In the first 24 months of your PhD Programme, you will undertake a series of courses within your specialist area. The course load for each term varies according to the requirements set by respective Divisions.  Please refer to the respective Division's page for their coursework requirement. The courses offered each term can be viewed here.  In order to graduate, each student is required to complete an equivalent of 8 full courses (24 academic units).  

Apart from the courses required by the divisions, you shall complete certain workshop/training requirements by the University.

Upon completing (or nearing the end of) your coursework and obtaining at least 18 academic units, you will undergo PhD Qualifying Exam (QE), which is an assessment of your ability to undertake independent research and write a thesis.  Only those who passed the Pre-Qualifying Exam (Pre-QE), which is arranged by the respective Divisions, can proceed to QE.

The aim of internal defence is to assess if a student has done sufficient research and has enough research findings for the writing of the final thesis.

When ready, the thesis is submitted to the university for examination by the thesis examiners. They will assess if the thesis contains original work or critical interpretation and analysis worthy of publication in the international domain.

Finally, the thesis is presented in the oral examination, where the committee examines the student's expertise in the field and advances the candidate’s knowledge.