1. Outline

Doctoral education focuses on training talents, with an emphasis on theoretical depth and innovation abilities. The IE Department supports students to participate in international joint training and international exchange activities to broaden their international horizon and encourages students to participate in the social practice of universities or national key scientific research institutes during the study period.

The doctoral degree program usually lasts 3 to 5 years. Students with Master’s degree usually spend 3 to 4 years, and students without Master’s degree spend 4 to 5 years. The programs have 25 and 32 degree credits respectively. Students without an IE related Master’s degree shall take prerequisite courses suggested by the supervisor.

2. Dissertation Requirement

Upon completion of all course work, students must take both a written and an oral Qualifying Examination to evaluate their level of fundamental knowledge, cutting edge research, and ability of innovation and research. Students can begin dissertation research after finishing the core major courses study. Students should write a doctoral dissertation under the instruction of a knowledgeable faculty member of the department. The dissertation must show remarkable research achievement in a particular discipline. A written proposal with literature review is supposed to be approved by the supervisor before the thesis proposal oral defense is made.

The dissertation oral defense committee is required to consist of at least three faculty members who have the qualification to instruct doctor students. The student can go on dissertation writing according to the proposal report after passing the oral defense. To be noted, the proposal defense must be completed at least a whole academic year before the final defense application.

For the final thesis defense, there will be a defense committee consisting of at least five committee members, at least one of whom should come from the degree committee at the school level. Besides, another faculty member will be appointed as the secretary of the defense committee. Some doctors’ dissertations will be anonymously reviewed by scholars of other universities before the final oral defense. Only after passing the anonymous review can one student apply for the final defense. One week before the final oral defense, review comments from the supervisor as well as the application form must be submitted to the defense secretary to get approved by the department as well as the degree committee at the school level.

The final oral defense is open to all interested students and faculty members. Usually the candidate presents a 30 to 40 minute presentation on the thesis research, followed by a session in which members of the defense committee ask questions about the work. Every committee member votes anonymously and gives a grade for the final oral defense. Students receive a pass for the final oral examination if over two thirds of the defense committee members agree. After the student has received an accepted grade for the final oral defense, the degree committee at the school as well as the university level will review all related documents and make a decision on degree awarding.

Except for the degree dissertation, Tsinghua University requires students to publish scientific papers. Students of this program have to publish at least one paper in top-tier International journals or two other papers indexed by Science Citation Index (SCI) or Social Science Citation Index (SSCI). Students are also required to present their research every semester, to attend 30 seminars, and to present once at a national or international conference.