Ph.D. Programmes
1. PROGRAMME DESCRIPTION
The Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree programme at SASTRA Deemed University is designed to provide an opportunity for the research scholars to acquire deeper understanding and expertise in the chosen area of interest. Specialized courses and research thesis are the key components of the Ph.D. programme.
The objective of the Ph.D. degree programme is to generate highly qualified researchers for the advancement of knowledge and innovation through research & development.
SASTRA Deemed University offers the Ph.D. programme in the following fields of research:
- Engineering / Technology
- Humanities, Arts and Sciences
- Management
- Education
- Law
in the following specialization
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2. ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS
2.1 A minimum of 55% marks or equivalent grade in the qualifying degree.
2.2 A candidate who has a post graduate degree or any other equivalent qualification from a recognised institution / University shall be eligible for admission to Ph.D. programme.
3. CATEGORIES OF Ph.D. CANDIDATES
There shall be two categories of Ph.D. candidates: Internal (full-time / part-time) and External
(full-time / part-time).
3.1 Internal candidates are those who pursue doctoral work at SASTRA Deemed University.
3.2 External candidates are those who pursue doctoral work in a recognized university / laboratory / research centre / industry / organization / government department, provided they are approved by SASTRA Deemed University for this purpose.
4. ADMISSION PROCEDURE
4.1 Candidates for Full-Time Ph.D. programme will be selected based on an entrance test conducted by SASTRA, followed by an interview. The syllabus and the date of the entrance test shall be notified in the SASTRA website (www.sastra.edu).
4.2 Candidates who qualify in UGC-NET (including JRF) / UGC-CSIR NET (including JRF) / GATE / UPSC / any other recognised competitive exam shall be exempted from the entrance test, however they shall have to clear the interview.
4.3 Part-Time candidates shall be selected based on the presentation of their research proposal before the selection committee.
4.4 Full-Time / Part-Time candidates, who are selected shall be registered to the Ph.D. programme on the payment of prescribed fees.
5. RECOGNITION OF RESEARCH SUPERVISORS
5.1 Recognition of a research supervisor / joint research supervisor shall be approved by the Vice-Chancellor and will be confirmed by the Academic Council provided the potential supervisor meets the following requirements:
5.1.1 A Ph.D. degree in the relevant or allied areas of research in which he / she proposes to supervise the candidate.
5.1.2 A minimum of two publications in the relevant or allied areas of research in peer- reviewed international journals every year in the last two years.
5.2 Faculty members of SASTRA Deemed University / other recognized universities / colleges / research laboratories / research centres / industries / organizations / government departments shall be recognized by SASTRA as research supervisors subject to 5.1.
5.3 A research supervisor shall not supervise more than eight doctoral candidates at any time.
5.4 If a recognized research supervisor does not supervise any Ph.D. candidate even after two years from the date of recognition, the recognition shall be automatically stands cancelled.
6. RESEARCH SUPERVISOR
6.1 The Ph.D. candidate is required to work under a recognized research supervisor who has been approved as research supervisor by the Academic Council of SASTRA Deemed University.
6.2 Internal & External candidates shall have a faculty member of SASTRA Deemed University as the research supervisor.
6.3 SASTRA Deemed University may accept an approved research supervisor to jointly supervise a candidate.
6.4 When a research supervisor is not available to the candidate for more than a year, the Dean (Research)may officially nominate an interim research supervisor with the approval of Vice-Chancellor. However, the first research supervisor may continue to supervise and offer guidance to the candidate.
6.5 The Dean (Research) shall permit a change of the research supervisor based on valid reasons with the approval of Vice-Chancellor.
7. DOCTORAL COMMITTEE
7.1 To monitor the progress of the Ph.D. candidates, a doctoral committee shall be constituted for each candidate with a minimum of five members.
7.2 The composition of the doctoral committee shall be as follows:
Associate Dean (Research) of the respective School : Chairperson
Two faculty members from the respective School : Members
Atleast one person from another School / Institute / : Member
Organization / Industry
Supervisor : Convener
If the Associate Dean (Research) of the School is the research supervisor or a member of the Doctoral Committee, Associate Dean (Research), SASTRA shall be the Chairperson of the Doctoral Committee.
7.3 The doctoral committee for the Ph.D. candidate shall be constituted within one month from the date of registration.
7.4 For forming the Doctoral Committee, the research supervisor of the candidate shall furnish a panel of six experts (four faculty members from the same School and two members from outside the School / Institute / Organization / Industry in the field of proposed research). The Vice-Chancellor will nominate three experts as doctoral committee members.
7.5 In case of a need, the research supervisor may request for a change in the Doctoral Committee members during the course of the candidates’ Ph.D. programme, which should have the recommendations of Dean (Research) and shall have the final approval of the Vice- Chancellor.
7.6 In the event of the research supervisor leaving SASTRA, the Vice-Chancellor shall nominate a new research supervisor from SASTRA, who shall also be the convener of the Doctoral Committee.
8. PROGRAMME REQUIREMENTS
All candidates must successfully meet the following requirements:
8.1 COURSE WORK
8.1.1 Each candidate shall take a minimum of four courses (equivalent to at least 12 credits) and obtain a grade not less than “B” (66% or above) in each course apart from successful completion of a course / workshop on Research Methodology and Ethics.
8.1.2 All the courses (PG / UG level) relevant to the field of research offered at SASTRA shall have to be approved by the Doctoral Committee.
8.1.3 If the courses (PG / UG level) are not offered at SASTRA, the candidate may attend the courses in MOOC / SWAYAM platforms, subject to the approval of the Doctoral Committee. In such cases, examinations shall be conducted by the Controller of Examinations of SASTRA.
8.1.4 A candidate may also take a Seminar as a course. In the Seminar course, the candidate shall present a seminar and the report shall be submitted at least one week before the due date of the seminar. The Associate Dean (Research) shall constitute a panel with four members including the supervisor to conduct the seminar.
8.1.5 Candidates who have joined for Ph.D. programme directly after Bachelor’s degree in Engineering or Law have to undergo additional ten or seven PG level courses respectively as specified by the Research Supervisor. The candidate has to satisfy the requirements of attendance and continuous evaluation as applicable to PG students of SASTRA. The candidate should appear for the end semester examination conducted by the Controller of Examinations and shall pass in each course. The candidate’s subsequent research work will be governed by rules applicable to regular Ph.D. candidates of SASTRA including 8.1.1.
8.1.6 Candidates registered for Ph.D. programme should complete a minimum of four courses within 18 months from the date of registration. Integrated Ph.D. programme candidates shall complete all the fourteen courses within 24 months from the date of registration.
8.1.7 If any candidate wishes to withdraw from the Ph.D. programme at the end of the second year or later, the candidate may opt for M.S. degree in the appropriate discipline. This will be considered by the Academic Council on specific recommendations of the Doctoral Committee, provided the candidate has published a minimum of one technical paper in a refereed international journal and has completed all the prescribed course work/comprehensive viva-voce. The candidate shall submit a thesis for M.S. degree and the final viva-voce examination will be conducted by examiners appointed by SASTRA. On successful defense, the candidate shall be awarded the M.S. degree in the relevant discipline.
8.1.8 A Candidate admitted to Integrated Ph.D. programme can exit the programme if he/she has successfully completed all the 14 courses. This will be considered by the Academic Council on specific recommendations of the research supervisor. The candidate shall submit a thesis for M.Tech. degree and viva-voce examination will be conducted by examiners appointed by SASTRA. On successful completion, the candidate shall be awarded the M.Tech. degree in the relevant discipline.
8.2 COMPREHENSIVE EXAMINATION
8.2.1 After completion of the course work, the candidate shall appear for a comprehensive viva-voce examination, which will be conducted by a panel constituted by the Associate Dean (Research) of the School with the following composition:
Associate Dean (Research) of the School: Chairperson
Three experts from SASTRA : Members
If the Associate Dean (Research) of the School is the supervisor of Ph.D. candidate appearing for comprehensive examination, Associate Dean (Research), SASTRA shall be the Chairperson. The candidates who fail in the comprehensive viva-voce examination, the candidate shall be given one more chance within six months. If the candidate fails in the second attempt also, the candidature shall be cancelled and the candidate may have an option to obtain M.S. / M.Tech. degree subject to satisfying clause(s) 8.1.7 / 8.1.8.
8.3 RESEARCH PROGRESS
8.3.1 The candidate shall make a presentation of research work to the Doctoral Committee within three months of successful completion of the comprehensive examination.
8.3.2 Doctoral Committee shall meet at least once in a year after the first doctoral committee meeting. Minimum of two doctoral committee meetings shall be conducted during the period of Ph.D. programme of a candidate.
8.3.3 The doctoral committee shall evaluate the research work carried out by the candidate and recommend submission of synopsis.
8.4 SYNOPSIS SUBMISSION
8.4.1 The research scholars are eligible to submit the synopsis with the approval of doctoral committee, subject to the fulfilment of the following:
a. The candidate should have passed the comprehensive examination.
b. The candidate should have published at least one paper or the manuscript must have been accepted for publication in a peer-reviewed international journal.
c. The candidate should have presented the research work in a public seminar at SASTRA.
8.4.2 The candidate shall submit a hard and soft copy of the synopsis in the prescribed format to the Dean (Research).
8.5 RESEARCH ADVISORY SUB-COMMITTEE PRESENTATION
8.5.1. After the submission of synopsis, the candidate shall present the research findings to the Research Advisory Sub-committee (RASC) constituted by the Vice-Chancellor. The committee shall evaluate the content and quality of the research work of the candidate. Dean (Research) shall be the convener of RASC.
8.5.2. If the RASC recommends the submission of thesis, the candidate shall submit the thesis within 3 months from the date of RASC approval.
8.5.3. If the RASC suggests additional work or any other comments, the candidate shall carry out the same and submit the thesis conforming to the suggestions.
8.6 THESIS SUBMISSION & EVALUATION
8.6.1 The candidate must have published or received acceptance for at least two papers as first author in peer-reviewed international journals preferably in SCI/SCIE journals before the submission of the thesis.
8.6.2 The thesis shall be prepared as per the format prescribed by SASTRA Deemed University.
8.6.3 Soft copy of the thesis in PDF format and one hard copy shall be submitted to the Dean (Research) along with the similarity report.
8.6.4 The research supervisor shall submit to the Dean (Research) at the time of thesis submission, a list of four International experts and four National experts along with postal and e-mail addresses. The suggested examiners should not be the co-authors/collaborators of the research supervisor or DC members of the candidate. The Vice-Chancellor shall appoint one National and one International examiner to evaluate the thesis.
8.6.5 The National and International examiners shall evaluate the thesis within two months and submit their comments. The final defense shall be conducted only after receiving positive recommendations from both the examiners.
8.6.6 If one of the examiners recommends and the other does not recommend the thesis, the Vice-Chancellor shall refer the thesis to a third examiner for evaluation. If only the third examiner recommends the thesis, the final defense shall be conducted.
8.7 FINAL DEFENSE
8.7.1 The final examination shall be conducted as “Open Defense”.
8.7.2 The chairperson for the final defense shall be one of the examiners who evaluated the thesis.
8.7.3 After successful completion of final defense and after carrying out corrections (if any) the candidate shall submit three bound copies of the thesis as per the format along with a soft copy to the Dean (Research).
8.7.4 If the candidate does not successfully defend the thesis, the candidate may opt to reappear at a later date, which shall be fixed by the Dean (Research).
9 PUBLICATIONS
9.1 The candidate may publish papers arising out of the thesis and in such publications the candidate must mention the affiliation with SASTRA Deemed University in addition to other affiliations, if any.
9.2 The candidate without specific written approval from the University shall not publish the thesis as a whole.
10 RESEARCH ETHICS & INTEGRITY
Candidates shall always maintain high standards of academic and research integrity. Any misconduct in the form of plagiarism, fabrication of data, falsification of results, violation of intellectual property rights, etc. shall result in the termination of the Ph.D. registration. The University shall also withdraw the Ph.D. degree awarded even at a later date, if such misconduct is proved.
11 SAVING CLAUSE
The Academic Council reserves the right to alter / amend / repeal / annul any or all of the rules and regulations.
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