DOCTORAL QUALIFYING EXAM

Doctoral students registered in our institute must take the doctoral qualifying exam and pass this exam successfully. After the doctoral qualifying exam, the exam grade is sent to the institute by the supervisor using the relevant forms. In order to graduate, the student must successfully pass the doctoral qualifying exam and receive the corresponding ECTS credit. At the end of the qualifying exam, the student's written paper and the list of oral questions asked to the student should be sent to our institute together with the other forms. For a student who successfully passes the doctoral qualifying exam, the thesis monitoring committee is determined and the student can submit a doctoral thesis proposal to this committee.

REGULATIONS AND RELATED ARTICLES

From the Council of Higher Education:

RELATED ARTICLE IN GRADUATE EDUCATION AND TEACHING REGULATIONS

Qualifying Exam

Article 19 – (1) A qualifying exam measures whether a student, who has completed the course work and the seminar, has the ability to conduct profound scientific research on basic subjects and concepts in his/her field and about his/her dissertation. A student may take at most two qualifying exams per year.

(2) The date of the qualifying exam is specified according to the protocol issued by the Academic Council. However, students who are accepted with a Master degree must take the qualifying exam until the end of the fifth semester, and students who are accepted with a Bachelor degree must take the qualifying exam until the end of the seventh semester the latest.

(3) Qualifying exams are arranged and carried out by a thesis committee consisting of five members who are recommended by the department board and approved by the Executive Council. This committee forms examination juries in order to prepare, implement and evaluate the exams in different fields. The exam jury consists of five faculty members, including the thesis supervisor, and at least two members from a university other than the one they are affiliated with. Whether the thesis supervisor has the right to vote or not is specified by the relevant Executive Council. If the thesis supervisor does not have the right to vote, the jury consists of six faculty members. The qualifying exam takes place in an environment where faculty members, graduate students and field experts are able to participate.

(4) The qualifying exam has two parts, written and oral. Students who are successful in the written section attend the oral section. The weighting of the exams and the calculation of the scores are done according to the protocols of the University. The exam juries evaluate the score of the student in written and oral parts and decide, on the basis of absolute majority, whether the student has succeeded or failed. This decision is reported to the institute in three days, following the qualifying exam, by the department board.

(5) Students who fail in the qualifying exam are given another exam on the part/parts in which they failed in the next semester. Students who fail in this exam as well are dismissed from the doctoral program.

(6) The qualifying exam jury might require a student who has been successful in the qualifying exam to take extra courses, even if the student has already completed the necessary course load, conditional on not amounting to more than the third of the overall credit load. The student must be successful in the courses which will be specified by the relevant institute’s decision.

(7) Students who are admitted to the doctoral program with a Bachelor degree and have completed at least seven courses successfully may transfer to the Master program. The conditions regarding the transfer to a Master program are specified in the protocol issued by the Academic Council.

RELATED ARTICLE IN BURSA ULUDAG UNIVERSITY GRADUATE EDUCATION AND TRAINING REGULATIONS

Doctoral qualifying examination

ARTICLE 37 – (1) In the doctoral qualifying exam, it is evaluated whether the student has in-depth knowledge of scientific thinking skills, the level of assimilation of scientific methods, the basic subjects and concepts for conducting independent research, and the subjects related to the department of the institute for which he/she has done his/her doctorate.

(2) After successfully completing the courses and seminar, the student can take the qualifying doctoral exam until the end of the following semester. However, the student admitted with a master's degree must take the qualifying doctoral exam by the end of the fifth semester at the latest. The student admitted with a bachelor's degree must take the qualifying doctoral exam by the end of the seventh semester at the latest.

(3) If the student admitted with a master's degree does not take the qualifying doctoral exam by the end of the fifth semester at the latest. The student admitted with a bachelor's degree by the end of the seventh semester at the latest, it is considered to have failed the first doctoral qualifying exam. A student admitted with a master's degree is dismissed from the doctoral program if he fails to pass the qualifying doctoral exam by the end of the sixth semester at the latest. The student admitted with a bachelor's degree is dismissed from the doctoral program if he fails to pass the qualifying doctoral exam by the end of the eighth semester at the latest.

(4) The qualifying doctoral exam is held within one month at the latest, starting from the day following the notification of the institute's board of directors' decision to the institute's department.

(5) The doctoral qualifying exams are organized and conducted by five principal and three substitute jury members proposed by the institute department and approved by the institute board of directors. At least two principal and two substitute members of the examination jury are from another higher education institution. The department heads of the institute must notify the institute of the qualifying doctoral exam jury proposals one month before the exam. Qualifying doctoral exam meetings are open to the participation of lecturers, graduate students and experts in the field. However, the audience cannot ask questions.

(6) The qualifying doctoral exam is a whole and is made in two parts, written and oral. The student who is successful in the written exam is taken to the oral exam. Students who fail the written exam are not allowed to take the oral exam. For the student to be considered successful, it is necessary to get at least 75 (seventy-five) points out of 100 (one hundred) full points separately from both the written and oral exams. In the oral and written exams, the questions and answers directed to the candidate are recorded in the minutes.

(7) After the completion of the examination, the jury decides by absolute majority, in private, whether the candidate is successful or unsuccessful. The qualifying doctoral exam result report and exam documents containing this decision are sent to the institute by the institute department within three working days following the doctoral qualifying exam.

(8) Students who fail the qualifying doctoral exam are taken to the exam again in the next semester from the department/departments they failed. The student who also fails this exam is dismissed from the doctoral program.

(9) The student can take the qualifying doctoral exam at most twice in a calendar year.

(10) The jury may suggest to the institute that a student who has passed the qualifying doctoral exam should take the course/courses related to the subject that is deemed lacking, provided that it does not exceed 1/3 of the total credit amount and that the course content is stated, even if he/she has completed the course load.

(11) A student who has been accepted to a doctoral program with a bachelor's degree and has successfully completed at least seven courses, but fails the doctoral qualifying exam, can transfer to the master's program.