Coursework

The medium of instruction is English. A student must study a total of 6 core courses, 4 major required courses and 2 major elective courses in his/her area of concentration. The student must pass an examination in each subject to get the required credits. He/she is required to pass the Qualifying Examinations after finishing all coursework. The student is awarded Doctoral Candidacy only after passing the Qualifying Examinations.

Auditing Courses

1. With the approval of the Advisor, a student may audit a course. The required fees must be paid in order to audit, and the student must attend at least 80% of the classes and get a grade of "AUD" with no weight.
2. The maximum number of credit hours allowed in any semester includes the audited classes but the minimum credit hours a student is required to maintain his/her status does not include the audited classes.
3. Credit hours from audited classes are not counted in the accumulated credit earned.

Qualifying Examination

The written qualifying examination will consist of two, four-hour exams. The qualifying examination will be scheduled twice a year, in March and September. The Qualifying Exam is conceived as a scholarly exercise, completed in the beginning of the student's second year (end of first year for required courses) and the beginning of the student's third year (end of second year for major courses) that accomplishes the primary goal of qualifying a student for independent research and scholarship required to conduct a doctoral dissertation. The qualifying examination should further the student's work leading to a successful dissertation, while allowing for a fair assessment of the student's knowledge in the broad area of research interest, as well as his or her scholarly, methodological, conceptual and writing abilities.

Martin de Tours' School of Management's PhD faculty members determine the content of, and evaluate student performance on, the qualifying exam. The faculty members set questions that reflect relevant core material.

An Examination Board, appointed by the Dean, will consist of three members. The final decision on grades will be made by Board members. The PhD Coordinator will confer with the Board to determine if the student passed the qualifying examinations. The results of the written qualifying examination will be reported to the students no later than one month from the date of the examination. The Coordinator will notify the student of the results of the qualifying exam in writing.

Students failing the exam in any of the two groups, are required to take all subjects in the specific group again at a time determined by the School. In no event is a student required to wait more than a year to re-take the exam. A second failure results in dismissal from the program.

Grading: Grades used for these examinations are:
Part I and II:
P+ = Pass with Distinction
P = Pass
P- = Pass with Deficiency
F = Fail

Ph.D. Candidacy
The student is admitted to candidacy when all course work other than the proposal and dissertation research has been completed and the written qualifying examinations have been passed. Each student must present and defend a Ph.D. dissertation proposal no more than three semesters after passing the qualifying exam. The proposal defense will be conducted by the student's Dissertation Committee and will be open to the Ph.D. faculty and students. The second failed defense of a dissertation proposal will result in termination of the student's enrollment in the Ph.D. program

Dissertation

1. A student can register for dissertation only when he/she has obtained Doctoral candidacy.
2. Student must defend his/her research proposal (normally within 36 months of entering the program) and defend his/her completed dissertation at the end of the program.
3. The Doctoral candidate may be guided by two advisors (optional): main one on his/her specialized field, and co-advisor on research design and methodology. The advisor(s) is (are) appointed by the Program Director with the consent of the Doctoral candidate.
4. The general criteria for a successful dissertation include originality, valid and well-structured arguments, and significant contribution to the literature in the field.

Dissertation Examination

Committee

The composition of the committee for the final oral defense for a student's dissertation will be five members: Program Director, Ministry of Education representative, Faculty Expert in the field, Faculty Member or co-advisor, and Main Advisor in the specialized field.

Dissertation Examination Process

1. A student will call a meeting for dissertation defense only after receiving approval from his/her main advisor.
2. Has registered for 36 credits of research dissertation.
3. Arrange to have the version of the dissertation, initially approved by the advisor, type-written according to the format announced by the University and have it approved again by the advisor.
4. Make enough copies of the document without binding for the final examination committee.
5. After the final examination, modify the dissertation according to the resolution of the committee members and submit it to the advisor for final approval. Then have copies bound for the University.
6. After the final examination, modify the dissertation according to the resolution of the committee members and submit it to the advisor for final approval. Then have copies bound for the University.
7. For Final Defense, the dissertation evaluation will be either "S" (Satisfactory) or "U" (Unsatisfactory).