PhD Program
Admissions
Ph.D. students apply for and enter a specific degree program. A faculty advisor is either immediately designated (in the case of a student being recruited by a specific faculty member) or temporarily assigned; in the latter case, the student is expected to identify a research advisor by (at the latest) the end of the first year. There are two phases and associated milestones for PhD students: (i) a qualification phase with a candidacy milestone and (ii) a dissertation phase with a final defense milestone.
General Degree Requirements
Qualification and advancement to candidacy are contingent upon: (i) successfully passing Ph.D. coursework, (ii) designating a research advisor, and (iii) writing and orally defending a research proposal. Individual degree programs may, at their discretion, also require a comprehensive examination (probing coursework and knowledge of other relevant subject areas). Possible outcomes include pass, failure with complete retake, failures with partial retake, and failure with no retake. The maximum allotted time for advancement to candidacy for a student
entering with an MS degree is two years; three years for the B.S. degree entry option.
Coursework
A minimum of six credit hours of Ph.D. coursework at KAUST (300- or 400-level) is required (not including Directed Research) beyond the MS degree. For students who enter with a B.S. degree, 30 additional credit hours are required, equivalent to MS degree coursework and can include a thesis. However, individual degree programs may, at their discretion, require a higher number of credit hours (including Directed Research).
Some degree programs may require a diagnostic entrance exam as a basis for admission, and students may be required to complete additional coursework depending on their degree-granting institution. If the M.S. degree is from a subject other than the Ph.D. degree program, there may be additional courses required and specified by the advisor.
Dissertation Research Credits
Besides coursework (6 or more credit hours), 60 credits of dissertation research (Course Code: 397) must be earned during the first (proposal preparation and defense) and second phases of the Ph.D. program. A full-time workload for PhD students is considered to be 12 credit hours per semester (courses and 397) and 6 credit hours in summer (397 only). There is a minimum residency requirement (enrollment period at KAUST) of 2.5 years for students entering with an M.S. degree, 3.5 years for students entering with a B.S. degree. The maximum enrollment period is 5.0 years, extendable upon approval of both the faculty research advisor and the division dean.
Candidacy
Achieving Ph.D. candidacy is contingent upon successfully passing a qualification examination, generally consisting of acceptance by the research advisor of a written research proposal and successfully passing an oral examination. Details should be confirmed in the individual degree program material. For a list of eligible faculty advisors for any degree program see: http://www.kaust.edu.sa/academics/faculty-affiliations.html. Passing the qualification phase is achieved by acceptance of all committee members of the written proposal and a positive vote of all but, at most, one member of the oral exam committee. If more than one member casts a negative vote, one retake of the oral defense is permitted if the entire committee agrees. A conditional pass involves conditions (e.g., another course in a perceived area of weakness) imposed by the committee, with the conditional status removed when those conditions have been met. Once constituted, the composition of the qualification phase committee can only be changed upon approval by both the faculty research advisor and the division dean.
Dissertation and Dissertation Defense
The final (dissertation) phase of the Ph.D. program involves submission, acceptance and an oral defense of the written dissertation. The thesis format requirements are described in the KAUST Thesis and Dissertation Guidelines.
The result of the defense will be made based on the recommendation of the committee. There are four possible results: (1) Pass: the student passes the exam and the dissertation is accepted as submitted; (2) Pass with revisions: the student passes the exam and the student is advised of the revisions that must be made to the text of the dissertation; (3) Failure with retake: normally this means the student must do more research to complete the dissertation. The student must revise the dissertation and give another oral examination within six months from the date of the first defense; and (4) Failure: the student does not pass the exam, the dissertation is not accepted, and the degree is not awarded.