PhD Course Requirements

Students entering the PhD Program must complete the requirements below:

• 300-level courses* (6 credits)
• Graduate Seminar (non-credit)
• Winter Enrichment Program (non-credit) 

The Academic Advisor may request the completion of additional courses. Courses taken while pursuing the KAUST MS degree cannot be counted towards the PhD course requirements. Courses must be technical courses and cannot be substituted with Research, Internship, or Broadening Courses to fulfill degree requirements.  

*One course must be a CS course (excluding CS 394).

Graduate Seminar (non-credit)

Students must register for CS 398 and receive a Satisfactory grade for two Semesters during their PhD.

Winter Enrichment Program (non-credit)

All students must register for WE 100 and successfully complete one Winter Enrichment Program (WEP), usually taken in the first year of study. Students who completed WEP as part of their KAUST MS must take the program again.

PhD Candidacy

In addition to the coursework requirements, students must successfully complete the required PhD candidacy milestones to progress toward PhD candidate status. These milestones are as follows:

• A subject-based qualifier
• PhD Proposal Defense

Once students have advanced to candidacy, students are designated as PhD or Doctoral Candidates.

Qualifying Exam

Students must pass the qualifier within three Semesters and one Summer Session of commencing the PhD program. The CS qualifier is course-based. Students must pass three courses to pass the qualifier using the following rules:

• One of the courses must have a grade of A- or A; the other two must have a grade of B+ or better. 
• All three courses must be selected from eligible qualifier courses. The list of eligible qualifier courses is available on the CS website. The list sorts all eligible qualifier courses into several research areas. The qualifier courses must be from three different research areas.
• The three courses must be taught by three different Faculty. 

Additional details about the procedure of the qualifier: 

• The KAUST PhD program stipulates that students must take at least two 300-level courses during the PhD candidacy. These two courses may be used as qualifier courses. 
•  PhD students can use courses they completed before starting their PhD as qualifier courses, e.g., courses taken while completing an MS at KAUST. 
• No waiver will be given for any courses taken outside of KAUST. 
• The list of eligible courses, the research areas, and the way the courses are sorted into research areas can change over time. Students should choose courses and areas according to a single version of the course list: either the version of the eligible course list that was current at the time of the start of the PhD  or an eventual updated later version. 
• As soon as students pass the qualifier, they should submit a filled-out qualifier form to the GPSA including a transcript. The qualifier form is available on the CS website. Upon verification, students will receive confirmation that they have passed the qualifier.  

Qualifying Exam Results:
At the conclusion of the qualifying exam, students will receive one of the following outcomes:

• Pass: The student has successfully passed the exam.
• Fail with Retake: The student must retake the exam within the next qualifying exam period or by the milestone deadline, whichever comes first. If significant issues are identified, the Committee may recommend additional actions, including academic sanctions (e.g., probation) or the implementation of a study plan.
• Fail Without Retake: The student has not passed the qualifying exam. This decision requires a unanimous vote by the Committee and endorsement by the Dean.

After the exam, the final proposal document and qualifying exam result form must be submitted to the GPSA within two (2) working days, regardless of the outcome. The GPSA will coordinate the collection of all required signatures.

Dissertation Proposal Defense

The Dissertation Proposal Defense aims to demonstrate that students have the ability and are adequately prepared to undertake PhD level research in the proposed area. This preparation includes necessary knowledge of the chosen subject, a literature review, and preparatory theory or experimentation.

The Dissertation Proposal Defense is the second part of the qualification milestones that must be completed to become a PhD candidate. PhD students must successfully defend the Dissertation proposal by the end of their fifth Semester after commencing the PhD program. The exam consists of two parts:

• Proposal: submission of a 10-page (suggested length) proposal describing the proposed topic of research, relevant survey of the literature and any preliminary results or laboratory preparation. This should be submitted to the examining committee at least 10 days prior to the scheduled presentation.

• Presentation: approximately 30 minutes on the dissertation topic presented to the examining committee followed by questions to cover a total period of an hour.

PhD Dissertation Proposal Committee 

The PhD proposal defense committee must include a minimum of three members and may have up to four members. The composition of the committee is outlined as follows: 

Notes:

• The committee must be approved by the Dean.
• Members 1-3 are mandatory, while member 4 is optional. 
• The student’s advisor serves as the chair of the committee. If the advisor holds a primary affiliation within the student’s program, then they act as member 1. If the advisor has a secondary or one-time affiliation within the student’s program, then they act as member 3.
• The student’s co-advisor may serve as member 4
• Professors of Practice and Research Professors may serve as members 1-4, depending on their affiliation and whether they are the student’s co-advisor. They cannot be the advisor of the student and cannot serve as the chair of the committee. 
• Adjunct Professors and Professors Emeriti may continue serving on committees in the roles they had at the time of their departure but are not permitted to serve on new committees
• Visiting Professors may only serve as member 4.
• Once approved, any changes to the committee require the approval of both the student's advisor and the Dean.
• Members of the proposal defense committee must remain on the dissertation defense committee. Any exceptions to this rule require approval from both the student’s advisor and the Dean.

Proposal Defense Results

At the end of the proposal Defense, students will be evaluated as follows:

• Pass: The student successfully passes their proposal.
• Fail with Retake: The student is invited to retake the defense within three months or by the milestone deadline, whichever comes first. If substantial issues are identified, the Committee may prescribe a course of action, which may include but is not limited to, academic sanctions (probation/dismissal), or a study plan.
• Fail Without Retake: The student has unsuccessfully defended their proposal, resulting in the termination of their candidacy. For a "Fail Without Retake" decision, the Committee’s vote must be unanimous and endorsed by the Dean.

Students who successfully pass the Dissertation proposal Defense are deemed PhD Candidates. At the end of the proposal Defense, a PhD Proposal Results Form must be completed and submitted to the GPSA. 

Dissertation

The Dissertation is the final milestone of the PhD program. Students must complete the following:

• Petition to Defend Dissertation/ Form Dissertation Defense Committee 
• Defend Dissertation 
• Archive Dissertation

Petition to Defend Dissertation

Students must determine the Defense date with the agreement of all members of the Dissertation Defense Committee. It is the sole responsibility of students to submit the required documents in consultation with the GPSA and the Dissertation Advisor by the deadline published in the Academic Calendar and at least 2 months prior to the Defense date.

Students must defend their Dissertation and obtain the final approval of the Dissertation Defense by the end of their fourth year (8 Semesters and 4 Summer Sessions). Students must follow the Thesis and Dissertation Guidelines available on the KAUST Library webpage when they write their Dissertation.

Formation of Dissertation Defense Committee

The PhD dissertation defense committee must include a minimum of four members and may have up to five members. The composition of the committee is outlined as follows:

Notes:

• The committee must be approved by the Dean.
• Members 1-4 are mandatory, while member 5 is optional.
• The student’s advisor serves as the chair of the committee. If the advisor holds a primary affiliation within the student’s program, then they act as member 1. If the advisor has a secondary or one-time affiliation within the student’s program, then they act as member 3.
• The student’s co-advisor may serve as member 5.
• Professors of Practice and Research Professors may serve as members 1-3 or 5, depending on their affiliation and whether they are the student’s co-advisor. They cannot be the advisor of the student and cannot serve as the chair of the committee.
• Adjunct Professors and Professors Emeriti may continue serving on committees in the roles they had at the time of their departure but are not permitted to serve on new committees.
• Visiting Professors may only serve as member 5, but they are not permitted to serve as external examiner.
• Guidelines for selecting the external examiner can be found here.
• Once approved, any changes to the committee require the approval of both the student's advisor and the Dean.

Dissertation Defense Results

The format of the Oral Defense is left to the discretion of the dissertation Committee. At the end of the Final Defense, students will be evaluated with one of the following outcomes:

• Pass: The Committee agrees with no more than one dissenting vote. The dissertation must be archived within two weeks of the defense, and the student must send the Result Form to the GPSA within two days of the defense.
• Pass with Conditions: All committee members must agree on the required conditions. If they cannot agree, the Dean will make the final decision. The student has up to three months to meet these conditions, unless the Committee unanimously agrees to change the deadline.
• Fail with Retake: If conditions cannot be met within three months, or more than one member casts a negative vote, one retake of the defense is allowed. The retake must occur within six months of the original defense unless the Committee unanimously agrees to a shorter timeline. If the student fails the retake, they will be dismissed from the University. The Committee Chair must immediately inform the GPSA to initiate the necessary actions.
• Fail Without Retake: The decision must be unanimous, resulting in the student’s dismissal from the University. The Committee Chair must inform the GPSA immediately to take the necessary actions.

Additional Guidelines:

• Students who have exceeded their duration of study must apply for an extension as per the Time Limit and Extension Policy. All conditions must be fulfilled by the end of the extension period, which takes precedence over the Committee’s set deadlines.
• The outcome of the Dissertation Defense must be recorded by submitting the Dissertation Defense Evaluation Form to the Office of the Registrar within two days of the defense.
• Additionally, students must submit the Defense Results Form by the deadline published in the Academic Calendar.
• The required forms are available on the webpage of the Office of the Registrar.  

Dissertation Document

Students must follow the Thesis and Dissertation Guidelines available from the KAUST Library when they write their Dissertation.

Dissertation Archiving

Students must archive the Dissertation in the KAUST Library two weeks from the final result form. This must not exceed the deadline published in the Academic Calendar.