The PhD program is designed for full/part-time students who are expected to engage in scholarly work on a full-time basis. The program consists of 42 credit hours: 30 are for coursework (beyond the MS degree), and 12 are for dissertation. The maximum load for the PhD student is 12 graduate credit hours per semester, and all the credited courses should be taken from 500 and 600 levels. Thus, the coursework will require one and a half years, and the dissertation will require an additional year. The maximum period allowed to obtain a PhD degree is five years.

• Students applying to the doctoral program must provide evidence of exceptional scholastic ability, intellectual creativity, and research motivation. The minimum requirements for admission to the doctoral program as a regular student with full standing in Aerospace Engineering are:
  • Have completed a Master's or Bachelor's degree in Aerospace Engineering or a closely related engineering discipline.
  • Have superior academic records with a minimum Master's cumulative grade point average (CGPA) of 3 (on a 4.0 scale).
  • Have taken the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) and have an acceptable score on both quantitative and verbal sections. Exceptions will be allowed based on KFUPM rules.
  • Submit a complete application package before the deadline specified in the University catalog.
  • International applicants whose primary language is not English must also achieve the minimum score requirement of TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) or IELTS (International English Language Test System) as required by the University.
  • Core courses can be substituted by equivalent elective courses for students who got their MS degree from the Aerospace Engineering department at KFUPM.

Full-Time Residency Requirement for Part-Time PhD Students

The PhD programs require that the Part-Time PhD student should reside in one of the Eastern Province cities that are close to the university for at least six academic semesters, according to the following:

1. Four academic semesters while taking the required course load of the program in the Eastern Province cities within 200 km of Dhahran.

A full-time residency period of at least two consecutive semesters while working on the PhD dissertation. An agreement for this period by the student and his sponsor is required. This period should be taken after completing all the required coursework, passing the comprehensive exam, and admission to candidacy. This is to enable the student to be free to accomplish the required research for his PhD dissertation.

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