The eligibility requirements established by the Higher Education Council apply. The Periodontology PhD program consists of at least 22 courses, 49 credits, a qualifying exam, a thesis proposal, and thesis work. Undergraduate courses do not count toward the course load or PhD credits. Following the course period, a qualifying exam is administered to test whether the student has a thorough understanding of the fundamental topics and issues related to the PhD work. Students must take the qualifying exam by the end of the fourth semester at the latest. Qualifying exams are held twice a year, in June-July and December-February. Qualifying exams are organized and conducted by the examination jury proposed by the department chair and approved by the Institute Board of Directors. The doctorate qualification exam consists of two parts: written and oral. The doctorate qualification exam jury evaluates the student's performance in the written and oral exams and decides by a simple majority whether the student has passed or failed. This decision is reported to the relevant institute by the department chair within three days following the qualification exam. Students who fail the qualification exam are retested in the following semester. The doctorate qualification exam committee may require a student who has passed the qualification exam to take additional courses, provided that the total number of credits does not exceed 1/3 of the total credit requirement, even if the student has completed the course load.
Students who successfully complete the PhD qualifying exam defend their thesis proposal, which covers the purpose, methodology, and work plan of their research, orally before the Thesis Monitoring Committee within six months at the latest. For students whose thesis proposals are accepted, the Thesis Monitoring Committee meets twice a year, once between January and June and once between July and December. The student submits a written report to the committee members at least one month before the meeting date. This report summarizes the work done so far and outlines the work plan for the following year. The student's thesis work is determined by the committee as successful or unsuccessful.
A student in a PhD program is required to write up the results obtained in accordance with the writing rules determined by the Senate and defend their thesis orally before a jury. The thesis jury consists of five members, three of whom are faculty members on the student's Thesis Monitoring Committee and at least one of whom is a faculty member from another higher education institution. The jury members meet within one month of the thesis submission date to examine the student. The examination consists of the thesis and a subsequent question-and-answer session. After the thesis examination is completed, the committee decides by a simple majority to accept, reject, or request revisions to the thesis. PhD students who pass the thesis examination and meet the other requirements submit at least three bound copies of their thesis to the relevant institute within one month of the examination date. Students whose PhD thesis is decided to be revised must complete the necessary revisions within six months and defend their thesis again before the same jury. Students whose thesis is rejected or whose thesis is rejected after revision are assigned a new thesis topic.
