Operation of Ph. D. Programme at BITS
Every candidate has to complete certain activities during his/her Ph. D. programme as given in the following paragraphs. The process starts with applying for Ph. D. programme of the Institute and getting admitted.
Departmental Research Committee (DRC)
Every candidate has to interact closely with DRC of the department he/she is concerned. Each Department has a “Departmental Research Committee” (DRC), consisting of Head of Department (HOD) as ex-officio member and Chairperson, and 2 to 6 faculty members, at the level of Assistant Professor or above, who are active in research. The size of DRC may depend on the number of faculty members in the Department. One of the members acts as its Convener. The term of DRC members is of two years. DRC is approved by the Director of the Campus on the recommendation of HOD through Professor-in-Charge and Dean ARD and helps ARD in operations from admission to final thesis submission.
For each Ph.D. student, the DRC will recommend a notional thesis supervisor or mentor on the basis of department need and student’s area of interest. Further, for each Ph.D. student, the DRC will, in consultation with the notional supervisor of the student, appoint two additional members for Doctoral Advisory Committee (DAC). For students in interdisciplinary area there can be DAC member(s) from other department/campuses based on topic of research.
Admission
A candidate is normally admitted to the Ph.D. programme after passing his/her Ph.D. qualifying examination. A few candidates may be admitted to the programme as provisional candidates before passing the Ph.D. qualifying examination. This provision is applicable to full time research scholars on the campus.
Fee waiver, Scholarship and leave rules
A part of tuition fees may be waived for a Ph. D student for which, he/she will be required to participate in the teaching and other activities assigned from time to time by the concerned department. Depending upon availability, fellowship from Institute or sponsored project may be given. A Ph. D. student may have his own fellowship from CSIR/UGC, etc.
Each candidate is eligible for 30 days of vacation and 15 days of casual leave in an academic year (August to July). Special casual leave of 15 days is permissible for attending conferences/workshop/symposiums/training programmes, etc. For female candidates, maternity leave of 90 days is permitted.
Registration
All the candidates have to register in every semester till the submission of his/her thesis. In the beginning of each semester, all the candidates will sign the registration card confirming their registration for the semester. This card indicates the courses in which he/she is being registered in that particular semester.
Registration of on-campus candidates will be done separately for each campus by campus based Academic Registration and Counseling (ARC) Division on the day of registration date. Semester fee and all other dues are to be cleared before registration in each semester.
A candidate can seek permission for not registering in a particular semester by making an application to the Dean, ARD well before the beginning of semester giving valid reasons for the same. The application has to be recommended by the supervisor(s) and forwarded by Professor-in-Charge of the campus concerned.
Duration of Ph. D. programme
A candidate must submit his/her thesis within ten semesters (excluding summer term) to be counted from the semester following the semester of passing qualifying examination. After the expiry of this term, candidate has to seek extension of term from DCC through DRC. This application should reach ARD at least two months before expiry failing which the admission from Ph. D. programme may be cancelled.
Course work
For students with First Degree, depending upon the student’s qualifications and background, the DRC will, in consultation with the student’s notional supervisor and DAC members, prescribe course work for such a Ph.D. student, and will communicate the same to the Professor-in-Charge, ARD for record. The minimum of number of courses shall be six with minimum of 24 units. The number of units in one semester should not exceed 14. Candidate should not obtain less than D grade in any course and should have minimum CGPA of 5.50. If less than D grade is obtained, course should be repeated. On obtaining less than D grade in more than one course or CGPA less than 5.50, student shall be discontinued from the programme.
Students with Higher Degree (HD) may also be required to do course work if he is working in different area than his area of HD or having less than 6 courses in his HD. Number of courses will be decided by the Notional Supervisor and DAC members in order to prepare the candidate to undertake research in the chosen area. Number of courses can vary from zero to 6. Campus-based Professor-in-Charge, ARD will forward the prescribed list of courses for all Ph.D. students to campus-based ARCD for purpose of course registration. On successful completion of prescribed course work a Ph.D. student will be eligible to appear in qualifying examination, and can apply for the same to DRC.
Ph. D. Qualifying Examination
Each Ph.D. student must, in consultation with his/her notional supervisor, plan for and prepare to clear qualifying examinations in two areas from the list of qualifying examination areas in the sub-disciplines of each department. One of these must be in the sub-discipline in which he/she proposes to undertake research. The list of sub-disciplines should be taken from DRC. One can also choose one area from across other department areas. An application should be made to DRC in the format provided through notional supervisor to conduct the qualifying examination. Qualifying examination will consist of written test on two chosen areas, and will be followed by an oral test.
At the beginning of each semester, the DRC of each department will announce dates in that semester for holding qualifying examination in each of the sub-disciplines. On receiving request from eligible Ph.D. students, who have completed their course-work, the DRC will conduct qualifying examination. Results of qualifying examination will be sent to Dean ARD through Professor-in-Charge ARD for approval of Examination Committee.
Topic of Research & Supervisor
Once a Ph.D. student clears the required qualifying examination, he/she, in consultation with his/her notional supervisor and the DAC members will decide upon the topic, the co-supervisor (if required), prepare a research proposal and present it in writing and orally before the DAC members. For Research proposal mentioned above, each candidate should carry out a comprehensive literature search, understand the background and scope of research in the particular area of interest and consult his notional supervisor. Based upon DAC recommendation, the DRC will recommend to Dean ARD, through Professor-in-Charge ARD for approval of (i) supervisor (and co-supervisor), (ii) the research topic together with the detailed proposal and its summary, (iii) the research plan, and (iv) place of research work, as per requirement. Dean, ARD in consultation with Doctoral Counseling Committee (DCC) members will approve and report to Research Board. At this stage, the student formally becomes eligible to register in the Ph.D. thesis course.
Normally the approval of research proposal has to be obtained within one or two semesters of the first registration in the Ph.D. programme after passing the Ph.D. qualifying examination. Registration in BITS C799T Ph.D. Thesis (10 units) is permitted only after the approval of Topic of Research and Supervisor.
Semester Work
The operation of the courses in which the candidate is registered has to be carried out as per details outlined in the course handout of the course and evaluation form for Ph.D. courses. The following documents are to be submitted each semester as per schedule indicated in the calendar of events.
i. Plan of work for the semester courses in which the candidate is registered.
ii. Mid-Semester evaluation forms and work reports
iii. Final semester evaluation forms and work reports
After the approval of Topic of Research and Supervisor, the candidate is entitled to register in BITS C799T Ph.D. Thesis course. The supervisor(s) and DAC will monitor progress of the respective student’s thesis work. Each semester, the DRC will organize seminars by Ph.D. students to which members of the DAC (as also members of relevant departments) will be invited. At the end of each semester, grades will be communicated to campus-based Professor-in-Charge, ARD who in turn will forward the grades to respective campus Dean or Prof-in-Charge of ARCD. Non-receipt of evaluation forms and reports by the due dates may result into a `NC’ (Not Cleared) in the particular course. Award of ‘NC’ in two consecutive semesters may debar a student from being on the rolls of Ph.D. students.
Pre-submission draft and Seminar
On completion of research, the Ph.D. student will prepare a draft of the thesis and its synopsis, and will submit the same for preliminary but detailed assessment by two members of DAC on whether the thesis is in a shape that it can be formally submitted to the Dean, ARD for final evaluation. Candidate should submit two copies of his /her draft thesis to DRC for the necessary review by DAC members. The candidate will make an oral presentation before the DAC, DRC members and others in the department concerned after incorporating corrections/suggestions given by DAC members.
Thesis Title Approval
After the pre-submission seminar, DRC will forward the request of candidate (through supervisor(s)) to approve the exact title of thesis to Professor-in-Charge ARD. The exact title of the Thesis is discussed at the time of pre-submission seminar. The proposed title of the Ph.D. thesis is then approved by the DCC. Chairman, Research Board, thereafter, approves the title of the Thesis. The title should be written following the `Title Case’ style.
Thesis submission
The candidate can submit his/her Ph.D. thesis once the draft thesis has been approved by the DAC at the time of pre-submission seminar and his title is approved by DCC. Thesis along with synopsis and relevant documents are to be submitted to Convener, DRC. The DRC will also finalize a list of 6 to 8 potential thesis examiners, based on a list of potential examiners submitted by supervisor(s). The list should also contain (i) a brief description of the potential examiner‟s current position, (ii) the area of expertise, and (iii) a short list of related publications.
Together with (i) the thesis, (ii) the synopsis, (iii) the reports of the DAC members, (iv) the list of potential examiners, (v) other related documents, the DRC will recommend to the Dean, ARD through the campus-based Professor-in-Charge ARD that the evaluation of the thesis may begin.
Thesis evaluation
Before forwarding the list of examiners to Dean ARD, DRC may check the availability of the examiners. Out of the list, Dean ARD will recommend two examiners to Vice Chancellor (VC) for his approval. Subsequently, Dean ARD will send the thesis with list of approved examiners to Registrar for necessary communication. The Registrar will send the thesis for evaluation to the examiners. The Registrar will receive examiner’s reports, including reports from Supervisor and co-supervisors (if any), and will send reports to Dean ARD with a request to study the examiner’s reports together with two Examination Committee (EC) members. A three member committee, including the Dean, ARD will examine the reports, and submit recommendation to the Registrar. On receiving the recommendation of the 3 member committee, the Registrar will obtain the approval of EC (or VC as Chairman of EC) for conduct of viva-voce examination. Dean ARD will write to the Supervisor (and co-supervisors), through the campus-based Professor-in-Charge ARD, to arrange viva-voce examination.
The viva-voce may be held at the respective campus in the presence of the (i) Supervisor, (ii) at least one external examiner, and (iii) Co-supervisor(s), if any. Once viva-voce is held, the final report will be sent to Dean ARD who will submit to the Registrar. The Registrar will seek approval of EC (or VC as Chairman of EC). VC approves result in his/her capacity as Chairman, Examination Committee, with information to Dean ARD, Professor-in-Charge ARD and Dean ARCD of the respective campus. The award of the degree will subsequently be ratified by the Senate.
Change of Supervisor/Topic of Research
A fresh approval of the Research Board is required for any changes in topic of research and/or supervisor. Candidate has to request through supervisor and DRC to Professor-in-Charge ARD, who will forward the request to Dean, ARD for approval of Research Board.