PhD Rules and Regulations

Pakistan Institute of Engineering and Applied Sciences

A- Admission Criteria
a. For admission in PhD program at PIEAS, a candidate should have first class academic career with minimum 18 years of education in the relevant subject. Only one second division is allowed except in the last two degrees. b. For admission in MS/MPhil leading to PhD at PIEAS, a candidate should have to fulfill the PIEAS MS/MPhil admission criteria. c. The condition of division(s) may be relaxed in special cases, based on extra-ordinary research potential supported by publications, by the Council for Graduate Studies and Research (CGSR) on the recommendation of the Board of Studies (BoS) or departmental committee consisting of at least three senior faculty members of the department. d. The eligible candidate has to qualify: i) PIEAS regular admission test and interview or ii) GRE/NTS or equivalent examination followed by an interview. e. An MS/MPhil student registered at PIEAS can apply for transfer to PhD program after completing 30 credit hours (24 crh of course work and 6 credit hours of research work) with a minimum CGPA of 3.0. f. Transfer of a PhD student from an HEC recognized university/institute to PIEAS can take place subject to satisfying the criteria (a-e) above. Students course work must be certified through registration and examination office of the university he/she is leaving. PIEAS Registration and Examination Division will evaluate the status of the student and refer the case to BoS of the concerned department. Head of the Department (HoD) will send the recommendation of BoS to Registration and Examination Division (RED).

b. After acceptance from a supervisor the HoD will send his/her recommendation to the Dean (Research). c. The Dean (Research) will form a committee to interview the candidate. On recommendation of the committee, Dean (Research) will approve the admission and communicate to the Registrar. d. The Registrar will give an offer of admission valid for ninety days and on the request of the applicant can be extended up to a realistic time after recommendation by the supervisor/HoD. e. Student will report to RED for joining. f. RED will register and notify to all concerned including supervisor, HoD, funding agency, security, accounts, and Dean (Research). g. Plan of study recommended by the BoS must be submitted to the Dean (Research) within two months after the joining into PhD or MS/MPhil leading to PhD. The plan of study shall include: area of research, courses to be studied, exempted, or tested out. When BoS can not be convened in due time then the same may be recommended by the departmental committee. h. Dean (Research) will present the plan of study in the CGSR for approval. i. Student shall submit the synopsis during the second year of his/her studies. After due recommendation from the BoS/departmental committee, it shall be presented to the CGSR for approval.

C-

Program of Studies

a. The period for completion of PhD program shall be counted from the date of joining for PhD/transfer to PhD. b. The minimum period for the completion of PhD studies shall be three years whereas the maximum period shall be six years. In special circumstances, upon recommendation of supervisor/co-supervisor and HoD, Dean (Research) may extend the maximum period. c. A student can take leave of one or more semesters during his/her study period provided that he/she is expected to complete PhD during the stipulated time d. The course work is compulsory for every PhD student enrolled at PIEAS. A minimum of 18 credit hours of graduate level courses including allowed course exemption and credit hour transfer are required to be completed. e. Every full time PhD or MS/MPhil leading to PhD student will have to register in each regular semester at PIEAS for 12 credit hours. Failure to register can result in cancellation of PhD registration.
PhD Rules and Regulations approved in the 7th Academic Committee Meeting on July 4, 2007.

B- Admission Procedure
a. A candidate desirous of seeking admission to PhD or MS/MPhil leading to PhD program shall apply on the prescribed form to the Registration and Examination Division. All applications satisfying the admission criteria shall be forwarded to the concerned HoD for recommendations.

f. Every PhD student is expected to take his/her course work and qualifying examinations within first two years starting from the date of joining PhD/transfer to PhD. g. Rules & Regulations for PhD courses/thesis research registrations will be the same as for PIEAS MS/MPhil Programs. h. Course Exemption/Course Credit Hours Transfer: A PhD student may be allowed course exemptions/equivalences and course credit hours transfers, to be decided by a committee comprising the HoD, supervisor and two senior departmental faculty members. The recommended procedure for this Committee is: i) Exemption/credit hour transfer is applicable to the courses studied at the postgraduate (MS/MPhil) level from an HEC recognized university. It will be allowed only to graduates who have obtained their final degrees within last five years. The exemption will be given for courses with A or B grades only. ii) Exemptions by a formal test-out option: The test-out option implies that the student may pass courses by appearing in the prescribed tests for these courses. These tests will be arranged by the Head of respective Department and papers will be prepared and preferably graded by relevant course teachers.

j. Qualifying Examination A PhD student shall be required to pass the PhD qualifying examinations. The details are as follows: a. The Departmental Qualifying Examination or Subject GRE (International): i. The departmental qualifying examination shall be based on the courses specified by the department. The nature of the problem would be to assess the understanding of the basic concept in the broad areas relevant to the research of the student and the problem solving approach. The mode of examination shall be comprehensive written test and the grading shall be pass or fail. If the student does not pass this examination in first attempt, then he/she may be given one more chance. The registration of a PhD student shall be deemed as cancelled if he/she does not pass this examination even in the second attempt. The paper for the departmental qualifying examination will be prepared and checked by the concerned department. The HoD will appoint a committee within the department for this purpose and the qualifying examination shall be conducted by the Department. Results for each student will be conveyed to Dean (Research) in pass/fail form. The details for this examination will be supplied by the concerned departments. ii. In case of Subject GRE (international) examination the departmental BoS shall decide the qualifying criterion. b. The Subject Qualifying Examination:

i. Failure in Course Work i) ii) A PhD student registered in a regular course shall be declared fail if he/she obtains a GP (grade point) of less than 2 in that course. A PhD student will have to maintain a minimum CGPA (cumulative grade point average) of 3.0 at the scale of 4. k.

i. After passing the Departmental Qualifying Examination/GRE, the student shall appear in this part. It shall be compulsory for all PhD students. This examination is meant to assess the approach of tackling research problems. The mode of examination is presentation of proposed PhD research evaluated by two examiners appointed by the HoD. The grading shall be pass or fail. If the student does not pass this examination in first attempt, he/she may be given one more chance. The registration of a PhD student shall be deemed as cancelled if he/she does not pass this examination even in the second attempt. Results for each student will be conveyed to Dean (Research) in pass/fail form. Failure/Probation in Research Work i) PhD student registered in research/dissertation course shall be required to maintain SATISFACTORY Grade throughout his/her PhD.

iii) If a student fails to maintain the minimum CGPA during course work then he/she should either improve it in two chances to the minimum level OR opt for MS/MPhil by research. iv) There will be only one chance to pass any test-out registered course. Those who fail to qualify the test-out registered course shall then require passing that course as a regular registered course. v) There shall be two chances to pass any course registered as a regular student. A student failing to qualify any of the courses of departmental or subject requirement in three chances will cease to be a PhD student of PIEAS.

ii) A PhD Student obtaining one NOT SATISFACTORY result at the end of any semester in research/dissertation course (XXX699) will be placed on probation.

PhD Rules and Regulations approved in the 7th Academic Committee Meeting on July 4, 2007.

iii) A PhD Student obtaining two consecutive NOT SATISFACTORY results or three total NOT SATISFACTORY in research/dissertation course (XXX699) will cease to be a PhD student. l. After passing the qualifying examination, the student is required to give at least two seminars on his thesis topic of research, preferably one during third year and second just before submission of the thesis. Before submission of a Thesis for External Examination, all PhD students shall be required to have accepted for publication or published at least one technical/research paper in an International Science Indexed Journal (ISJ). The Dean (Research) will take appropriate measures to ensure the implementation of the plan of study.

c) On recommendation of the supervisor and HoD, Dean (Research) may allow the submission of MS/MPhil thesis and after successful evaluation the scholar will be awarded the degree. d) The degree will contain the title of either MS or MPhil.

F- Thesis Submission & Evaluation

The thesis submitted by the candidate for the PhD degree must comply with the following conditions: a. It must form a distinct contribution to knowledge and afford evidence of originality known either by the discovery of new facts or by the exercise of independent critical Judgment. It must not include research work for which a degree has been conferred on him/her in this or any other Institute/university. b. It must be written in English and the presentation must be satisfactory for publication in peer-reviewed international journal. c. For any part of the thesis, which has been published before the submission of the thesis, a list of published work should be appended at the end of the thesis.

m.

n.

D- Disqualification as PhD Student at PIEAS

A PhD scholar can not continue as a registered PhD student if: a. He/she is unable to obtain a minimum CGPA 3.0 out of 4 in the course work. b. He/she fails twice in departmental qualifying examination. c. After successful completion of departmental examination, he/she is unable to pass the subject qualifying examination in two attempts.

d. The thesis must be formatted and bound in accordance with the specifications mentioned in the recent version of Thesis Writing Manual (which is available in PIEAS Library). e. Upon completion of all requirements laid in the plan of study, the candidate should submit eight copies of his completed thesis along with an application form for the evaluation of his/her thesis, duly approved by his/her PhD Supervisor/co-supervisor, to the CGSR, PIEAS. f. Upon the recommendation of HoD and Departmental Board of Studies, CGSR will approve the list of internal and external examiners for the institute. The External Examiners will evaluate the thesis and Internal Examiners will conduct the final thesis examination. The Rector can appoint additional members if it is deemed necessary.

d. Without any valid reason, he/she does not appear in the qualifying examination within 24 months. e. He/she obtain two consecutive NOT SATISFACTORY results in research/dissertation course (XXX699) f. He/she obtained three total NOT SATISFACTORY results in research/dissertation course (XXX699).

E- MS/MPhil by Research
a) When a student registered for PhD is unable or not willing to continue after two years then he/she may opt for MS/MPhil by research. b) To qualify for the degree of MS/MPhil by research the student has to complete (i) 36 credit hours of course work with CGPA of 2.67 out of 4 AND (ii) a minimum of 24 credit hours of research work acceptable for the M.S. /M.Phil degree.

g. The Rector shall appoint a Panel of External Examiners. This panel will include the supervisor and two or more other Examiners preferably from an industrialized country on the recommendations of the Head of Department and supervisor. The thesis will be evaluated by this panel of external examiners. The student must have at least two satisfactory reports. h. The Rector will also appoint a Panel of Internal Examiners. This panel will include the supervisor, co-supervisor, Head of the Department, Dean (Research) and 2 experts from the approved list of internal examiners for the institute.
PhD Rules and Regulations approved in the 7th Academic Committee Meeting on July 4, 2007.

i.

If two third or more of the External Examiners recommend that the thesis is wholly inadequate and it may be rejected, then the student shall be declared a complete failure in obtaining the PhD degree. If any one examiner from the Panel of External Examiners suggests major modifications/revisions of the thesis, the candidate will be required to resubmit a Revised Version of the thesis within a year. In this case, the student has again to pay the thesis evaluation and processing fee. The one who suggested modifications in the thesis shall approve the Revised Version of the thesis. If any one examiner from the Panel of External Examiners finds the thesis adequate but suggests minor modifications/revisions, this may be incorporated without referring again to the examiner and supervisor will have to make sure that appropriate changes have been done in the thesis by the student before final defense. In case, any of the external examiners do not respond within 3 months, then the procedure from step 'g' will be repeated by appointing new examiner(s).

G-

Miscellaneous Issues

j.

a. Revision of the plan of study: The recommending committee can revise the plan of study at any stage of the PhD studies. CGSR will approve the change in its next meeting. b. Change of supervisor: Student can apply for change of supervisor/cosupervisor in special circumstances. HoD will recommend the change and after taking consent from the donor agency, Dean (Research) will approve the change. c. Change of Department: Dean (Research) can allow the change of the department provided that both Head of the Departments agree on the change.

k.

l.

d. Research in absentia: If a researcher of an established laboratory is registered in PhD at PIEAS, then after satisfying the course and qualifying requirements, the student may do research in his/her own establishment under the supervision of an adjunct faculty member. However, HoD may recommend a co-supervisor from the regular fulltime faculty of PIEAS. e. Co-Supervisor: In case when supervisor is not a regular faculty member of PIEAS then HoD will recommend a co-supervisor from the PIEAS faculty. f. At the stage of writing PhD thesis, a student can leave PIEAS on the recommendation of the supervisor and HoD. Dean (Research) can approve the case and the student needs to be registered in the research.

m. After the receipt of two (2) or more satisfactory reports, the student will defend his/her work in front of the Panel of Internal Examiners for Final Defense of Thesis. The Panel shall ask the student to give a presentation in an open gathering. However, the panel members only will ask questions after the student has completed his/her presentation and the audiences have left the hall. The decision of the panel shall be by majority. n. If the candidate fails to satisfy the examiners in the thesis defense examination, then the Panel of Internal Examiners may require the candidate to defend the thesis for the second and last time within a period of six months. Second time failure will result in cancellation of registration. o. If the candidate passes the final thesis defense examination, then the degree of PhD under the seal of the Institute shall be awarded to the successful candidate after all the formalities for PhD degree are met and reports of the examiners for the thesis defense examination are positive. The Dean (Research) shall request the Rector, PIEAS to approve and award the degree and shall pass on the information to CGSR, Academic Council and Board of Governors, PIEAS.

g. Any other matter: Any matter not covered by the rules shall be referred to the CGSR and its decision will be final.

PhD Rules and Regulations approved in the 7th Academic Committee Meeting on July 4, 2007.