Admission

 To all the higher degree programs, admissions will be made, on the basis of merit, as per the modalities explained below:

• Admissions based on GATE (for M. E.) / GPAT (for M. Pharm.) score and
• Admissions based on the marks obtained in the online HD test conducted by BITS and/or written test, group discussions and interviews conducted by BITS at its campuses/any other places. 

Further details are available at the BITS website, http://bitsadmission.com/hdmain.aspx.

Teaching Assistantship / Scholarship

Students admitted based on GATE/GPAT Score

The students admitted to a Higher Degree program based on their GATE/GPAT score would be eligible to receive a scholarship of Rs. 12400/- per month from UGC. The application for GATE/GPAT scholarship will be submitted to UGC/MHRD by the Institute. 

Apart from the UGC scholarship, the students admitted based on GATE/GPAT score would receive a fee waiver from the Institute up to an amount of Rs. 60500/- per semester. 

The scholarship is provided in lieu of 6-8 hours of teaching assistantship work per week.

Students admitted based on HD Test or Interviews

The students admitted to a HD program based on their score in HD Test or Interviews conducted by BITS Pilani will receive a Stipend of Rs. 13400/- per month for 6-8 hours of Teaching Assistantship work per week.

Other Scholarships

The Institute encourages eligible students to apply for scholarships from external agencies such as Tata Trusts Medical and Health Care Scholarships by providing all the required support to submit applications.

Evaluation

All courses are conducted and evaluated in a continuous & internal manner by the faculty who teach these courses. The student registers for a certain number of courses each semester; the year being divided into two semesters, and a summer term, whenever offered. A faculty member, as registration advisor, helps a student to draw up his programme, suitable to his pace and needs, which is made possible by the course wise time-table of the Institute. Every student gets, incidentally, a training in decision making through (i) choice of load, i.e. number of courses per semester to suit his/her pace, (ii) selection of his/her own time-table to suit his/her convenience, and (iii) picking up courses as electives to meet his/her own aspirations. It is the responsibility of the student to attend classes regularly and to maintain a required level of scholastic standing. 

The performance of a student in each course is assessed by the teacher by means of continuous evaluation throughout the semester in classwork, periodical quizzes (sometimes unannounced), tests (both open and closed book), tutorials, laboratory work, homework, seminars, group discussions, project, etc., and a comprehensive examination at the end of the semester. The student is thereby given a large number of opportunities to carryout various academic assignments and be evaluated. Besides encouraging and rewarding continuous and systematic study, the system provides a constant feedback to the student as to where he/she stands, thus enabling him/her to cultivate regular habits of studying and preparing himself/herself for the future. 

The system discards the conventional emphasis on a single final examination and numerical marks as the only absolute indication of the quality of student's performance. Thus, at the end of the semester the teacher of the course awards letter grades A, A-, B, B-, C, C-, D, E to the student based on the total performance of the student and it is relative to the performance of others taking the same course. These letter grades stand for quality of performance: A (Excellent), A- (Very Good), B (Good), B- (Above Average), C (Average), C- (Below Average), D (Poor) and E (Exposed). Further, these letter grades have points associated with them in a quantified hierarchy: a maximum of 10 (for an A) to a minimum of 2 (for an E). There are also courses in which the teacher awards non-letter grades which have only a qualitative hierarchy. The teacher may also pronounce the performance of a student in a course in terms of certain reports which should not be misconstrued as grades.

A student is deemed to have cleared a course if he/she obtains a grade in the course. However, the educational philosophy of the Institute interlinks and at the same time distinguishes between the performance of a student in a single course and his/her overall cumulative performance. The overall performance of a student is indicated by an index known as the “Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA)”. It is the weighted average of the grade points of all the letter grades received by the student since his/her entry into the Institute and is expressed on a 10-point scale. 

The minimum academic requirements regarding the performance and progress for the Higher Degrees are:

1. A CGPA of at least 5.5 at the end of every semester 
2. No E grade in the higher degree programmes.
3. The pace of progress of a student should be such that at any stage of reckoning he/she should not have spent more than 50% extra time than what is prescribed for him/her upto that stage in his/her programme.

Graduated Students and Placement Statistics

Higher Degree Dissertation

Operational Summary of HDD

 Overview

• Thesis and dissertation usually done in the last semester for partial fulfillment of needs of the degree. The student usually registers for 9 to 16 units and gets a letter grade upon completion.
• Each of these courses is of one semester duration and is operated round the year (August to December and January to May). 
• The aim of the thesis/dissertation course is to train a student in the methodology of research, to cultivate a logical and creative thinking and to make him express his findings in the form of a scientific report. 
• The Associate Dean, Academic-Graduate Studies and Research Division (AGSRD) is the IC for this course.
• HDD can be on-campus or off-campus, and on campus thesis can be further carried out in a department other than the student’s own.
• It is the responsibility of the thesis/dissertation supervisor to monitor the progress of the student’s thesis/dissertation work as per the guidelines stated in the handouts.
• Supervising thesis and dissertation includes the conduction of various components such as mid-sem seminars and reports and end-sem seminars and reports.
• Supervisors are expected to compile the marks of the various components of their respective supervisees and communicate the same to the DRC of their respective departments in accordance with the deadlines mentioned in the hand-out.
• The Departmental Research Committee (DRC) of the individual departments must compile data pertaining to the various evaluation components and submit the same to AGSRD by the deadline mentioned in the respective handouts.
• A student intending to pursue HDD in a certain semester needs to pre-register for the same in the previous semester through his/her respective DRC (details available in pre-registration guidelines by AGSRD).
• Pre-registration includes the filling up of several forms by interested students which are included in the pre-registration guidelines.
• Among other things, these forms help the student take consents from their supervisor of interest, HOD, an off-campus organization, the PSD etc. 
• Pre-registration data is collated by the respective DRCs and communicated to AGSRD as per the format and deadlines mentioned in the guidelines.
• In the beginning of the next semester, the pre-registered students register for the HDD course. Off-campus students register by email.
• Following registration, the thesis/dissertation work is carried out as per the hand out.

Pre Registration Guidelines for HDD

 OffCampus Form-A 

 Offcampus FormB 

 Dissertation Handout