Regulation of awarding the PhD Degree

American University > Regulation of awarding the PhD Degree

Regulation issued based upon the awarding system of the scientific degrees, emeritus degrees and certificates in American University.
These regulation is called ( Regulation of awarding the PhD Degree in American University
The following words & phrases will have the meaning stated opposite it unless it is stated against that:
The University : American University
The Office : The University Liaison Office in the Student seat country
The council : The Dean council or it’s represent6aive in the student’s country
The Dean : The College Dean concerned with the program
The College : Any College of the university colleges
The Section : Any section from the academic sections in the college
The Student : The PhD Degree student
The Master : The PhD Degree

  • The PhD degree requirements consists of not less than (54) credit hours and according to the study plan decided by the council
  • These requirements are distributed according tot eh following :
    1. Study (11) for (3) credit hours for each subject and the total credit hours required in the PhD Degree will be (33) credit hours
    2. Present a graduation dissertation for (21) credit hours and pass in it and must be evaluated by the concerned dean or his representative.
  • The dean can task the student to study a comprehend subjects to upgrade the level of the student and became a part of his study plan
  • the concerned dean can determine the period of time that the student must finish the comprehend subjects , but this period must not exceed more than three study semesters , and the dean can surpass that.
  • The comprehend subjects hours will not be computed within the credit hours required to obtain the doctorate degree and will not be computed in the accumulated average for the student and the student must pass in a level of (C+) equivalent to (65%) .
  • The dean council or his representative determine in each academic year number of the students accepted in each program from the PhD program.
  • The student will be accepted in the PhD Degree Program in the following conditions:
    1. Must have the Bachelor Degree and the Master Degree with an estimation in the Master Degree not less than (Good) or equivalent from a recognized university
    2. The college council can submit a special conditions to accept in the program that he included in the study period.
  • Registration application in the PhD Degree Program will be submitted to the acceptance and registration department in the liaison office in the student’s seat country on the authorized form prepared for this purpose .
  • The council issues list of the accepted students in the program based upon the recommendations of the dean.
  • It is not permitted to accept the student in two study programs in one time in any study stage.
  • The minimum limit spend by the student registered to obtain the Doctorate degree is two years but the maximum limit for the period remained registered to obtain the degree is five years.
  • Disconnected , postpone or withdraw period from study with an excuse must not exceed more than one study year, and this period will not be computed from the maximum time allowed for the study period to obtain the Master Degree stated above.
  • It is permitted to extend the postpone period for two additional study semesters based upon a recommendation from the dean.
  • It is not permitted to the student to register for the doctorate dissertation unless he passes the final examination and succeed in all subjects decided by the study plan of (11) numbers for (33) credit hours.
  • The registration of the student is considered cancel in any academic year if he did not pay the fees completely according to the agreed time table..
  • Who ever be absent from the declared final examination with an accepted excuse, a remark will be recorded for him (not complete) and be informed accepting the excuse to the subject teacher to conduct a compensated examination to the student at the end of the academic year next to the academic year that he was not present to the examination, but if the next academic year was postponed officially , in this case the compensated examination will be conducted in eh next postponed year.
  • It is a condition from whom he wants to postpone his study that he must complete which equal at least to one study semester(half year) in the program that he join.
  • The postpone request is submitted on the special form before the starting of the study in the year he wants to postpone and the approval of the dean will be issued..
  • It is allowed to the student to withdraw from studying one subject or more before the date of the final examination and it will be fixed in his records (withdraw).
  • The withdraw will be according to the form prepared for this purpose
  • The university fees will not be given back after the period of withdrawal or addition is over in all cases.
  • The student is considered disconnected from the study in the following cases :
    1. If the study started and the period of draw and addition is over and he was not registered for that year.
    2. If he did not pay full study fees in the specific dates
    3. If the disconnection of the students exceed more than two continuous semesters he will be considered dismissed from the university unless his disconnection has an accepted excuse by the dean , and in this case , upon his arrival he must submit a justification for that.
    4. The student can be transferred from a specialty to another specialty submit an application to join the new program and he will be subject to the acceptance conditions for that program.
  • It is a condition that the subject studied by the student in another university and asked to be computed the following:
    1. Must be equivalent or similar to the subject/subjects in the established study plan.
    2. the estimation of the student in each subject must not be less than good (B-) or equivalent.
  • It is not permitted to compute any subject to the student previously studied in the study plan for the previous scientific degree for the doctorate degree.
  • It is not permitted to compute more than (12) credit hours to the student he had already studied in another university in condition that it must be similar to the subjects in the study plan.,
  • Deduct what is equivalent to one study semester from the maximum limit of the graduation projects against every (12) credit hours and will be computed for the student or according to what is decided by the concerned dean in the student’s seat country
  • The student joining the PhD Degree Program in the university must study not more than (6) credit hours in a similar program in other university recognized by the university in condition that he must obtain the approval of the dean.
  • The grades of the subjects indicated above in these regulations will be entered in the accumulated average if the study was in other university
  • Passing grades in each subject of the Master Degree Program must be (70%) , but for the comprehend subjects , the passing grade for each subject must be (65%) ..i.e.

The subjects will be allotted percentages and estimations according to the following :

 Percentage  Estimation code  Points
 85-100 (a) 4
80-84 (b+) 3.5
75-79 (b) 3
70-74 (b-) 2.75
65-69 (c+) 2.5
60-64 (c) 2
Less than 60 (d+) 1.5

  • Minimum Limit for passing in the accumulated average in the PhD Degree Program (5%) equal to (B-) which equal to (three points) from (4) points
  • It is permitted to the student for the purpose of upgrading his accumulated average to restudy subjects but not more than (15) credit hours all over his period of study .
  • Distribution of the subject grades will be as follows :
  • Final examination will be allotted for him what is equal tot the credit hours to the subjects , and the credit hours for the dissertation .
    The student estimation will be determined according to his accumulated average according to the following:
    1. Excellent 3,6 and above
    2. Very good 3- to less than 3,6
    3. Good (Post Graduate (2,5) to less than 3
  • The student will receive a warning in the following cases:
    1. if he could not get at the end of the academic year the minimum limit of the accumulated average which is (B) equal to (75%) in the subjects he studied until the end of that year.
    2. If the supervisor on the doctorate dissertation sees that he did not perform what is required from him in this dissertation according to the scientific regulation
  • The student will be dismissed from the PhD program in the following cases:
    1. If he did not obtain the minimum limit required for the accumulated average for the subjects in any academic year.
    2. If he failed in the supplementary examinations
    3. If he failed in discussing the dissertation
    4. If he could not successfully complete the requirements of obtaining the PhD Degree within the maximum limit allowed and stated in these regulations
    5. If he committed a violation resulted in his dismissal according to the regulation implemented by the University
  • The student must complete the comprehend subjects decided for him successfully before starting study of the subjects required in the study plan, and it is permitted to the dean in a special cases to give permission to the student to study subject from the program do not depend on any of the comprehend subjects.
  • It is not permitted to compute that 10 years passes on it’s study
  • If the student studies a voluntarily subject and failed in it , he is permitted to study another voluntarily one to compensate that to complete the requirements of the study plan and the compensated subject will be considered repeated for the voluntarily subject that he failed in it and the compensated subject grade will be computed.
  • The PhD student after passing the final examination he submits an application to the section chief including the dissertation subject, his plan, and the name of the faculty staff member to supervise on him.
  • The PhD dissertation plan will be discussed according to the following :
    1. The plan will be discussed between the supervisor and the student
    2. The plan is discussed by a committee formed by the dean based upon the recommendation of the section chief or held a research seminar for this purpose. The plan is discussed after that in the section council, then in the college council then presented to the dean council to be finalized in it’s final text.
  • the dean issue a decision to assign the supervisor and the associated supervisor to the PhD dissertation, and decide the title of the dissertation and plan project in a period do not exceed the end of the second academic year that the student joining the university based upon the recommendation of the section chief.
  • It is conditioned that the supervisor must be from the specialized persons in the student’s specialty whom they are in the position of professor or associated professor.
  • the council takes the decisions related to the supervision bonus on the dissertation.
  • It is allowed to enter changes on the dissertation title and ti’s plan if it is required that.
  • it is permitted against a justified conditions to change the supervisor and the members of the supervision committee
  • Amendments and changes stated in the two above paragraphs are made in the same method decided for the dissertation title and it’s plan and the supervisors.
  • It is permitted through a decision from the college council and based upon the recommendation for the section council:
    1. The faculty staff full time member and the part time member can continue if he decide to change the place of his supervision on the dissertation or participate in the supervision .
    2. participate in the supervision whom he posses a university position from a recognized university in condition that he has the following conditions based on these regulations.
    3. The supervisor be a member of the faculty staff in a general /private university inside /outside the student country.
  • the dissertation is transferred before discussion in the university to an outside auditor to give his opinion if the dissertation deserves to be a doctorate dissertation project as a preliminary step to discuss it according to the regulation.
  • Language auditing is done after the subjective auditing and the student and the supervisor will be responsible for submitting the dissertation in a sound and good language.
  • Assign a committee to discuss the dissertation and assign a date through a decision from the college council or its representative in the student’s seat country. The committee consists of the following :
    1. the committee president assigned by the dean
    2. three members of the faculty staff and the supervisor be one of them and one member from them at least be from outside the university
  • the student presents a copy of his dissertation project to the discussion committee members before one month of the date of the declared discussion.
  • The dissertation is discussed as follows:
    1. The student provide a summary about his dissertation
    2. The committee presidents control the discussion and after it is over , the committee discuss it and decide consensus or according to the majority with the following results:
      1. The student passes without any amendments
      2. The student passes with minor amendments
      3. Conduct basic amendments on the dissertation, and discuss it one more time
      4. Reject the dissertation
    3. The committee president declares it’s decision in the discussion hall before all members
    4. The committee president submits it’s decision signed by all members to the section chief whom he submitted to the college dean or his representative, and the decision is notified to the acceptance and registration manger in the liaison office in the student seat country.
    5. The dissertation is written in the Arabic Language and must be attached with two summaries one in the Arabic Language and the other in the English Language , in condition that any of these two summaries must not exceed more than(600)words.
    6. It is permitted to write the dissertation in a language other than Arabic Language and a summary do not exceed more than (600)words and in this case it must be attached with an Arabic Language summary not less than two thousand words
    7. The title Page consists of the following:
    8. Dissertation Title, the name of presenter as it is registered officially in the university
    9. Name of the Supervisor and the associated supervisor if exist
    10. Date of evaluation for this dissertation
    11. The following phrase : This dissertation is submitted in completing the requirements of the Master Degree in American University specialty or equivalent in the English Language. The dissertation is submitted on a printed papers size (A4).
  • The distance between the two lines must be one and half if it was written in Arabic Language and two distances if it was written in the English Language.
  • A margin of (3,5cm) on the right side of the page will be left in the Arabic copy and on the left side in the English copy and all other margins will be (2,5cm)..
  • In case there are maps, pictures , lists, tables or any data drawings, the material used in it must be from the good quality to assure it will be in good condition.
  • Five copies will be deposited from the printed dissertation in the university library by the evaluation member after completing the accepting requirements.
  • A copy will be forwarded to the concerned section and another to the college dean or it’s representative in the student’s country
  • A CD copy will be deposited in the university library according to the specifications determined by the university according to the regulations.
  • The PhD Degree is awarded after completing all conditions and requirements stated in the regulations and rules and the study plan for this degree through a decision from the council based upon a recommendation from the college council or his representative in the student seat country.
  • The student authorizes the university in (writing) the right to copy the dissertation completely or partially for the purpose of scientific research and exchange with the educational institutes and universities and libraries.
  • The council takes his decisions in the issues that has no text in these regulations
  • The University president or his official representative, deans, the acceptance and registration manager are responsible to execute these regulations.
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