Degrees Conferred

M.S. (Master of Science) and Ph.D. (Doctor of Philosophy)

Submission of Research Proposal

• The proposal must be submitted before the deadline as follows
  • M.S. students - Within one year in the M.S. course
  • Ph.D. students - Within 2 years in the Ph.D. course
• When a revision is needed for an approved proposal, the student is required to submit a revised proposal in written form and must receive permission.

M.S. Thesis and Ph.D. Dissertation

• Students who have fulfilled the following requirements may submit their thesis or dissertation
  • Submission of research proposal
  • Required number of graduate courses
  • Successful completion of Qualifying Exam(s) (for Ph.D. students)
• Students who have fulfilled the following requirements may submit their thesis or dissertation
• Deadlines
  • A thesis for an M.S. degree must be submitted by the end of May or November to the committee members.
  • A dissertation for a Ph.D. degree must be submitted by the end of April or October to the committee members.
• The thesis or dissertation must be written in English and there is no limit to its volume (length).
• A4 size papers must be used for printing the thesis or dissertation.
• The abstract must be clearly written in English with a maximum of 1,000 words. The abstract must also be written in Korean with a maximum of 2,000 words.
• Three (3) copies of an M.S. thesis and five (5) copies of a Ph.D. dissertation must be submitted to the committee.
• The chair of the committee must write a report after the student’s defense.
• When the thesis or dissertation is approved by the committee, the thesis or dissertation must be written according to the guidelines published by GIST. The completed thesis or dissertation must be submitted before the deadline specified as follows, along with a disk containing an electronic form of the thesis or dissertation and a letter conferring to GIST the right to publish the thesis.
  • M.S.: July 10th (for graduation in August) and Jan. 10th (for graduation in Feb.)
  • Ph.D.: June 15th (for graduation in August) and Dec. 15th (for graduation in Feb.)

Time Requirement

The thesis for an M.S. degree must be completed within 4 years and the dissertation for a Ph.D. degree must be completed within 8 years.

Committee

• The thesis committee for an M.S. degree must consist of three (3) members who are experts in the area of the thesis and they must have a qualification of being higher than or equal to (?) faculty members at GIST. At least two (2) of them must be regular faculty members.
• The dissertation committee for a Ph.D. degree should consist of more than five (5) regular faculty members of GIST. When the president of GIST approves, less than three (3) external (non-GIST) committee members can be invited with the approval of the department chair. It is recommended to have at least one foreign faculty member on the committee. If this is impossible, a written permission must be obtained from the department chair.

Degree Conferral

M.S.

Degrees are conferred to students who have successfully completed oral defense for their thesis after fulfilling academic requirements with a GPA of over 3.0/4.5 and also qualification in English. The Committee for Academics and Research makes the final judgment of degree conferral.

Qualification in English

• TOEFL 550 (PBT) and 213 (CBT), TOEIC 750, and TEPS 680.
• Successful completion of Korean language course(s) for international students.

Ph.D.

Degrees are conferred to students who have successfully completed oral defense for their dissertation after fulfilling research requirements, coursework requirements with a GPA of over 3.0/4.5, and also qualification in English. The Committee for Academics and Research at GIST makes the final judgment of degree conferral.

Final Defense (for Dissertation)

• The dissertation committee decides on Pass or Fail.
• Students must pass the Qualifying Exam(s) administered by the department.

‘Doctoral Qualifying Exam’? (DQE)

Timeline

• Ph.D. students should take the DQE during the first year of their Ph.D. studies. (Students with an M.S. from another institution may take their first DQE on the third semester.)
• DQE should be passed within two (2) consecutive attempts.
• After two consecutive failures, one more chance to take the DQE may be allowed for students whose petition gets approved by the DQE committee.

(DQE?) Subjects

Photonics and Semiconductor Group

Three (3) of the following subjects must be selected. Two (2) of the three subjects must be chosen from the group with which the student is affiliated.

• Theory of Semiconductor Devices
• Electromagnetics
• Optics and Lasers

Information and Multimedia System Group

Four (4) of the following subjects must be selected. Three (3) of the four subjects must be chosen from the group with which the student is affiliated.

• Digital Signal Processing
• Advanced Discrete Mathematics
• Linear Algebra with Numerical Methods
• Random Process

Criteria for Pass and Fail

Two or more qualifying exam committee members grade the student’s answers according to the following grading system: A+ (4.3), A0 (4.0), A- (3.7), B+ (3.3), B0 (3.0), B- (2.7), C+ (2.3), C0 (2.0), C- (1.7), D+ (1.3), D0 (1.0), D- (0.7), F (0.0).

When the average score for a subject is higher than 3.0, the student passes the subject. Also, the total average score from the three subjects must be higher than 3.2. In case the student receives a score of less than 3.0 from one subject, the exam for that specific subject must be taken in the next qualifying exam even though a total average score may be higher than 3.2.

Two Consecutive Fails in DQE

The student has a right to submit a petition for one more change in DQE.

Approval of the petition is decided at a faculty meeting. This means that the petition itself does not guarantee another chance to take the exam.

Minimum Requirements for Graduation

Completion of required coursework and a GPA higher than 3.0/4.5.

Qualification in English must be demonstrated by submitting English test scores such as TOEFL, TOEIC, and TEPS.

• The minimum accepted test scores are: TOEFL 550 (PBT) and 213 (CBT), TOEIC 750, and TEPS 680.
  • Successful Completion of Preliminary Exam
  • Successful Completion of Final Exams
  • Demonstration of Independent Research
• At least one (1) first-authored SCI(E) paper and two (2) first-authored papers in prominent international conferences.
• Two (2) or more first-authored SCI(E) papers.