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Ph.D. Degree Requirements | Program Candidacy | Doctoral Candidacy | Dissertation | Graduation
Ph.D. Degree Requirements
Course Requirements
- The University requires a minimum of 20 course units of approved graduate work beyond the baccalaureate for the Ph.D. degree, with at least 12 course units taken at the
University
of
Pennsylvania
- The program of study may include work completed for the master’s degree
- Students must maintain a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.0 for all courses applied toward the degree
Residency Requirement
- All doctoral students must complete at least four course units within two successive terms in University courses approved for graduate credit by GSE
- A maximum of two of these four course units may be taken in summer sessions continuous with the academic year or term in which the remaining course units are taken (e.g., fall/spring, spring/fall, summer/fall, or spring/summer)
- This requirement may be fulfilled at any time after the student has been admitted to GSE for post-baccalaureate coursework
- Some programs require full time study in every semester; and students are advised to consult their division for more information
Distribution Requirement
- As of Fall 2005, doctoral students are no longer required to fulfill a distribution requirement, and doctoral students who matriculated before this fall have the option of following the new policy
- The faculty strongly encourages students to take courses outside the division or school, as appropriate
Time Limitation
- Students admitted to doctoral study after completion of a baccalaureate degree are allowed a maximum of seven consecutive years from the time of first matriculation in a degree program to complete the minimum number of courses required and the preliminary examination
- For students who enter the degree program with a relevant master’s degree, or who transfer eight course units of graduate credit to the doctoral program from previous graduate work at this or other institutions, the time limit for the completion of the minimum number of courses and the preliminary examination is five years
- Students who have not completed all requirements for the Ph.D., including the deposit of the dissertation, within five years of their first registration for dissertation tuition, face the ever-increasing risk that their dissertation research is no longer at the frontier of current research in their field, and such students cease to be candidates for the Ph.D. unless they satisfy the re-evaluation criteria
- A GSE Ph.D. student who has not completed the dissertation within five years of the completion of coursework may submit a petition, at least two months prior to the end of the five year limit, to the Committee on Degrees for an up to 2 year extension
- To qualify for an extension, the student must meet the following four conditions:
- The student’s dissertation proposal must have been accepted, and the ballot form signed by the student’s dissertation committee and submitted to the Student Records Office
- The student must submit a progress report and plan to the dissertation committee that provides a rationale for why the student has been unable to complete the requirements within the five year period and provides a timeline or schedule of steps for completing the remaining requirements within a two year extension
- The student must then submit the progress report and plan to the COD for their review and approval
- The student must re-take a preliminary examination that documents familiarity with the current status of their field
Half-Time Status for Dissertation Students
- As of January 1996, students enrolled for dissertation beyond 10 semesters are considered half-time students, unless they have established that they are full-time students
- Dissertation students beyond the 10th semester of dissertation registration are full-time if: 1) they are serving as a teaching assistant, research assistant, or research fellow at the University of Pennsylvania; or 2) on approval of their dissertation supervisor and their graduate group chair, with confirmation by the Dean and the Vice Provost for Graduate Education, they demonstrate that they are engaged in full-time research on their dissertation
Advising
- Each student is assigned a faculty advisor upon admission
- The advisor is responsible for helping to plan the program of study, guiding the student’s work until completion of coursework and the preliminary examination, and monitoring the student’s academic progress
- If the advisor judges the quality of an advisee’s work to be inadequate, he or she may recommend to the division chair that the student not be allowed to continue in the program
- Advisors should contact their advisees individually in the first semester of the student’s first year before the drop/request period has concluded
- After this initial meeting, students and advisors are mutually obligated to stay in regular contact, preferably twice a year, but always at the start of the academic year to review progress and consider alterations to the program of study
- The planned program of study should be developed between the advisor and advisee in the first semester of the first year of study, and can be revised over time
- Students on dissertation should also communicate with their advisors twice a year so that progress is closely monitored
- Current policy requires that students hold a successful oral proposal within two years of passing the doctoral preliminary examination
- Students should always consult the Student Handbook or the Student Records Office for the most current academic policies, procedures and deadlines for completing academic requirements
- To request a change in advisor, a student should see the division coordinator for procedures
- Once a student has formed a dissertation committee, the committee chair automatically becomes the student’s advisor
Program Candidacy (Qualifications Evaluation)
- All Ph.D. students in education must demonstrate competence in the use of at least one inquiry skill relevant to scholarship and/or professional practice in their field of specialization
- Inquiry skills may include empirical research skills, appropriate foreign languages, computer programming or other skills specified by the specialization
- Courses used to satisfy the inquiry skill requirement do not count toward the minimum number of course units required for the degree
- Specialization faculty reviews the student dossier
- Specialization faculty votes to recommend student for program candidacy
- Division faculty votes whether to admit student to program candidacy
- The student is given feedback in conference or in writing about the decision, his/her performance and future course of study
- Students who are recommended for program candidacy are permitted to continue in the program, and students who do not pass program candidacy are withdrawn from the degree program
- Students may appeal to the division chair if the program faculty does not admit them to program candidacy
- A committee of the graduate group will conduct a regular post-hoc review of candidacy decisions to ensure compliance with criteria
Transfer of Credit
- GSE will, under certain conditions, accept equivalent credit toward the degree
- Up to eight graduate level CUs taken at GSE, Penn, or another institution, may count toward the Ph.D. or Ed.D. degree, though the acceptance of transfer credits does not override specialization requirements
- In order to receive transfer credit students must have earned a grade of at least “B” for all courses
- No academic work done while the student was an undergraduate will be counted toward a graduate degree with the exception of courses taken when the student was an official submatriculant in the Graduate School of Education
- The following conditions apply to transfer of credit:
- Graduate credits were earned at the University not more than 10 years prior to admission to the doctoral program
- A maximum of four course units may be counted toward the degree for courses taken while a student is enrolled in the
College
of
General Studies
- For courses taken more than 10 years prior to admission to the Ph.D. program, within or outside the University, students must show that:
- a grade of “A” or “B” has been earned
- the faculty advisor and the division chair agree that the courses are acceptable
- the student has enrolled in relevant graduate-level courses or engaged in appropriate academic activity after completion of courses for which credit is requested
- when there is not agreement between the student’s advisor and division chair, the student must pass an examination in the content areas for which credit is requested
- Students must follow formal procedures to request the application of transfer credit toward GSE degree requirements:
- Students must be admitted to a degree program before a request for transfer of credit can be considered
- Obtain the appropriate transfer of credit request form from the Student Records Office r the GSE Web site
- Complete the form in consultation with their advisor and obtain the necessary approvals from the advisor and division chair
- Submit the completed form with the original transcript to the Student Records Office
Satisfactory Progress
- All doctoral students are reviewed by the faculty on a regular basis to evaluate their progress
- Evaluation is based on a review of coursework, fieldwork, progress and other relevant criteria
- All students are expected to make steady progress toward completion of degree requirements unless a leave of absence has been granted
- Lack of significant progress in completing degree requirements for two consecutive years (exclusive of time when on official leave of absence) will automatically terminate candidacy or eligibility to apply for candidacy if not already attained
Doctoral Candidacy
- Doctoral candidacy is conferred upon successful completion of the doctoral preliminary examination
- After becoming a candidate for the Ph.D. degree, a student must pass a preliminary examination in the field of his or her major subject
- The preliminary examination is a test of knowledge in the candidate’s area of specialization, requiring students to demonstrate knowledge and reasoning in the key content areas in their specialization as defined by their academic division, including:
- depth and breadth of familiarity with the literature in their field of study
- synthesis of material across core content courses taken in the doctoral program
- ability to critically analyze issues in the field
- knowledge and understanding of the intellectual domains and research paradigms relevant to their field of study
- the ability to present cogent arguments including the effective use of evidence
- Examination results should be communicated to students within four weeks of the date the examination was taken
- Members of the Ed.D./Ph.D.examination committees must be drawn from the standing or associated faculties
- Exceptions to this policy may only be made by the Committee on Degrees upon petition from the division chair
- Students are permitted two opportunities to pass the preliminary examination; if they are unsuccessful after two tries, they will be withdrawn from the doctoral program
- To be eligible to take the preliminary examination, students must:
- Be admitted to program candidacy for the degree
- Have the recommendation of their advisor
- Submit evidence satisfactory to the advisor of capacity to do research in their area of specialization
- Turn in all incomplete coursework by the deadline for registration to take the preliminary examination
- Be registered for the term in which the exam is taken
- Register to take the preliminary examination by completing a form on the GSE website by the deadline listed in the GSE academic calendar
Forming a Dissertation Committee
- Students must consult their advisor for assistance in selecting a group of at least three people with earned doctorates to serve as the dissertation committee
- The dissertation committee is responsible for evaluating their proposal for dissertation research, for supervising the preparation of a dissertation on an approved problem, and for evaluating the dissertation
- Committee members should be selected on the basis of their relationship to the dissertation content
- Students must complete the doctoral preliminary and minor examinations before seeking formal approval for a dissertation committee
- At least two members of the committee must be members of the standing or associated faculty at the
University
of
Pennsylvania
- Standing faculty include those people with the titles of professor, associate professor or assistant professor
- Associated faculty include those at the ranks of professor, associate professor or assistant professor whose title is preceded by the modifier Adjunct, Research, Clinical, Visiting, or Practice
- The third member may be a scholar external to the
University
of
Pennsylvania
with a doctoral degree, including a qualified individual who does not hold faculty rank at a college or university
- To include an external member on their dissertation committee, students must fill out necessary forms and receive approval from the committee chair and from the Committee on Degrees
- The chair of a Ph.D. dissertation committee must be both a member of the Graduate Group in Education, and a member of the standing faculty
- The student, the chair, and majority of the committee are required to be physically present at the oral proposal and final defense hearings
- Although all members of a student’s dissertation committee are expected to be physically present at the oral proposal and final defense hearings, in extenuating circumstances one member, or a minority of the committee, may be physically absent as long as the absent member(s) participate(s) in the oral proposal and final defense hearings
Approval Process for a Dissertation Committee
GSE Standards for the Proposal
- Your committee will determine whether you pass your oral proposal hearing, according to the following criteria:
- The topic is stated clearly and relevant background literature reviewed and evaluated
- The research questions are stated clearly
- The contribution and importance of the research questions with respect to relevant literature, theory, policy, and/or practice are articulated in a convincing manner
- The research plan and methods are appropriate and adequate to study the research questions posed, and are explicitly described
Oral Proposal of Dissertation
- Once the dissertation committee has been officially appointed, students are required to present their dissertation proposals orally to the dissertation committee
- To schedule the oral proposal hearing, doctoral candidates must submit the completed Notification Form, with six copies of the dissertation abstract, to the Student Records Office, at least two weeks in advance of the date of the oral proposal hearing
- The Student Records Office schedules the meeting room and formally notifies the dissertation committee that the meeting has been scheduled
- The dissertation committee will review the proposal with the student and help refine the proposed dissertation project, then vote on the proposal and indicate any revisions that might be required before the student may be allowed to proceed with the dissertation research
- Oral proposal hearings are not normally held during the summer
- After the dissertation proposal is approved, three ballots will be signed by the committee: one for the student, one for the chair, and one for the Student Records Office
- Students must complete all remaining requirements for the degree within a period of four years, unless granted an extension by the Committee on Degrees
- The dissertation is an independently produced piece of original research on a problem in education prepared under the supervision of a dissertation committee, and should show high attainment and power of independent research
- Multiple authorship of dissertations is allowed as long as no publication is used as dissertation material for more than one student and as long as the candidate includes for publication a concise account of his or her contribution to the whole work
- A GSE Ph.D. dissertation should include:
- A research problem that is clearly located in the relevant literature
- A research question(s) or research hypothesis(es)
- A theoretical orientation or conceptual framework that is used to provide some of the background and rationale for:
- a description of the significance of the dissertation research
- the selection of the research methods approach(es) chosen to investigate the research question(s) or hypothesis(es)
- Description of approach(es)/method(s)
- Data presentation and analysis (i.e., findings, results)
- Implications for theory, policy, practice, and/or further research
- The topic is stated clearly and relevant background literature reviewed and evaluated
- The research questions are stated clearly
- The contribution and importance of the research questions with respect to relevant literature, theory, policy, and/or practice are articulated in a convincing manner
- The research plan and methods are appropriate and adequate to study the research questions posed, and are explicitly described
- The topic is stated clearly and relevant background literature reviewed and evaluated
- The research plan and methods are implemented effectively
- The research produced trustworthy evidence that bears on the research questions
- The conclusions follow convincingly from the evidence and its interpretation
- The dissertation manuscript is coherent, well structured, clearly written and is in accordance with the specifications of a standard style manual regarding grammar, punctuation, spelling, etc.
- With appropriate revisions, the dissertation is of sufficient quality to be publishable in an academic or practice-oriented journal that is peer reviewed
- The Table of Contents is accurate in terms of headings and page numbers
- Citations and the bibliographic/reference section are formatted in accordance with a standard style manual
- The title page, pagination, abstract, notes, bibliography, tables, and figures are formatted in accordance with the
University
of
Pennsylvania Doctoral Dissertation Manual
Final Defense of Dissertation
- The candidate’s dissertation committee will report to the Committee on Degrees when the candidate has met all requirements and is ready for the final oral defense
- The final oral defense is approximately one and a half hours in length and is based upon the candidate’s dissertation
- To schedule the final oral examination, doctoral candidates must submit the completed Notification Form, with six copies of the dissertation abstract, to the Student Records Office at least two weeks in advance of the date of the final defense
- The Student Records Office schedules the meeting room and formally notifies the dissertation committee that the meeting has been scheduled
- The student, the chair, and majority of the committee are required to be physically present at the oral proposal and final defense hearings
- At least one term must elapse between passing the preliminary examination and taking the final oral examination
- At the discretion of the dissertation committee, the candidate will be recommended to the faculty of the Graduate Group in Education for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy
- After the final defense hearing, three ballots will be signed by the committee: one for the student, one for the chair, and one for the Student Records Office
Required Documents for Ph.D. Dissertations
- One copy of the dissertation printed on plain paper with abstract
- One copy of the dissertation printed on 100% acid-free paper with abstract
- Two title pages, printed on 100% acid-free paper, that read, “A Dissertation in Education” and will be signed by the dissertation chair and the Graduate Group Chair
- One additional abstract with title sheet (unsigned) printed on 100% acid-free paper
- Form 152 (Acceptance of Dissertation) from the student’s file in the Student Records Office
- Form 153 (Certificate of Dissertation), from the student’s file in the Student Records Office
- Microfilming contract, supplied by Grad Arts & Sciences
- Survey of Earned Doctorates, supplied by Grad Arts & Sciences
- Survey of Doctoral Students’ Opinion, supplied by Grad Arts & Sciences
- Receipt showing zero balance if balance was recently paid
Acceptance of the Dissertation
- The Graduate Group reports to the graduate office regarding acceptance of the Ph.D. dissertation and its suitability for immediate publication by the prescribed deadline
- Once the dissertation is approved, Form 152 (Acceptance of Dissertation) is signed by the entire committee, and the student brings the completed form to the Student Records Office
- When the student is ready to file the dissertation with the Graduate Group Chair for signature, the student picks up Form 152 with Form 153 (Certification of Dissertation) at the Student Records Office
- Please allow three weeks for Graduate Group Chair approval before dissertation is filed with the Graduate Group in Arts and Sciences
- After successfully completing the final oral examination and making any required revisions to the dissertation, the dissertation must be filed with Van Pelt Library for microfilming by University Microfilms,
Ann Arbor
,
Michigan
- All dissertations will be microfilmed according to the plan provided by University Microfilms
- Microfilming does not preclude later publication by other methods. Consult the GSE academic calendar for filing deadlines pertinent to graduation dates
- Before graduation, the candidate must submit to the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences the microfilm contract, complete the Doctoral Opinion Survey, pay the microfilming fee, and submit the original and one copy of the final typed version of the dissertation
Research on Human Subjects
- Students must obtain University approval from the Institutional Review Board (IRB) before they may conduct research on human subjects for their dissertation study
- Since education research generally involves little or no risk to the participants, the University permits GSE students to apply for an expedited review by the IRB
- Detailed information about these procedures is available online
- Students must apply for approval of their dissertation research by submitting certain documents, available from the Director for Regulatory Affairs, Office of Research Administration,
3508 Market St., Suite 3508
,
Philadelphia
,
PA
19104-3246
, or (215) 898-2614, and the IRB website
- Each division has a small fund earmarked for student research expenses for which students conducting dissertation research may be eligible
- Students should consult their division coordinator for more information
Dissertation Research Abroad
- Students with grants to undertake dissertation research abroad that do not provide home institution fees, and who wish to maintain the University Health Insurance Plan, may obtain a special registration status entitled “Dissertation Research Abroad”
- This special status allows the student to remain registered, but not incur tuition charges
- Once written permission has been granted by the Assistant Dean for Academic and Student Affairs for the semester(s) in question, the Student Records Office will register the student
Patent Policy Relating to Research
- A dissertation submitted as a part of the requirements for a degree is the property of the University, and any patent rights arising there from are governed by the Patent Policy of the
University
of
Pennsylvania
- An invention or discovery resulting from research carried out in University laboratories as a part of a post-doctoral or other non-degree program is the property of the University, and any patent rights arising therefrom are also governed by the Patent Policy of the
University
of
Pennsylvania
Graduation
- The GSE academic calendar lists the deadlines for completing degree requirements in order to graduate in any academic term
- All degree candidates must apply to graduate on-line at the beginning of the term in which they plan to receive the degree
- Ph.D. students must apply on-line to graduate with Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
- Failure to apply for graduation by the published deadline will make it impossible to receive the degree at the time desired
- GSE holds a commencement ceremony each year in May for students who have completed degrees during the past academic year
- Doctoral students who have successfully defended their dissertation by the last day of graduate classes listed on the spring semester of the GSE academic calendar may also participate in the ceremony in May
- August graduates who participate in the May commencement ceremony:
- must apply to graduate in August by the deadline listed in the GSE academic calendar
- will have their diplomas mailed to them by the Office of the Secretary of the University three months after they have completed their degree requirements
- August and December graduates are also invited to participate in the spring commencement exercises that follow completion of their degrees
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Course Information
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