DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY AND DOCTOR OF EDUCATION DEGREES

The doctorate symbolizes the ability of the recipient to undertake original research and scholarly work at the highest levels without supervision. The degree is therefore not granted simply upon completion of a stated amount of course work but rather upon demonstration by the student of a comprehensive knowledge and high attainment in scholarship in a specialized field of study. The student must demonstrate this ability by writing a dissertation reporting the results of an original investigation and by passing a series of comprehensive preliminary examinations in the field of specialization and related areas of knowledge, and successfully defending the dissertation.

Requirements

1. At least two residence credit points secured in continuous semesters' residence as a graduate student at the University.
2. Doctoral degrees at North Carolina State University require a minimum of 72 graduate credit hours beyond the bachelor's degree. For a student who has a master's degree from a university other than NC State, a maximum of 18 hours of relevant graduate credit from the master's degree may be applied toward this minimum, upon the recommendation of the student's Graduate Advisory Committee. If a student completes a master's degree at NC State and continues for a doctoral degree without a break in time, up to 36 credit hours taken while in master's status may be used to meet minimum requirements for the doctoral degree.
3. A preliminary comprehensive examination (written and oral components)
4. A dissertation
5. A final comprehensive oral examination
6. Dissertation defense.

Time Limit  

Doctoral students must attain candidacy for the degree within six (6) calendar years.  All degree requirements must be completed within ten (10) calendar years.  For further information about the time limit for degrees, please see Administrative Handbook Section 3.4.

RESIDENCE CREDITS

A student working toward a doctoral degree is expected to be registered for graduate work at NC State for at least six (6) semesters beyond the bachelor's degree. The University has basic residence requirements, as defined below, but the academic schools/colleges have the prerogative of establishing more restrictive requirements within the respective schools/colleges. Residence credit is determined by the number of semester hours of graduate work carried during a regular semester. 

At least two residence credits are necessary in continuous residence (registration in consecutive semesters) as a graduate student at the University, but failure to take courses in the summer does not break continuity.

Summer Residency

Summer course work, however, can be used in partial fulfillment of this requirement. A single summer session is equal to one-half of the corresponding amount for a regular semester. For example, six semester hours carried during a summer session will earn one-third of a residence credit; less than six credit hours will earn one-sixth of a residence credit.

GRADUATE ADVISOR AND GRADUATE ADVISORY COMMITTEE

All students in graduate programs must have a graduate advisor who is a member of the Graduate Faculty in the student's major program and is appointed by the Dean of the Graduate School upon recommendation of the DGP. In the case of doctoral programs and master's programs requiring theses and/or final oral examinations, the graduate advisor serves as chair or co-chair of the committee.

The primary function of the committee is to advise the student in all aspects of the educational program and to monitor and evaluate that student's progress toward the degree. The committee should provide an intellectually stimulating foundation for the student's professional and scholarly development and should be sensitive to any difficulties in the student's progress, research performance or methodology requiring attention. The committee certifies whether the student has met NC State's standards for a graduate degree. Advising and guiding the student on how best to qualify for the requirements of a degree is a key part of this responsibility.

A doctoral student’s committee will consist of at least four NC State Graduate Faculty members, one of whom represents the minor field if a minor has been declared. The committee is indicated on the Plan of Graduate Work. In this way, the committee is officially recommended by the DGP, and must be approved by the Graduate School at the time of the approval of the Plan of Graduate Work.

PLAN OF GRADUATE WORK (POW)

Doctoral students are required to complete a POW in consultation with their advisors. The doctoral POW, including the courses to be undertaken in the student's program and the dissertation topic, should be prepared by the doctoral student and his/her advisory committee and submitted electronically to the Graduate School. The POW as a whole should be rationally unified, with all constituent parts contributing to an organized plan of study and research, and courses must be selected from groups embracing one principal subject of concentration, the major, with the option of designating courses in a cognate field, the minor. When a student elects to designate a minor, he/she should select the minor course work from a discipline or field that, in the judgment of the advisory committee, provides relevant support to the major field.

The POW should include both a list of the course work to be undertaken (in all programs) and the dissertation topic; be developed by the student and his/her advisory committee; be approved by the committee and the DGP or Department Head prior to submission to the Graduate School for final approval; be submitted prior to completion of 12 hours of a doctoral program.

EXTERNAL MINOR

Minors granted at the doctoral level for work completed at another institution are called "external minors." Typically, in these cases a doctoral student at NC State wishes to have course work from a prior extradisciplinary Master's program at another university approved as the minor for their current doctoral degree. The DGP must recommend a representative at NC State from the discipline of the proposed external minor to both serve on the advisory committee and to review and determine whether the course work is sufficient to constitute the minor at the doctoral level.

CO-MAJOR

Students may co-major at the doctoral level with the approval of both programs and with the appointment of a co-chair from each program on the advisory committee. Co-majors are not permitted between Doctor of Philosophy and Doctor of Education degree programs. Co-majors must meet all requirements for majors in both programs. One degree is awarded and the co-major is noted on the transcript.

CANDIDACY 

A doctoral student is admitted to candidacy by the Graduate School upon passing the preliminary examinations without conditions or after fulfilling any conditions specified by the advisory committee.

COMPREHENSIVE EXAMINATIONS

Preliminary Examinations

Each doctoral student is required to take preliminary or comprehensive examinations, consisting of written examinations and an oral examination, not earlier than the end of the second year of graduate study and not later than one semester (four months) before the final oral examination.

Written examination questions may cover any phase of the course work taken by the student during graduate study or any subject logically related to an understanding of the subject matter in the major and minor areas of study. The questions are designed to measure the student's mastery of his/her field and the adequacy of preparation for research. Committee members must notify the DGP when a student has completed the written examination. Failure to pass the written portion terminates the student's work at this institution, subject to departmental and/or school/college policies with respect to reexamination.

Upon satisfactory completion of the written portion of the preliminary examinations and after completion of all course work relevant to the examination, the student submits a Request to Schedule the Doctoral Oral Examination, indicating that he/she wishes to schedule the preliminary examination.

The preliminary oral examination is conducted by the student's advisory committee and the Graduate School Representative and is open to all Graduate Faculty members. The Graduate School will notify the student and the examining committee. The oral examination is designed to test the student's ability to relate factual knowledge to specific circumstances, to use this knowledge with accuracy and promptness and to demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of the field of specialization and related areas.

A unanimous vote of approval by the members of the advisory committee is required for the student to pass the preliminary oral examination. Approval may be conditioned, however, on the successful completion of additional work in some particular field(s). All committee actions may be appealed by written application to the Graduate Dean (refer to NC State policy on grievance procedures for students).

Failure to pass the preliminary oral examination terminates the student's work at this institution unless the examining committee recommends a reexamination. No reexamination may be given until at least one full semester has elapsed, and only one reexamination is permitted in a given doctoral program.

Final Oral Examination

As with the preliminary oral examination, the chair of the student's advisory committee is in charge of conducting the final oral examination. The final oral examination is scheduled after the dissertation is complete except for such revisions as may be necessary as a result of the examination, but not earlier than one semester or its equivalent after admission to candidacy and not before all required course work has been completed or is currently in progress.

The examination consists of the candidate's defense of the methodology used, the data collected, and the conclusions reached in the research, as reported in the dissertation. It is conducted by an examining committee, which consists of the student's advisory committee and a Graduate School Representative. This examination is open to the University community.

While the chair has the option of allowing visitors to ask questions of the candidate, the chair also has the obligation to maintain a scholarly atmosphere and to keep the student's best interest foremost. Graduate Faculty members who are not on the advisory committee will have the opportunity to express their opinions to the committee in the absence of the student. However, the final deliberations and the vote are private to the examining committee.

A unanimous vote of approval of the advisory committee is required for passing the final oral examination. Approval may be conditioned, however, on the student's meeting specific requirements prescribed by the student's advisory committee. Failure of a student to pass the examination terminates his or her work at this institution unless the advisory committee recommends a reexamination. No reexamination may be given until one full semester has elapsed and only one reexamination is permitted.

DISSERTATION

The doctoral dissertation is the document presenting the results of the student's original investigation in the field of primary interest. It must represent a contribution to knowledge, adequately supported by data, and be written in a manner consistent with the highest standards of scholarship. Publication is expected and encouraged.

The dissertation will be reviewed by all members of the advisory committee and must receive their approval prior to submission to the Graduate School. Information on the required form and organization of the dissertation, in addition to other regulations, is presented in the University's Thesis and Dissertation Guide.  At the time of the dissertation's submission to the Graduate School, the student is also required to submit one copy each of the Survey of Earned Doctorate form and University Microfilms International Agreement form and to complete a brief, standard questionnaire about his or her experience as a graduate student at NC State. The University also requires that all doctoral dissertations be microfilmed by University Microfilms International, Ann Arbor, MI, including the publication of the abstract in Dissertation Abstracts International. The student pays the cost of this service.

TIME LIMIT

All students admitted to doctoral programs are allowed a maximum of six (6) calendar years from admission to the doctoral program to attain candidacy for the degree and a maximum of 10 calendar years to complete all degree requirements. Academic colleges/schools or programs may have more restrictive requirements than the above stated University policy. The term limit remains at 10 years even if a student was on approved leave of absence during the 10-year period.

SUMMARY OF DOCTORAL PROCEDURES

1. Application materials and required fee received
2. Application materials reviewed by graduate program
3. Graduate program forwards recommendation regarding applicant's admissibility to Graduate Dean
4. The graduate program's recommendation is reviewed and the student is notified of the action taken on the request for admission
5. Outstanding transcripts, if any, showing any or all post-secondary coursework attempted and degree(s) conferred since application should be submitted by student to the Graduate School, prior to matriculation
6. If admitted, the student arrives, reports to the graduate program, is assigned an advisor and makes out a roster of courses in consultation with the departmental advisor and DGP
7. Advisory committee of at least four NC State Graduate Faculty members, one of whom is designated as the chair and one of whom represents the minor field (where appropriate), is appointed by the Graduate Dean upon the recommendation of the DGP. The Graduate Dean also selects a Graduate Faculty member to serve as the Graduate School Representative on the student's committee
8. Student signs and submits Patent Agreement
9. A dissertation subject is selected and an outline of the proposed research is submitted to the student's advisory committee and the DGP for review and approval
10. Plan of Graduate Work is prepared by the advisory committee with the student, is approved by the DGP, and is submitted to the Graduate School for approval as soon as feasible after completion of 12 hours of course work
11. Written examinations in the major and minor fields are scheduled no earlier than the end of the second year of graduate study and not later than one semester before the final oral examination. The results of these examinations will be reported to the Graduate School
12. When all written examinations have been completed satisfactorily, the chair submits the Request for Approval to Schedule the Doctoral Oral Examination, designating the preliminary oral examination, at least two weeks prior to the suggested date. Upon approval of the request, the student and examining committee are notified of the time and place. The DGP sends the report of the exam to the Graduate School and if the exam is passed without conditions, the student is admitted to candidacy
13. A copy of the preliminary draft of the dissertation is submitted to the chair of the student's advisory committee for review.
14. The Diploma Order Request Form must be filed with the Graduate School by the end of the sixth week of the semester or summer session of anticipated graduation. Failure to submit the form by this date may result in the student's failure to receive the diploma at graduation
15. At least two weeks prior to the final oral examination, the chair of the student's advisory committee submits the dissertation to advisory committee members for review
16. Four calendar months or its equivalent after admission to candidacy or later, and after the dissertation is complete except for such revisions as may be necessary as a result of the final exam, the chair submits to the Graduate School the Request for Approval to Schedule the Doctoral Oral Examination, designating a request for permission for the candidate to take the final oral exam. Requests should be filed at least two weeks before the date of the examination. Upon approval of the request, the student and the examining committee, including a Graduate School representative, are notified of the time and place of the examination. The Graduate School Representative receives a copy of the dissertation at least one week prior to the examination
17. The Graduate School requires that all theses and dissertations be submitted electronically following the requirements in the ETD website (electronic thesis and dissertation).  Specific deadlines for each semester, as well as formatting requirements, are posted in the online Thesis and Dissertation Guide, located within the ETD website. 
18. The dissertation is reviewed by the Graduate School to ensure that the format conforms to the specifications prescribed in the Thesis and Dissertation Guide.
19. All course work scheduled in a graduate degree classification must be completed prior to graduation
20. A GPA of at least 3.00 is required for graduation.
21. All degree requirements must be completed within ten (10) calendar years, beginning with the date the student commences courses carrying graduate credit applicable to the degree program, unless a more restrictive time limit has been established by the program or academic college/school.