Ph.D. DEGREE REQUIREMENTS

Program of Study. The maximum amount of credit that a Ph.D. student may count toward a doctorate from a master's degree program is 30 semester hours. This rule applies whether the master's degree was earned at UNC Charlotte or elsewhere.

If the master's degree was earned at UNC Charlotte, no more than six hours may be transferred from another institution into a doctoral program with the approval of the student's advisory committee. Ordinarily, no transferred hours may be applied to the doctoral program if the master's degree was earned at an institution other than the UNC Charlotte. Students seeking exceptions to this policy should consult their doctoral programs. Applicants with records of high quality who wish to transfer more credit than this policy allows should consult the graduate program.

No more than six hours taken when the student was in post-baccalaureate status may be applied toward the doctoral degree.

Program Approval. By the end of the first semester of the third post-baccalaureate year in the program, and no later than the filing of the petition to sit for the qualifying examination, a student's program of study must be approved by his or her advisory committee and submitted to the Dean of the Graduate School.

Language and Research Tool Requirements. Some doctoral programs require proficiency in a foreign language and/or another research tool. These requirements and the ways to fulfill them are specified in the program descriptions.

Course and Other Program Requirements. The course and other requirements for each degree program are indicated in the program descriptions in the following pages.

Time Limit. Candidates must complete all work beyond the master's degree, including accepted transferred credit, within eight years from the time they first register as doctoral students. Courses that exceed this time limit must be revalidated or retaken--whichever the graduate program decides necessary--if they are to be applied to a degree program. Some programs may require students to complete their degrees in fewer than eight years.

Residence. All doctoral students are required to complete a substantial residency requirement during which they have sustained contact with the graduate faculty. This requirement is specified in the program descriptions.

Graduate Faculty Representative. The graduate faculty representative is a member of the doctoral student's advisory committee appointed by the Graduate School. This faculty member's role is primarily procedural. He/she must (1) assure that the doctoral student is treated fairly and impartially by his or her advisory committee, and (2) assure that University standards and policies are upheld. This representative is appointed prior to the student's taking the qualifying examination and must participate in the examination, in the dissertation topic approval process, and in the final examination. A student's advisor may consult with the Dean of the Graduate School regarding selection of this representative.

Qualifying Examination. Each student must complete a qualifying examination. Students who enter a Ph.D. program directly from a baccalaureate program must sit for this examination before the end of their third post-baccalaureate year in the program; students who enter a Ph.D. program from a master's degree program must sit for it before the end of their first year in the doctoral program. To sit for this examination, the student must have at least a 3.0 GPA and must have removed any conditions upon admission.

Re-examination. A student who fails the qualifying examination, may petition the program faculty to be re-examined. The re-examination may take place no sooner than the beginning of the semester following the one in which the failure occurred. A student who fails the qualifying examination a second time may not continue in the doctoral program.

Candidacy. The dissertation topic may be proposed after the student has passed the qualifying examination. A doctoral student advances to candidacy after the dissertation topic has been approved by the student's advisory committee and the Dean of the Graduate School. Candidacy must be achieved at least six months before the degree is conferred.

Dissertation. The doctoral program of study must include 18 hours of dissertation credit. The doctoral candidate must be continuously enrolled in dissertation credit hours beginning with the semester after the dissertation topic is approved until the semester of graduation.

The dissertation must be submitted for final approval by the student's committee at least three weeks before the date of the final examination in which the dissertation is defended. Following the successful completion of this defense, the doctoral candidate must submit three unbound copies of the approved error-free manuscript to the Graduate School no later than the filing date indicated in the University calendar.

Final examination. Each candidate must pass a final examination over the contents of the dissertation. Sometimes called the "dissertation defense" or the "dissertation oral," this meeting is traditionally open to members of the University community. No student is permitted to take the final examination more than twice.