Graduate Degrees and Programs

Ph. D. students entering with an M.S. degree in computer engineering or computer science are expected to have completed their Qualifying Exam by the end of their first year and 30 semester hours by the end of their second year. They should then complete the remaining 12 semester hours and graduate by the end of their fourth year. Individual students may be able to complete requirements more quickly.

Ph. D. students entering without an M.S. degree in computer engineering or computer science are expected to have completed their Qualifying Exam by the end of their second year and 60 semester hours by the end of their third year. They should then complete the remaining 12 semester hours and graduate by the end of their fifth year. Individual students may be able to complete requirements more quickly.

In addition to satisfying the general requirement for all UNT doctoral degrees listed in the Graduate Catalog, each Ph.D. student must satisfactorily complete the following:

1. A minimum of 30 semester credit hours of organized graduate coursework in CSE (for students who don’t have an M.S. in CSE), including 6 hours of 6000 level organized courses in the UNT Computer Science and Engineering Department is required.
2. The residence requirement, consisting of two consecutive terms/semesters of enrollment in at least 9 semester hours, or 3 consecutive terms/semesters of enrollment in at least 6 semester credit hours.
3. PhD Qualifying Requirements:
   1. A student shall complete with a grade of B or higher, a theoretical course such as Analysis of Algorithms, that is recommended/approved by the student’s PhD committee.
   2. Formation of a PhD committee:
      PhD student entering w/MS: after completion of 18 sch
      PhD student entering w/BS: after completion of 36 sch
      The CSE PhD committee will consist of the student’s advisor (major professor in CSE) and at least three (3) additional members. You may have outside members on your committee, but the committee must have more members who are professors in CSE than outside members.
   3. Student must have a copy of their Degree Plan, complete and approved by the Graduate School within the first academic year.
   4. An oral exam to be conducted by the student’s PhD committee to assure the research readiness of the candidate. The format of this Oral exam is to be determined by the student’s PhD committee.
4. Dissertation Proposal Defense: An oral presentation of a detailed research plan. The research plan (prospectus) is distributed to the committee well in advance and an examination announcement will be distributed for interested graduate faculty and students.
5. Dissertation Defense: Upon completion, the dissertation is to be distributed to the committee members at least 4 weeks prior to the final examination date. The candidate will prepare a formal presentation of their dissertation research and results to be defended during an oral exam.

• • It is mandatory to have an oral defense form prior to your defense. In order to get your defense form, your Dissertation Chair must go online and fill out the Oral Defense Notification Form on the Graduate School Forms page. The CSE Department does not have these forms in-house. It is imperative that the notification is submitted two weeks before the defense.

PhD Milestone Chart - Time to Completion