Outline

The doctoral degree program usually lasts 3 to 5 years. Students with Master’s degree usually spend 3 to 4 years. The program has 22 credits consisting of 13 credits of core courses, and 5 credits of research requirements. Students without an IE related Master’s degree shall take prerequisite courses suggested by the advisor.

Table 1  Course Requirements for PhD Students with Master Degree

Students without a Master’s degree usually spend 5 years to complete the Ph.D. program. The program has 36 credits consisting of 6 credits of general requirements, 25 credits of core course, 5 credits of research requirements, and 1 or 2 credits of Electives.

Table 2  Course Requirements for PhD Students W/O Master Degrees

Course Map 

Figure 1  Course Map of Ph.D. Program

Dissertation Requirement

The doctoral dissertation must show a high attainment research achievement in one of the three departmental concentration areas. A faculty member knowledgeable in the student's area of interest must supervise the dissertation requirement. Students do not need to wait until completing all course work before beginning dissertation, a written proposal with literature review of research papers approved by the advisory committee in the preliminary oral examination is required before definitive dissertation research begun. Upon completion of all course work, students must take both the written and oral Qualifying Examination to evaluate their level of fundamental knowledge, cutting edge research, and ability of innovation and research.

The advisory committee must consist of at least seven committee members with at least four PHD students’ advisors and at least two members from the degree committee at the school level. Another faculty member will be the secretary of the advisory committee who is responsible for all the paper works. The preliminary examination must be completed at least 2 years before the final oral examination. 1 week before the final oral examination, review comments from the advisor and two other faculty members must be submitted to the graduate office. Some doctor’s theses will be sent to selected graduate school faculty for further review before the final oral examination.

Students must submit the dissertation five weeks before the final oral examination. The application must be received by the department office four weeks before the final oral examination. The final oral examination is open to all interested students and faculty. Usually the candidate presents a 30 to 40 minute presentation on the thesis research followed by a session in which members of the advisory committee ask questions about the work. Every committee member votes anonymously and gives a grade for the final oral examination. Students pass the final oral examination if over two thirds of the advisory committee members agree. After the student has received an accepted grade for the final oral examination, the degree committee at the school level and the degree committee at the university level will review the dissertation for conformity to all the requirements at Tsinghua University. Tsinghua University requires students to publish three papers in international journals. Papers published in top Chinese journals or top international conferences are also acceptable, but students have to publish at least one paper in International journals indexed by Science Citation Index (SCI) or Engineering Index (EI). Students are also required to present their research every semester, to attend 30 seminars, and to present once at a national or international conference.