Important Announcement is for Ph.D. Students who are in the Thesis Period and whose Normal-Maximum Study Period will Expire

In the PhD programs of our Institute, the thesis supervisors of the students, who have completed the normal study period of eight semesters or a maximum study period of twelve semesters (except for Scientific Preparation, Suspension of Registration, and Additional Time) as of the end of the Fall semester of the 2023-2024 academic year, are required to send the Word version of the thesis to the Thesis Control Team by the end of working hours on Friday, at the latest, December 22, 2023. 

Theses submitted after December 22, 2023, will not be accepted.

The thesis defense forms of the PhD students who will graduate in the Fall semester must be referred by the Head of the Department to Graduate Education Institute until January 05, 2024, Friday. Students in this situation must meet the publication requirement before January 05, 2024.

The PhD students who will graduate in the Fall semester must take the thesis defense exam by Friday, February 09, 2024.

Requirements for the Completion of a PhD Thesis

1. Students must have at least seven courses and one Seminar course (60 ECTS), a Ph.D. qualifying exam (30 ECTS), and a thesis proposal (30 ECTS) (a total of 120 ECTS) together with a minimum CGPA of 3.00 to qualify to take the PhD dissertation exam.
2. Students enrolled in PhD programs must fulfil at least one of the publication requirements. (Click here for information about publication requirements.)
3. Students, who have not submitted their thesis proposal to the Graduate Education Institute through their thesis supervisors on time, will not be able to take the thesis defense exam even if they have completed their thesis.

Checking the Compliance of the Completed PhD Thesis with Plagiarism and Thesis Writing Rules

1. The primary responsibility for the preparation of the thesis in accordance with the Thesis Writing Guidelines belongs to the student and thesis supervisor. Thesis Control Team members are responsible for formal control of the final drafts of the theses.
2. The thesis written in accordance with the Graduate Education Institute thesis writing guide should be sent by the student to his/her advisor via e-mail.
3. The thesis supervisor must e-mail the student's thesis to the Thesis Control Team members. Click here for thesis control e-mail addresses.
4. The theses that do not comply with Thesis Writing Guideline and/or those similarity reports exceeding 20% must be corrected and submitted within five days. The Thesis Control Team Members will not control the thesis more than three times. All responsibility in this regard belongs to the thesis supervisor and the student. It must be noted that singular similarities must not exceed 1% in the plagiarism report.
5. Supervisors must submit the documents of the PhD students who will graduate to the Graduate Education Institute via the ÜBYS system.
6. External thesis advisors are required to submit the documents of the PhD students to the Head of the Department.

Click here for the procedures that students and advisors should do after Thesis Control Unit approval.

Failure to Complete the Maximum Period of Study and in case of Failure

1. Students, who are not able to complete their thesis until December 22, 2023, within their normal study period of eight semesters and extend their thesis submission to the Spring semester of the 2023-2024 academic year, are required to pay tuition for one course for the extension period. (No discount will be applied to the tuition fee paid for the extension period.) This situation is valid for the Spring Semester of the 2024-2025 Academic Year, the second extension period.
2. The students, who have failed in thesis study or have not been able to take the thesis defense exam within the maximum study period of twelve semesters, will be disenrolled from the University.

According to the IZU Graduate Education and Training Regulations;

The completion of the PhD thesis

ARTICLE 24 – (1) A PhD student is expected to write her thesis in accordance with the Graduate Education Institute Thesis Writing Guideline and defend the thesis in front of the jury members.

 (2) The student must submit thesis to the thesis supervisor before the thesis defense. If the student receive corrections, she must complete any requested thesis corrections and submit the revised thesis to the supervisor before the thesis defense exam. The thesis supervisor is required to submit the thesis and the plagiarism report to the Institute, along with a written opinion that the thesis is defensible and written in accordance with the Graduate Education Institute Thesis Writing Guideline. If a thesis is found to contain a significant degree of plagiarism, the thesis is sent to the Institute Board for a decision, along with the excuse for the plagiarism.

(3) At least three successful thesis monitoring committee reports must be submitted at intervals of no more than six months in order for a PhD thesis to be completed. If the thesis monitoring committees are not held on time, the student will be considered to have failed the thesis monitoring committee for that term.

(4) The PhD thesis examination jury is appointed with the recommendation of the thesis supervisor and the Head of the Department and the approval of the Institute Board. The examination jury consists of five members, including the thesis advisor, three from thesis monitoring committee, and at least two from outside the university. If the thesis supervisor is affiliated with another university, the examination jury must be composed of one member from outside the university and four member from within the university. The Institute Board decides whether the advisor has a right to vote on the examination jury. In the case that the advisor has a right to vote, the examination jury must consist of six members. The second thesis advisor may participate in the jury without having a right to vote.

(5) The jury members must meet within at least 15 days and at most one month after the thesis is submitted to them. The thesis defense exam a presentation of the thesis and a QA session. The thesis defense exams are open to the participation of listeners from the faculty, postgraduate students, and experts in the field.

(6) Following the thesis defense exam, the jury members deliberate in a closed session to decide whether to accept, reject, or revise the thesis. The student whose thesis is accepted by the examination jury are considered to have passed. This decision is reported to the Institute by the Head of the Department in a written report within three days of the thesis defense. The student whose thesis is rejected is dismissed from the university. The student whose thesis is revised is given up to six months to revise their thesis, after which they must defend the revised thesis before the same examination jury. The student whose revised thesis is not accepted is dismissed from the university. Students who are admitted to PhD programs with a bachelor's degree and who are unsuccessful in their thesis are awarded a non-thesis Master's degree, as stated in the first paragraph of Article 16, upon request.