduate Studies Committee.d.Assessment and Evaluation Methods  Teaching and learning methods are based on the competence based education approach. The instructors will look for the optimal combination of methods in order for students to acquire the necessary competencies. This can include class room lectures, group discussions, field and laboratory practical activities, field visits, project assignments/term papers, seminar/presentations, self-study etc. Course assessment – Course assessment consists of continuous and final assessment; the students will be assessed using a variety of assessment methods, ranging from presentations, theory tests, practical reports, reflection reports, and case studies. The combination of methods will assess whether the students gained the competencies required in the labor market. Grading of students’ performances will be through the scaling system and student’s academic standing in each course is graded as A, B, and C according to his/her performance while all non-credited courses will be evaluated as satisfactory/unsatisfactory. Thesis assessment – Research work, compiled into thesis at the end, will be supervised by an advisor and co-advisor. Progress in research and thesis work will be evaluated at the end of each semester. At the end of his/her study, the student must defend his/her thesis in an oral examination administered by appointed thesis defense examination committee. The open thesis defense shall be held at JUCAVM in the presence of well reputed external and internal examiners in the field of the research undertaken. Program Evaluation- The curriculum and the PhD program in particular shall be critically evaluated and refined at regular intervals with the active involvement of the major stakeholders vis-à-vis alumni, students, employers, staff, Higher Education Relevance and Quality Agency (HERQA) and the different segments of the society at large.e.Graduation RequirementsA student is required to take a minimum of 13 credit hours of which the major courses should cover a minimum of nine (9) credits while the rest can be from minor/elective courses. The student must obtain at least a “B” grade in all courses.  A student has to produce also a copy of at least one published paper or accepted research article from the doctoral thesis research on a reputable journal. A student, however, should complete his/her PhD thesis research work and defend successfully. The prospective graduate must fully satisfy the academic rules and regulations of the University set for graduation of graduate students. f.Duration of the StudyThe PhD training in Horticulture is a three years study that consists of course work and thesis research. The minimum residential requirement for the PhD program shall be two years. However, the maximum period within which the student will have to finish his or her study will not be more than five years from the date of admission. The date on which the thesis is submitted shall be taken as the date for the purpose of calculating the maximum time limit prescribed. However, for reasons beyond the capacity of the student, an extension of up to one semester can be allowed after approval of the academic commission. All requests for extension should be received in written through the PG school three months in advance of the last date from submission of thesis.g. Degree Naming

• Doctoral Degree  in Horticulture 
• Amharic version “Ê¡ƒ_ƒ Ç=Ó] uJ`+”M†`”  

h.Quality Assurance and Program EvaluationQuality assurance entails the systematic, structured and continuous attention given to the maintenance and improvement of the quality of the program. It is a measure of the value of what we do and the system of benchmarks that we use to make sure those standards are maintained and improved where possible on a continuous basis. Quality assurance aims to meet and keep to accepted standards of excellence, and is essential to maintain the reputation of the institution in general and the department in particular. Generally quality is assured through various mechanisms including having well qualified teaching staff in terms of the mix of qualifications and experience. In addition, the quality of teaching can be assured through making available suitable reference books and text books, teaching materials, laboratory manuals, better laboratory facilities, access to internet and computer services. The department will employ appropriate teaching, learning and assessment methods to ensure effective implementation of its programs.  The college also has internal quality audit team, which monitors the standards of the exams. Open thesis defense is examined by examination board composed of an external examiner, internal examiner and chair person appointed by the graduate program council. Regular evaluation takes place to evaluate the quality of the course content and the teaching staff and to see what needs to be revised or improved. Involved in this evaluation are students and teaching staff. In the near future alumni and stakeholders from the labor market will participate as well. i. List of Courses The Ph.D. curriculum requires that all students take a series of lecture, seminar, and laboratory courses that develop a breadth of understanding of basic principles within their area of emphasis. The students will be required to take a minimum of 13 credit hours of course work (including core courses and elective courses).

Course Code	Course Title	Cr. hrs
HORT 701	Biometrical Tools for Data Analysis	3 (2+1)
HORT 702	Advanced Physiology of Horticultural Crops	3 (2+1)
HORT  711	Scientific Paper Writing	2 (1+1)
HORT 712	Graduate Seminar on Current Topics in Horticulture	1 (1+0)
Total		9 (6+3)

ii.Elective Courses

Elective courses will carry a minimum load of four credit hours. Based on the students’ training background and the PhD research to be handled, most of the time students experience difficulties to find the right (relevant) course/s among those given in the PhD curriculum. To alleviate such problem, it is suggested the students to be allowed to choose and take courses from graduate study programs (MSc and / or PhD courses) within the host department, and sister departments such as Postharvest Management and others (i.e., in addition to the ones indicated under the elective courses list in this document). To avoid unforeseen communication gaps among the various offices (responsible bodies), a recommendation/approval (in written form) for the selection of such course/s has to be made by the Advisory Committee of the student, and communicated to the Graduate Council of the department and Head of the host department (HOD). The approved elective course/s list has to also be formally communicated (through HOD) to the College registrar as this will ease registration process. 

Elective Courses*

Course Code	Course Title	Cr. hrs
PLAG 731	Soil-Water-Plant Relationships (E)	2 (1+1)
HORT 721	Applied Plant Biotechnology (E)	2 (1+1)
HORT 722	Integrated Pest Management of Horticultural Crops (E)	2 (1+1)
HORT 732	Advanced Processing of fruits and vegetables (E)	2 (1+1)
Total		4(2+2)

In consultation with their advisers, students may also be allowed to choose relevant elective course/s from the graduate programs (MSc and/or PhD) of related disciplines within the host department and or sister departments within JUCAVM.

i.  Bridging Courses

With a recommendation of the Advisory Committee (and the Graduate Council of the department), the student may be required to take a bridging course/s to fill his/her knowledge and skill gaps. Any deficiencies identified by the Advisory Committee in the student’s background course work, should therefore be detailed and communicated (in writing) to the Graduate Council, and Head of the host department, and must be made up (deficiencies filled) before the student is allowed to start his/her PhD research.

Students with non-horticulture training background should take bridging courses (which would include Plant/Crop Physiology, and production courses of the major horticultural crops: Vegetables, Fruits, Coffee, Tea and Spices, and Floriculture) so as to fill knowledge and skill gaps in the areas of basic horticulture. The student therefore needs to clear/take the identified bridging course/s before he or she enrolls for the core and elective courses recommended for those joining the PhD in Horticulture program. Such course/s should be taken through strict class attendance and assessment.

Semesterial Course Distribution

Year I Semester I .

Code	Course Title	Cr. hrs
HORT 701	Biometrical Tools for Data Analysis	3 (2+1)
HORT 711	Scientific Paper Writing	2 (1+1)
PLAG 731	Soil-Water-Plant Relationships (E)	2 (1+1)
HORT 721	Applied Plant Biotechnology (E)	2 (1+1)
	Semester Total	7 (4+3

Year I Semester II

Course Code	Course Title	Cr. hrs
HORT 702	Advanced Physiology of Horticultural Crops	3 (2+1)
HORT 712	Graduate Seminar on Current Topics in Horticulture	1 (1+0)
HORT 722	Integrated Pest Management of Horticultural Crops (E)	2 (1+1)
HORT 732	Advanced Processing of fruits and vegetables (E)	2(1+1)
HORT 742	Thesis Work ((Doctoral Dissertation – proposal writing)	3(0+3)
	Semester Total	9 (4+5)

Year II (Semester I and II)

Course No.	Course Title	Cr. Hrs
HORT 742	Thesis  Work (Doctoral Dissertation)	12
	Total	12

Year III (Semester I and II)

Course No.	Course Title	Cr. Hrs
HORT 742	Thesis  Work (Doctoral Dissertation)	15
	Total	15