Welcome to KFUPM

Rules and Regulations of Graduate Studies

Prof. Salam A. Zummo

Dean of Graduate Studies

Sep. 11, 2014

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Overview at KFUPM

Founded in 1963 Composed of 7 colleges and 18 departments State-of-the-art IT center, Library, infrastructure Recognized as the leading science and engineering school

in the whole region Research is supported by:

Deanship of Scientific Research Research Institute Six National Centers of Research Excellence KACST funds for faculty and graduate students National Science and Technology Plan (NSTP)

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New Admits for Semester 141

FT Master; 237

FT PhD;

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PT Master; 141

PT PhD; 5

FT Master FT PhD PT Master PT PhD

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New Admits Distribution – 141

AE ARE CE CEM CHE CHEM COE CRP EE ERTH ICS MATH MBA ME PETE PHYS SE0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

FT MASTER PT MASTER FT PhD PT PhD

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Active Students Distribution – 141

FT Master; 750

FT PhD; 201

PT Master; 526

PT PhD; 23

FT Master FT PhD PT Master PT PhD

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Active Master Students – 141

AE ARE CE CEM CHE CHEM COE CRP EE ERTH ICS MATH ME MGT PETE PHYS SE 0

50

100

150

200

250

412

54

17

76

34

56

7

97

55

42

26

88

59

47

32

44

0

139

209

2 3 4 7

42

23 20

3

23

122

28

1

17

FT Master PT Master

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Active PhD Students – 141

CE CHE CHEM COE CSE EE ERTH ICS MATH ME PETE PHYS SE 0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

14

11

27

4

17

31

5

10

23

31

7

1110

4

1

43

1

4

1 12 2 2

0

2

FT PhD PT PhD

Full-time Master and PhD students

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081 082 091 092 101 102 111 112 121 122 131 132 1410

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

250 268 275316

360384

446490

525

600

700658

750

76 79 82 88 103 113 129 142 157193 199 204 201

FT Master FT PhD

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New Strategic Plan 2012 – 2020 Vision:

To be globally known for quality graduate programs that attract and develop prominent students and lead to quality research.

Mission:To guide, support and develop graduate programs towards the highest level of excellence that serve national needs and beyond in:

Creating and disseminating knowledge. Producing quality research. Recruiting and retaining prominent graduate students.

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Goals: Ensure globally competitive graduate programs. Ensure significant contribution to knowledge and

innovation. Attract and retain quality of graduate students locally and

internationally. Develop graduates personally, academically and

professionally. Provide high quality services and efficient management

that respond to faculty and student’s needs.

New Strategic Plan 2012 – 2020

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Important Policies

Every semester, all FT (FT/RA/LB/GA) students must pass a minimum of 09 credit hours .

This is a very strict policy to insure FT status and smooth progress in the degree program.

Students must submit their Degree Plans by mid of the second semester of enrolment.

Every student should declare his thesis/dissertation advisor and topic by the end of the second semester of enrolment.

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Important Policies The minimum time period between thesis/dissertation proposal

approval and the planned public oral defence is: 04 months with one-semester difference for MS thesis. 09 months with two-semester difference for PhD dissertation.

Allow for at least one month for processing in the Department, College and Deanship of Graduate Studies.

A student who defends his thesis/dissertation in a semester is assigned an IC grade.

The IC grade will be changed into NP once the final bound theses/dissertations is submitted.

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Important Policies – PhD All PhD students are required to:

Pass the PhD Comprehensive Exam within 04 semesters of enrolment at max.

Comprehensive exam can be attempted twice at max upon recommendation of the Dept.

Must attempt the comprehensive exam in 3rd semester. Submit dissertation proposals within 06 semesters of enrolment at max.

Failing to progress according to set deadlines may lead to issuance of Warnings or even dismissals from the PhD program.

PhD students should pass the comprehensive examination as part of the Seminar course XXX-699.

Hence, PhD students must register XXX-699 in 3rd semester. This course is a pre-requisite to registering the PhD Pre-Dissertation

XXX-711. The course is graded as pass or fail.

Expectations from RAs/LBs

A typical RA or LB shall spend his time as follows:

Spend 15 hours per week on department services (teaching, or admin)

Equivalent to teaching 6 contact hours (e.g. 2 LAB sessions)

KFUPM Expectations from Students Work Ethics and Integrity:

Teaching: Utilize the full time of the LAB or lecture session with experiments/assignments/report writing, etc.

Research: Produce original research and results, and cite sources of information

KFUPM does not allow the following practices: Working outside campus by any means or in any way. Working on-campus on unofficial jobs (such as helping undergraduate

students in reports, etc).

Violating the Ethics and Integrity code will result in terminating the contract regardless of academic performance

“Graduate Studies” tab in Portal

GradWeb

Online Clearance for FT and PT Students.

ID card system for PT students

E-print for thesis/dissertation uploading in Library

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“Graduate Studies” tab in Portal GradWeb:

Requests and approvals are fully online (no paper, more accurate data entry, easy to track and very efficient).

Current available services: Online submission/tracking/view/printing of Degree Plan. Academic Summary of the student (all info we know about the student!!)

Services to be provided this year: Thesis/Dissertation Advisor Selection (coming very soon). Thesis/Dissertation Proposal Submission (coming soon). Oral defense request (coming very soon). Graduation requests (coming soon). Many other services to be added...

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Familiarizing with Terms & Procedures Academic Petitions Provisional and Regular Status Degree Plan CGPA and Warning Policy Thesis/Dissertation Proposal & Committee

Formation Public Oral Defense of Thesis/Dissertation Readmission

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Academic Petitions

Specific Form available on the website of Graduate Studies (from homepage, Current Students Forms Miscellaneous Academic Petition

It can be used for: Changing Provisional status to Regular. Changing status from Pre-Graduate to Graduate. Accepting/waiving GRE/TOEFL/Deficiency Courses etc. Transferring Credits from an unfinished degree at another institution. Waiving pre-requisites of courses with strong justification. Registering more/less than allowed credit hours. For more information please check FAQs (from homepage, Current

Students FAQ)

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Flow of Academic Petition

Student (Initiation)

Department’s Graduate Coordinator (Approval)

Dean of Graduate Studies (Final Approval)

Department Chairman (Approval)

Registrar (Proper Action)

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Provisional & Regular Status

Students admitted with academic conditions are on PROVISIONAL STATUS

Academic conditions could be GRE, GMAT, TOEFL, deficiency courses, etc.

Students must fulfil admission conditions within the first semester of enrolment.

Once a student fulfils all academic conditions, he should submit an academic petition to change status to Regular status.

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The HOLD List

List of students who are still on Provisional Status. It is prepared at the mid of every semester.

Students in the HOLD list must change their status to Regular status by clearing all admission conditions.

Students failing to do so will be put on registration hold and will not be allowed to confirm registration for the coming semester.

FT/RA/LB students on HOLD will have their contracts/stipends put on HOLD Affect scholarship severely

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Degree Plan Available online through the “Graduate Studies” tab in your

KFUPM Portal.

A list of courses that will be counted towards earning a degree.

Prevents a student from taking unnecessary courses that may not be counted towards his degree.

Must be prepared in consultation with advisor/coordinator in compliance with the general degree plan in the Graduate Bulletin

Students must submit their Degree Plans by mid of the second semester of enrolment at maximum.

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GPA & Warning Policy Graduate students must maintain a minimum GPA of 3.00. Every semester, students whose GPAs fall below 3.00 are

discussed in the Graduate Council Issue Warning, Severe Warning or dismissal letters.

Failure to raise the GPA above 3.00 will result in dismissal from the program.

FT/RA/LB students may be given a single chance and then dismissal will be issued.

In extreme cases of very low performance (e.g., securing F or DN or D grades), FT/RA/LB students may be dismissed from the first semester.

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Starting your Thesis Research

Start deciding on your thesis supervisor and initial topic as early as possible (DO NOT wait for your coursework completion).

You might want to select some of your course term projects as introduction to your thesis work.

This way, you will be ready to submit the proposal by the time you end the course work.

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Thesis/Dissertation Proposal & Committee Thesis/Dissertation is required from all M.Sc. and PhD students.

Not required from students enrolled in non-thesis degrees.

Proposal and Committee should be approved by Department and

College Councils and by Deanship of Graduate Studies.

All the required forms available on DGS website.

Please refer to the chapter on Thesis in the Graduate Bulletin

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Public Oral Defense of Thesis/Dissertation A public oral defense is required from all M.Sc. and PhD

students as a part of their degrees.

The oral defense form has to be submitted at least 2 weeks before the intended date of defense.

Must satisfy the minimum time gap between proposal submission and oral defense (mentioned before).

Oral defense is ONLY allowed during Weeks 2 through 15 of regular semesters (Not allowed in summer semesters and final exam periods!!!).

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Readmission Needed for the following students:

Have been inactive even for one semester.

Have dropped ALL courses in a semester.

Have not confirmed registration according to Registrar deadlines.

FT/RA/LB students are NOT allowed to drop a semester or withdraw from ALL courses.

A student can get re-admission for 3 times at max.

The form should be submitted at least 4 weeks before the start of the intended semester to the department.

Being inactive for more than 6 semesters require a fresh application with a new academic record!!!

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Typical Degree Progress - FT MSc Students

Admission1st Semester

-Register 3 courses 2nd Semester

- Register 3 courses + 599- Submit degree plan- Select thesis advisor and preliminary thesis topic

3rd Semester

- Register 2 remaining courses + 610- Select thesis committee- Submit thesis proposal

4th Semester- Thesis defense and degree completion

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Typical Degree Progress - PT MSc Students

Admission1st Semester

- Register 2 courses 2nd Semester

- Register 2 courses- Submit degree plan

4th Semester

- Register 2 courses- Select thesis committee- Submit thesis proposal

5th Semester- Work on thesis

3rd Semester

- Register 2 courses + 599- Select thesis advisor and preliminary thesis topic

6th Semester- Thesis defense and degree completion

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Typical Degree Progress - FT PhD Students Admission

1st Semester- Register 3 courses

2nd Semester

- Register 3 courses- Submit degree plan

4th Semester

- Register remaining course + 711- Pass Comprehensive Exam as a final chance

5th Semester- Register 712- Select dissertation committee- Submit & defend dissertation proposal

6th and 7th Semesters- Work on dissertation research- Thesis defense and degree completion

3rd Semester- Register 3 courses + 699- Attempt/pass Comprehensive Exam- Select dissertation topic and supervisor

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Common Mistakes

Not being in touch with Department and Graduate Studies.

Not doing registration confirmation at the beginning of every semester (detailed explanation can be acquired from the Registrar Office)

Dropping ALL courses and NOT applying for re-admission for next semester (PT students mainly).

Not fulfilling admission conditions within the first semester. (Please read the conditions in admission letters carefully).

Not registering 610 (or 712) after getting an IP grade!!!

Delaying the seminar course (599) to last semester!!!

Not checking the university student email (g????????@kfupm.edu.sa) regularly.

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Important Note

Please read the Graduate Bulletin carefully and check the FAQ’s document.

Both are available on our website www.kfupm.edu.sa/gs

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THANK YOU