Designation of Academic Advisor

The academic advisor must be a full-time program-affiliated assistant, associate or full professor at KAUST. The list of faculty members affiliated with AP program is available on the program website.

Students may also select a non-affiliated advisor from another program at KAUST. The academic advisor may request to become a project-affiliated advisor for the specific dissertation project with program level approval. Project affiliation approval must be completed prior to commencing research.

Ph.D. Course Requirements

The required coursework varies for students entering the Ph.D. degree with a bachelor’s degree or a relevant master’s degree. Students holding a bachelor’s degree must complete all program core/mandatory courses and elective courses outlined in the master’s degree section and are also required to complete the Ph.D. courses below. Students entering with a bachelor’s degree will qualify to earn a master’s degree by satisfying the master’s degree requirements.

Students entering the Ph.D. degree with a relevant master’s degree must complete the requirements below, though additional courses may be required by the academic advisor.

Ph.D. Courses

• Students entering KAUST with a relevant master's degree must complete at least four courses, two of which must be 300-level courses. Students entering KAUST with a bachelor's degree are required to take two 300-level courses in addition to the M.Sc. degree coursework requirements. Individual courses require a minimum of a B- for course credit.  
• Graduate seminar AP 398 (non-credit) – all students are required to register and receive a satisfactory grade for four semesters of the program’s graduate seminar.
• Winter Enrichment Program (WEP) – students are required to satisfactorily complete at least one full Winter Enrichment Program (WEP). Students who completed WEP while earning the M.Sc. are not required to enroll in a full WEP for a second time during the Ph.D.

Students entering the program with an M.Sc. degree from KAUST may transfer unused coursework toward the Ph.D. program requirements subject to program level approval. Students transferring from another university’s Ph.D. program may receive some dissertation research and coursework credit on a case-by-case basis for related work performed at the original institution upon approval by the dean. However, such students must still satisfy the qualifying exam and dissertation proposal defense requirements at KAUST.

Ph.D. Candidacy

In addition to the coursework requirements, students must successfully complete the required Ph.D. qualification milestones to progress towards Ph.D. candidacy status. These milestones consist of the subject-based qualifying exam and Ph.D. proposal defense.

Ph.D. Qualifying Exam

The purpose of the subject-based qualifying exam is to test students’ knowledge of the subject matter within the field of study.

All students entering the Ph.D. program with a bachelor’s degree must take this exam within two years of their admission. Students admitted to the program with a master’s degree must take this exam within one year.

The requirements to complete the AP qualifying exam are available on AP academics webpage.

Ph.D. Dissertation Proposal

The dissertation proposal defense is the second part of the qualification milestones that must be completed to become a Ph.D. candidate. The purpose of the dissertation proposal defense is to demonstrate that students have the ability and are adequately prepared to undertake Ph.D. level research in the proposed area. This preparation includes necessary knowledge of the chosen subject, a review of the literature, and preparatory theory or experiments as applicable.

Ph.D. students are required to complete the dissertation proposal defense within one year after passing the qualifying exam. The proposal defense date will be determined by students and their academic advisor.

Ph.D. students are expected to form the Ph.D. dissertation proposal defense committee and present the dissertation proposal.

Formation of Ph.D. Proposal Defense Committee

Ph.D. students must submit the request to form the dissertation committee and present a Ph.D. proposal two weeks prior to the Ph.D. proposal defense date.

The Ph.D. dissertation proposal defense committee, which must be approved by the dean, must consist of at least three members and typically includes no more than five members. The criteria to select the committee members are as follows:

Notes:

• Members 1-3 are required, members 4 and 5 are optional
• Co-chairs may serve as members 2 or 3
• Adjunct professors and professors emeriti may retain their roles on current committees, but may not serve as chair on any new committees
• Professors of practice and research professors may serve as members 2 or 3 depending upon their affiliation with the student’s program, they may also serve as co-chairs

Once constituted, the composition of the proposal committee can only be changed with the approval of both the academic advisor and the dean.

Ph.D. Dissertation Proposal Defense

The dissertation proposal defense includes two aspects: a written research proposal and an oral research proposal defense.

There are four possible outcomes of the dissertation proposal defense:

• Pass
• Pass with conditions
• Retake
• Fail without retake

A pass is achieved when the committee agrees with no more than one dissenting vote. In the instance of a pass with conditions, the entire committee must agree on the required conditions and if they cannot, the dean decides. The deadline to complete the conditions is three months after the defense date, unless the committee unanimously agrees to change it. In the instance of a fail without retake, the decision of the committee must be unanimous. Students who fail without retake or who fail the retake will be dismissed from the University.

The outcome of the Ph.D. dissertation proposal defense is recorded by submitting the Ph.D. dissertation proposal evaluation form within three days after the proposal defense date.

Ph.D. Dissertation Final Defense

The Ph.D. dissertation defense is the final milestone of the degree. Ph.D. students are required to complete the following to earn the degree:

• Form Ph.D. dissertation committee and petition to defend Ph.D. dissertation
• Defend Ph.D. dissertation
• Submit Ph.D. dissertation

Petition to Defend Ph.D. Dissertation and Formation of Dissertation Committee

Students must determine the defense date with agreement of all members of the dissertation committee, meet deadlines for submitting graduation forms, and inform the committee of their progress. It is the responsibility of students to submit the required documents in consultation with the GPC and the academic advisor at the beginning of the semester they intend to defend, or at least two months before the date of the final planned defense date. The required documents include (i) the list of proposed committee members, including the external examiner (and a CV of the external examiner, (ii) a current CV of the student, (iii) a current transcript, (iv) a list of publications, and (v) a final draft of the Ph.D. dissertation. It is also expected that students submit their dissertation to the committee about the same time as submitting the petition form.

Formation of Ph.D. Final Defense Committee

The Ph.D. dissertation defense committee, which must be approved by the dean, must consist of at least four members, one of which must be an external to KAUST, and typically includes no more than six members. At least three of the required members must be KAUST faculty and one must be an examiner who is external to KAUST. The chair, plus one additional faculty member, must be affiliated with the student’s program. The external examiner is not required to attend the defense, but must write a report on the dissertation, assessing the quality of the research and scientific maturity of the student and including recommendations and questions prior to the final defense. The external examiner may attend the dissertation defense at the discretion of the program.

The criteria to select the committee members are as follows:

Notes:

• The chair cannot be the academic advisor of the student
• Members 1-4 are required, members 5 and 6 are optional
• Co-chairs may serve as either members 2, 3 or 6
• Adjunct professors and professors emeriti may retain their roles on current committees, but may not serve as chair on any new committees
• Professors of practice and research professors may serve as members 2, 3 or 6 depending upon their affiliation with the student’s program, they may also serve as co-chairs
• Visiting professors may serve as member 6, but not as the external examiner

The only requirement with commonality with the proposal committee is the academic advisor, although it is expected that other members will carry forward to this committee.

Co-supervisors can be considered one of the above four members required, provided they come under the categories listed (i.e. meets the requirements of the position).

View a list of faculty and their affiliations here.

Ph.D. Dissertation Defense

The Ph.D. dissertation final defense is a public presentation that consists of an oral defense followed by Q&A and committee examination. The defense may last a maximum of three hours.

There are four possible outcomes of the dissertation final defense:

• Pass
• Pass with conditions
• Retake
• Fail without retake

A pass is achieved when the committee agrees with no more than one dissenting vote. In the instance of a pass with conditions, the entire committee must agree on the required conditions, and if they cannot, the dean decides. The deadline to meet conditions is three months after the defense date, unless the committee unanimously agrees to reduce it. If the conditions will take three months or more, or more than one member casts a negative vote, one retake of the defense is permitted. The deadline to complete the retake is as decided by the defense committee with a maximum of six months after the defense date, unless the committee unanimously agrees to change it. Students who fail without retake or who fail the retake will be dismissed from the University.

Evaluation of the Ph.D. dissertation defense is recorded by submitting the result of Ph.D. dissertation defense form to the Office of the Registrar by the deadline in the Academic Calendar.

Ph.D. Dissertation Submission

Students are required to follow the KAUST Thesis and Dissertation Guidelines available on KAUST Library website when they write their dissertation.

Students may seek the help of the Writing Center for editorial assistance while writing their dissertation. Students can book a time by sending an email to Skills Lab, skillslab@kaust.edu.sa.

Once the post-examination corrections required by the dissertation committee and the format of the dissertation have been checked and finalized, Ph.D. students must submit the final draft of the dissertation to the program to conclude the submission process.