Credit requirements

The Doctoral Program in Mechanical Engineering is a two to seven-year program which requires 18 credits towards graduation. Students are required to take elective courses with the course number starting with 5 or more for 18 credits to complete the Ph.D. degree, and these credits should include at least 9 credits from the courses offered by the ME department.

Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering Credit Requirements
Required Courses
Doctoral Thesis	0
Academic Research Ethics	0
ME7901302 Seminar (Fall Semester)	0
ME7905306  Research Methods and Discussion (Spring Semester)	0
Electives
Courses from M.E.	9 (minimum)
Free electives	9 (Upon fulfilling the above credit requirements, you may proceed to make your own arrangements.)
Total credits	18

Academic Research Ethics Seminar

As a requirement by the Taiwan Ministry of Education, all graduate students enrolled at universities in Taiwan have to complete seminars in Academic Research Ethics (ARE) which usually consist of three teaching units, where the first two units are lectures, while the last unit is a test. All Taiwan Tech graduate students are required to attend at least one research ethics seminar before the end of the first year of studies, and to pass the ARE exam. 

ARE seminars are not credit-bearing, but will appear in academic transcripts as PASSED with a passing grade of 70%. A successfully completed ARE seminar is a requirement for taking the degree examination.
Every semester, the Taiwan Tech Centre of General Education offers eight or more ARE seminars which are taught by experienced instructors focusing on different aspects of academic research ethics. The schedule and topics of ARE seminars will be announced here.

Advisors

Students are free to choose the topic of their thesis, but they need to get approval from their advisor at the initial stage of the thesis-writing process. If required by the topic, students can apply to invite an expert co-advisor from another Taiwan Tech department or another academic institution. Application for co-advisors from another academic institution required an internal review by the Department Committee.
Also, students who wish to change their advisors must apply to the M.E. office after their request is approved by the current advisor. If a student fails to secure a new advisor within one month following the previous advisorship termination, the student's scholarship wil be suspended and student's status will be terminated.

• Download: Thesis Advisor Consent Form
• Download the Co-advisor Form: and submit the application to the Department Office at least one semester before your defense for review.
• Download: Changing Thesis Advisor Form

Qualifying Examination

Ph.D. students shall complete the qualifying-examination requirements within two years after his/her enrollment into the Ph.D. program, who fail to do so shall be mandatorily withdrawn from the program. Please refer to the Qualifying Examination Requirement for detailed information.

Journal Publication

• PhD candidates who entered the program after 2017 (enrolled in/after academic year 106) must complete at least two thesis-related articles published (or accepted) in SCI-indexed journals and with at least one of those written in English and issued by a SCI-indexed journal owned by an overseas publisher. The candidate and his/her supervisor must be either the first, second or corresponding author of the above-mentioned publications. In addition,candidates must participate in international conferences at least once to give an oral presentation in English. Note that the oral presentation given by the candidate within five years when he/she is affiliated with the Department of Mechanical Engineering at NTUST can be considered qualified upon his/her supervisor's approval.

Dissertation and Defense 

• The defense is an important exam at the end of the doctoral program and the organization of which involves several administrative levels. Thus, submission of application for the defense have to start at least ONE MONTH before the planned defense date. The defense can only be held during the term, i.e. during the Fall semester (between 1 October to 31 January) or during the Spring semester (between 1 April to 31 July). Procedures are explained in detail here: Guideline for Degree Thesis Defense Examination (Ph.D.)

• Graduate Thesis Title Application and Review (Applicable to Students Enrolled from Academic Year 112): Before applying for defense, students must apply for Thesis Title review first (click here for more details).

• After a successful defense, students have to revise their dissertation according to the feedback given by the committee members. The deadline for submitting the final version of the dissertation (both paper and digital copies) is before the beginning of the following term/ academic year as marked in the NTUST academic calendar. One printed copy has to be submitted to the NTUST library, and one to the M.E. department( to be forwarded to the National Central Library). Finally, students will have to complete the “School Leaving Procedures” to obtain the doctoral degree certificate. School Leaving procedures are explained in detail here: Guideline for Degree Thesis Defense Examination (Ph.D.)