Qualifying Exam

The students in the Computer Engineering Ph.D. program have to take and be successful in the Ph.D. Qualifying Exam in addition to the courses and the thesis study involved. This exam consists of two parts, namely the written part and the oral part. In order to be successful in the Qualifying Exam, the student should pass both parts. If students fail on their first take of the qualifying exam, they are granted a right to take the exam a second and final time. Failure in the second, on the other hand, results in the dismissal from the Ph.D. program. The written exam consists of two sections covering a list of topics that are in the core and breadth areas.

The core areas are:

·         Data Structures and Algorithms (Book, Chapters, Undergraduate Course and/or Graduate Course(s)),
·         Discrete Mathematical Structures,
·         Theory of Computing,
·         Concepts of Programming Languages,
·         Database Systems.

The breadth areas are:

·         Computer Architecture,
·         Computer Networks,
·         Software Engineering,
·         Artificial Intelligence,
·         Computer Graphics,
·         Operating Systems.

For the oral exam, the student is expected to i) prepare a report presenting a contribution on a topic of own choice within his/her Ph.D. research area, and then ii) deliver a 30-minute speech to present the contribution to the oral examining committee. The contribution expected can be in the form of a literature survey and evaluation, an implementation and experimental study, a comparative study, application of existing methods and/or algorithms to solve real life problems, an improvement of an existing algorithm or process, or a theoretical contribution.