PhD Qualifying Exam and Candidacy

As soon as the substantial majority of the course work is completed, the student must pass a written qualifying examination covering the subject matter in the major and related fields. This examination may be supplemented by an oral examination. Students must be enrolled for a minimum of two (2) hours of graduate credit in their discipline at the time they take the qualifying examination. If the exam is taken between semesters, students must be enrolled for a minimum of two (2) hours of graduate credit in the semester before or following the exam.

The commonly used formats include, but are not limited to: a) Concept Paper and Written Take-Home Format, b) Written Take-Home Open Book Format, and c) Written In-College Closed Book Format. A concentration may also require an oral examination component. 

Regardless of the format used, once the qualifying examination is complete, the Doctoral Committee members are given at least two weeks to review the examination. Within three weeks of exam completion, the student will receive written feedback from the Doctoral Committee Chair, denoting strengths and weaknesses of the exam, and providing an evaluative assessment for each question.

In order to be admitted to doctoral candidacy, students must meet the following requirements at USF:

• admission to a doctoral program
• appointment of a Doctoral Committee,
• attainment of an overall and degree program Grade Point Average (GPA) of 3.00 at USF at the time of candidacy. (All “I” and “M” grades, including “IF” and “MF”, must be cleared before candidacy may be finalized.)
• successful completion of a qualifying examination
• certification by the Doctoral Committee that the above qualifications have been successfully completed.

The Admission to Candidacy form should be submitted for approval during the semester that the qualifying exams were completed, but no later than the semester following the successful completion of the exam. The form will be approved by the Dean of the College and forwarded to the Dean of the Office of Graduate Studies for final approval. Doctoral Candidacy is effective as of the day that the Office of Graduate Studies approves of the request and changes the student's status to 6C. For procedures and processing deadlines refer to the Office of Graduate Studies website at www.grad.usf.edu.

Once candidacy status is approved, students with approved candidacy are eligible to enroll in dissertation hours (7980) in the semester that immediately follows the last business day of the approval window. For example, students approved during the Fall approval window may enroll in the Spring. Students approved during the Spring approval window may enroll in the summer and students approved during the Summer approval window may enroll in the Fall. Students may NOT enroll in dissertation hours prior to being admitted to doctoral candidacy.

Each degree program has a required number of dissertation hours for completion of the degree. Concentrations may, with College approval, apply Directed Research hours toward the total number of dissertation hours required. Directed Research hours shall not exceed 50% of the dissertation hour requirement. No directed research hours will be converted to dissertation hours (i.e. a directed research course dropped and a dissertation course added) prior to or during the approval window. For more information refer to Enrollment Requirements in the Academic Policies section.

1. The Doctoral Dissertation defense (final oral examination) should be conducted within a timeline to allow for the student to make any necessary corrections following the defense and still meet the final copy deadline for turning in the Dissertation to the Office of Graduate Studies.The presentation should be considered an important function and all graduate students and faculty be encouraged to attend.
2. The presentation and defense are open to the public and as such, must meet the requirements of the Sunshine Laws for the State of Florida. The Doctoral Dissertation Committee deliberation is not public.
3. The room selected for the examination should have adequate seating with an alternate room selected in case of problems.
4. It is required that all members of the Doctoral Dissertation Committee be present for the examination unless an absence is approved prior to the defense taking place by the Office of Graduate Studies Dean. In the event that a member cannot attend in person, participation is permissible via speakerphone or video conference. A minimum of three members, including the Major Professor is required to proceed with the defense. If a non-committee member chairs the Defense, this individual does not count as one of the three required members in attendance.  If an unforeseeable situation arises that would prevent compliance with this requirement, the Major Professor or Doctoral Dissertation Defense Chair should contact the Office of Graduate Studies for guidance and approval to proceed with the Defense. 
5. The length of the examination period will generally not exceed three hours. Throughout this time the Doctoral Dissertation Defense Chair is to be in charge of all proceedings and, ideally, is expected to play a balancing role between advocacy and contention.
6. The Outside Chair, at any time during the course of the examination, may request all visitors to leave.
7. Presentation
• The Outside Chair should open the proceedings by introducing the candidate and the Dissertation Committee.
• The examination should begin with a presentation by the candidate designed to summarize the dissertation.
8. Questions
   Following the presentation the Defense may be moved to a different setting for the main examination.  The College determines the order of the proceedings described below:
• The Examination will consist of questions about the research by the Doctoral Dissertation Defense Chair and the Doctoral Dissertation Committee
• It is suggested that questioning should be limited to about 15 minutes for each Doctoral Dissertation Committee member with subsequent rounds of questioning as necessary.
• Questions from the faculty-at-large and/or the public may be allowed following the presentation.  It is suggested that questioning from the general audience be limited up to 5 minutes per person.
9. Deliberations and Voting
   Following the completion of these proceedings, the Doctoral Dissertation Defense Chair
• will ask all visitors and the candidate to leave and will reconvene the Doctoral Dissertation Committee only.
• will preside over the deliberations and voting of the Committee (Note: if a non-committee member (Outside chair) is used he/she will not participate in the voting)
• is responsible for tallying the votes and informing the candidate of the final decision.  The voting is to be limited to "pass" and "fail" votes. The vote of the Doctoral Dissertation Committee must be unanimous.  If unanimous agreement cannot be reached, the Doctoral Dissertation Defense Chair notifies the Department Chair (or appropriate equivalent) who will endeavor to resolve the dispute in an expedient fashion.
• records the vote on the Successful Defense Form and conveys the decision of the Doctoral Dissertation Committee (Successful Defense Form) to the Department/College Graduate Office to be kept in the student's file

Dissertation Final Submission Guidelines
Information on requirements for submission of the finished and approved manuscript copies is available online at the Thesis and Dissertation website www.grad.usf.edu/thesis.php. Students who fail to submit the final copy of a dissertation by the posted submission deadline will not be considered for graduation. The student may be considered for graduation in the following semester and must therefore apply for the degree (graduation) by the posted deadline, enroll in a minimum of two (2) dissertation hours for that subsequent semester, and meet the submission requirements as posted on the Thesis/Dissertation website. Only after the Office of Graduate Studies has approved the manuscript can the student be certified for the degree.

Mandatory Electronic Submission
Students are required to submit the dissertation in an electronic format (ETD). Requirements and procedures are available at the Office of Graduate Studies website www.grad.usf.edu/thesis.php

Submission for Official Publication and Archiving
All dissertations will be submitted to the Office of Graduate Studies designated system for official publication and archiving.

Changes after Publication
Once a dissertation is approved and accepted by the Office of Graduate Studies for publication, it cannot be changed.

Release of Dissertation Publications
The University recognizes the benefits from collaboration with sponsors on research projects but also recognizes the possibility of conflicts of interest in the disclosure of the results of the collaborations. While the sponsor's economic interests in the restriction of disclosure should be considered, the University has a primary mission to extend knowledge and disseminate it to the public and the broader academic community. The University's “Statement of Policy Regarding Inventions and Works” acknowledges the possible need for delays in publication of sponsored research to protect the sponsor's interests, but it provides no definite guidelines for the restrictions of publication beyond the statement: “Disclosure delays mutually acceptable to the Inventor, the Vice President for Research, and the sponsor, if any, are authorized in order to allow patent applications to be filled prior to publication, thereby preserving patent rights...”¹

To protect the University's primary goal from undue compromise, the University has adopted the following guidelines:

1. The recommendations of sponsors, regarding publication of research results should be considered advisory rather than mandatory.
2. In support of academic discourse and the mission to promote and share academic works, Dissertations will be released for worldwide access once submitted to and approved by the USF Office of Graduate Studies. In the event that a patent or copyright application provides reason to delay the release of the Dissertation, a petition to request a one year delay may be submitted to the Office of Graduate Studies for consideration. Such requests must be received by the format check of the dissertation.
3. Students should not be delayed in the final defense of their dissertations by agreements involving publication delays.

Duty to Disclose New Inventions and Works
USF 0-300 regulationspolicies.usf.edu/policies-and-procedures/pdfs/policy-0-300.pdf and USF 12.003 regulationspolicies.usf.edu/regulations/pdfs/regulation-usf12.003.pdf For information about the requirements of this policy contact the Division of Patents and Licensing at (813) 974-0994.

Dissertation Change of Grade
In the semester in which the final manuscript has been received, reviewed, and certified for permanent filing in the University Library, the Office of Graduate Studies submits the change of grade from “Z” to “S” for the last registration of dissertation courses to the office of the registrar when all grades are due at the end of the semester.

¹April Burke, “University Policies on Conflict of Interest and Delay of Publications,” Report of the Clearinghouse on University-Industry Relations, Association of American Universities, February, 1985.

Students may only use the credential of “Ph.D.” after degree conferral is granted. It is inappropriate to use the credential until it is officially and formally granted. The use of the abbreviation “Ph.D.” in university publications, correspondence, etc., including websites and other electronic media, shall be upper case “P”, lower case “h” followed by a period, an upper case “D” and another period. It shall not be used in the format of all upper case letters without periods, as in “PHD”