I. PhD QUALIFICATION
For PhD qualification, the student who is accepted to the doctorate with a master's degree must successfully complete eight courses and a seminar course with 24 credits.
The student who is accepted to the doctorate with a bachelor's degree must successfully complete sixteen courses and a seminar course with 48 credits.
The grade point average must be at least 3.00.
Applications can be made in March-April and October-November.
Students accepted with a master's degree take the qualification exam until the end of the fifth semester and
Students accepted with a bachelor's degree take the qualification exam until the end of the seventh semester.
Application for PhD Qualification
The student must submit the "PhD Qualification Exam Jury Recommendation Form" to the institute in order to take the qualification exam. (Click for the PhD Qualification Exam Jury Recommendation Form)
Qualification Committee
The qualification committee that will carry out the qualification exams is appointed by the EYK (Institute Board) with the recommendation of the department.
The qualification committee consists of five permanent staff members throughout the appointment period. The term of office of the committee is determined by the EYK with the recommendation of the department.
The doctoral qualification committee consists primarily of faculty members from the relevant department or faculty members from close departments who meet the same conditions. A faculty member can take part in more than one qualification committee.
Qualification Exam Jury
The PhD qualification committee submits a PhD qualification exam jury consisting of five people, at least two of them from outside the University, including the thesis supervisor, for the approval of the EYK, in order to prepare, apply and evaluate the exams for the student applying to enter the qualification exam. (Click for the PhD Qualification Exam Jury Recommendation Form)
Qualification Exam
(1) The qualification exam is the measurement of whether the student, who has completed the courses and seminar, has the scientific research depth related to the basic subjects and concepts in his/her field and PhD study.
(2) Students can take the qualification exam at most twice, once in a semester. Students accepted with a master's degree have to take the qualification exam until the end of the fifth semester, and the student accepted with a bachelor's degree have to take the qualification exam until the end of the seventh semester.
(3) Qualification exams are organized and conducted by a five-person PhD qualification committee recommended by EABDB / EASDB and approved by EYK (Institute Board). The committee sets up exam juries to prepare, apply and evaluate exams in different fields. The exam jury consists of five faculty members, including the advisor, at least two of whom are from outside the university. The relevant Institute Board decides whether the advisor has the right to vote. If the advisor does not have the right to vote, the jury consists of six faculty members. Qualification exam meetings are held open to the participation of an audience consisting of academic staff, graduate students and experts in the field.
(4) The proficiency exam is held in two parts, written and oral. A student who scores at least seventy-five out of a hundred points in the written exam is considered successful and takes the oral exam. The student must get at least seventy-five points to be successful in the oral exam. The questions asked in the written and oral exams and the evaluation are recorded. Exam juries evaluate the success of the student in written and oral exams and decide whether the student is successful or unsuccessful by absolute majority. This decision will be reported to the Institute by EABDB / EASDB within three days following the qualifying exam.
(5) A student who fails in the written or oral part of the qualification exam is taken to the exam again from the part/parts where s/he failed. The student who fails in this exam is dismissed from the PhD program.
(6) The qualification exam jury may request a student who passes the qualification exam to take extra course / courses, even if they have completed the course load, provided that they do not exceed one-third of the total credit amount. The student has to pass the courses to be determined by the relevant EYK decision.
(7) A student who has been accepted to the PhD program with a bachelor's degree and successfully completed at least eight courses can transfer to a master's program.
II. PhD Thesis Proposal
In order for the student to make a Thesis Subject Proposal, it is necessary for him/her to pass the qualification exam.
Establishing a Thesis Monitoring Committee
For the student who is successful in the qualification exam, the thesis monitoring committee is established within one month with the recommendation of the thesis advisor, the approval of the department and the decision of the EYK.
For this process, the PhD Thesis Monitoring Committee Form from the Electronic Document Management System is filled and signed by the advisor, approved by the head of the department, and sent to the Institute. (Form of Establishing PhD Thesis Monitoring Committee will be filled through EBYS)
The Institute Board determines a total of three members, one member from within and outside the EABD / EASD, in addition to the thesis advisor.
If there is a second thesis supervisor, the second thesis supervisor may attend the thesis monitoring committee meetings without voting rights.
In the periods after the establishment of the thesis monitoring committee, the members can be changed with the decision of EYK due to the recommendation of the relevant advisor, the positive opinion of the thesis monitoring committee member and the EABDB, or due to the change of the thesis subject.
Choosing the Thesis Subject
The student who successfully completes the PhD qualification exam defends the purpose, method and study plan of the thesis to be made verbally in front of the thesis monitoring committee within six months.
The student distributes the written report regarding the thesis proposal to the members of the thesis monitoring committee at least fifteen days before the oral defense.
The thesis monitoring committee decides on the acceptance or rejection of the student's proposal by absolute majority. This decision is reported to the institute by EABDB within three days following the thesis proposal.
PhD Thesis Proposal Evaluation Form for the exam is filled out by the advisor and signed by the members of the thesis monitoring committee and delivered to the members. (Click for the PhD Thesis Proposal Evaluation Form)
The student whose thesis proposal is rejected has the right to choose a new advisor and thesis subject. In such a case, a new thesis monitoring committee can be appointed.
A student who wants to continue the program with the same thesis advisor is to defend the thesis proposal again within three months, and a student who changes the thesis advisor and thesis subject within six months.
The student whose thesis proposal is rejected in this defense can register to continue his/her education on condition that the tuition fee of the relevant semester is paid.
Monitoring the Student's Thesis
For the student whose thesis proposal is accepted, the thesis monitoring committee meets twice a year, once between January-June and July-December.
The student submits a written report to the thesis monitoring committee members at least one month before the meeting date. In this report, the summary of the work done so far and the work plan for the next semester are stated.
The decision for the evaluation of the student's thesis work is determined by the thesis monitoring committee by absolute majority, as successful or unsuccessful.
For the exam report, the PhD Thesis Monitoring Committee Interim Report Form is filled out by the advisor and signed by the members of the thesis monitoring committee and delivered to the Institute. (Click for the PhD Thesis Monitoring Committee Interim Report Form)
The Thesis Monitoring Committee's Evaluating the Student's Thesis Unsuccesful Twice in a Row
EABDB informs the institute of the results of the reports of the student who fails twice in a row or three times in separate times by the decision of the thesis monitoring committee; The student is given the right to continue working with a new thesis subject and / or advisor. A student in this situation can register to continue the education, provided that s/he pays the student tuition fee of the relevant semester.
Thesis Subject Change
The thesis monitoring committee may propose a change in the thesis subject. The student's new thesis subject is approved by both EABDB and EYK.
PhD Thesis Submission Process
Establishing the Thesis Exam Jury
The student prepares the completed thesis in accordance with the Institute's thesis writing guide and sends it to the advisor. The advisor, with the password received from the Library and Documentation Department, logs into a program such as Turnitin and scans the thesis similarity rate and produces the ethical plagiarism report. The advisor signs the PhD Thesis Exam Jury Suggestion Form via EBYS and puts the ethical plagiarism report on its attachment, and the form is sent to the Institute after the approval of the Head of the Department. (The Doctoral Thesis Exam Jury Recommendation Form will be filled in via EBYS)
The PhD thesis jury is appointed with the recommendation of the advisor, the approval of EABDB and the approval of EYK.
The jury consists of five members, three of whom are faculty members of the thesis monitoring committee and at least two of them are from another higher education institution. The second thesis advisor can take part in the thesis defense exam without voting rights.
III. Completing the Thesis
Thesis Defense
The jury members gather together with the reports they have prepared within one month at the latest from the date the thesis is submitted to them, and take the student to the thesis exam.
The jury members select one of them as a president. The thesis exam is between 60-120 minutes and consists of the presentation of the thesis study and the question and answer sections and is open to the audience.
After the completion of the thesis exam, the jury makes the decision of acceptance, rejection or correction of the thesis by absolute majority, without the audience.
The student who is successful in the thesis exam, provided that the other conditions (credit and grade point average) are met, can submit two bound copies of the PhD thesis (with the signatures of the advisor and the jury members) and two electronically recorded copies (unsigned PDF and Word files) to the Institute within one month at the latest from the date of the thesis defense exam. The Institute Board decides on the graduation of the student whose thesis is found appropriate upon control and with signature of the advisor in terms of thesis writing guide.
The student submits the PhD Thesis Submission Form to the Institute along with 2 bound copies and 2 CDs, along with the thesis data entry form taken out from the website of YÖK, https://tez.yok.gov.tr/UlusalTezMerkezi/. (Click for the PhD Thesis Submission Form)
The Student Given Correction About the Thesis
The student who has been given a correction decision about the thesis makes corrections within six months at the latest and sends the thesis to the advisor for review.
The Student Rejected About the Thesis
EYK takes the necessary steps for the student to defend the thesis again in front of the same jury. A student whose thesis is not accepted at the end of this defense as well can register to continue his education, provided that s/he pays the student tuition fee of the relevant semester. The thesis subject and / or advisor can be changed by the students in this situation with their request, the approval of the relevant EABDB / EASDB and the approval of EYK.
* In the first submission of the thesis and after the thesis defense, the Ethical Plagiarism Report must be submitted. In order to receive an Ethical Plagiarism Report, the student's advisor will request a password from the Library and Documentation Department of our University. The report can be taken with the password to be obtained. In the Ethical Plagiarism Report, the similarity rate should not exceed 20% except for quotations, 20% if quoted, and 40% if included quotations. The responsibility in this matter belongs to the student and his / her advisor.
**By filling out the thesis data entry form on the YÖK page https://tez.yok.gov.tr/UlusalTezMerkezi/ the student submits the form to the Institute for graduation.