Introduction to the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) Program

The Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) program at Shanghai Jiao Tong University Global College is designed to provide students with advanced knowledge and research skills in their chosen field. The program is offered in various disciplines, including Mechanical Engineering (ME) and Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE).

Program Requirements

To obtain a Ph.D. degree, students must fulfill the following requirements:

• Complete specific coursework sequences, which differ for students starting their doctoral program with a Bachelor's degree or with a Master's degree.
• Present at least one academic paper(s)/abstract(s)/poster(s) at a high-level international conference.
• Prepare, propose, and defend a doctoral thesis.

Coursework Requirements

Students Entering with a Bachelor's Degree

• Take at least twenty-one approved credit hours of engineering, math, and science at the 4xx level or higher.
• Maintain a minimum GPA of 3.0 or above in order to meet the graduation requirement.
• Complete a total of three credit hours of technical communication (ENGR6004J).
• Complete a total of three credit hours of politics for domestic students, or a total of six credit hours of Chinese Language and Chinese Culture for international students.
• Complete a total of 1 credit hour of Graduate Seminar Series.
• Complete a total of 0.5 credit hours of Laboratory Safety Education.

Students Entering with a Master's Degree

• Take at least six approved credit hours of engineering, math, and science at the 4xx level or higher.
• Maintain a minimum GPA of 3.0 or above in order to meet the graduation requirement.
• Complete a total of three credit hours of technical communication (ENGR6004J).
• Complete a total of two credit hours of politics for domestic students, or a total of six credit hours of Chinese Language and Chinese Culture for international students.
• Complete a total of 1 credit hour of Graduate Seminar Series.
• Complete a total of 0.5 credit hours of Laboratory Safety Education.

Qualifying Grade Point Average

• Doctoral students must achieve a qualifying GPA of at least 3.0 in their coursework.
• For students entering with a Bachelor's degree, the GPA for their highest three courses at the graduate level must be at least 3.0.
• For students entering with a Master's degree, the GPA for their highest two courses at the graduate level must be at least 3.0.

The Candidacy Exam

• The candidacy examination is a comprehensive assessment of doctoral students.
• It evaluates students from three aspects: main content of the courses, research progress and professional skills, and academic integrity.
• Students entering with a Bachelor's degree should schedule their candidacy examination after completing a minimum of nine approved credit hours of graduate or relevant courses.
• Students entering with a Master's degree should schedule their candidacy examination after completing a minimum of six approved credit hours of graduate or relevant courses.

The Doctoral Dissertation Proposal

• The completion of the doctoral dissertation involves the following steps: forming the Doctoral Dissertation Committee, calling for one or more Doctoral Research Meetings (Optional), developing a Dissertation Proposal, and defending the Doctoral Dissertation.
• The doctoral dissertation committee guides, monitors, and assesses the student's progress.
• The committee consists of a minimum of five faculty members, including the student's thesis adviser, a member of GC's faculty within the student's discipline, a member of GC's faculty outside the student's discipline, at least one full professor, and at least one member from outside of GC.

The Doctoral Research Meeting (Optional)

• The purpose of the research meeting is to promote early planning of the doctoral thesis.
• The goals of the meeting are to give guidance concerning the proposed research plan, provide constructive feedback to the student, assess the student's familiarity with the literature in the field, and delineate the expected technical contributions of the thesis.

The Doctoral Dissertation Proposal

• The candidate writes his/her doctoral thesis proposal, which provides the proposed content of the research work, a comprehensive literature review, a description of the research tasks that have been completed, a discussion of preliminary results, the original contribution of the proposed research, and the tasks that will be completed before the thesis defense.
• The student presents his/her doctoral thesis proposal to the dissertation committee, which must approve the dissertation proposal unanimously.

The Dissertation Defense

• Once the dissertation is completed, the candidate sends draft copies to the members of the dissertation committee for review.
• The committee suggests corrections and modifications of the dissertation.
• The head of the dissertation committee decides whether the draft dissertation is ready for defense.
• The candidate schedules a public oral defense of his/her dissertation, which must be approved by the dissertation committee unanimously.

Dissertation Major Steps and Timeline

• The dissertation major steps include forming the Doctoral Dissertation Committee, calling for one or more Doctoral Research Meetings (Optional), developing a Dissertation Proposal, and defending the Doctoral Dissertation.
• A minimum of six months must elapse between the dissertation proposal and the dissertation defense.