Eligibility

•  Master's Degree of this University or any other qualification recognized as equivalent thereto in the fields of study notified from time to time by this University.

• Bachelor's Degree in Engineering/Technology of this University or any other qualification recognized as equivalent thereto in the field of study with a minimum of 10Years of R & D Experience in National Research Laboratories / Public sector undertakings with proven research excellence in terms of publications/ patents/ projects.

• Eligibility criteria such as the minimum percentage of marks/CGPA obtained by the candidate in the qualifying examination shall be as prescribed by the Board of Academic Research of the University from time to time.

Categories of Ph.D candidates and place of research

• There shall be three categories of Ph.D. candidates as listed under:

• Full-time Candidates :All approved candidates who pursue full-time study and research in this University shall belong to this category.The University encourages all its full time students to stay in the hostels. However it is optional in the case of full-time Ph.D. scholars

• Part-time Candidates (Internal): All approved candidates who are employed in this University and actively involved in the relevant area of teaching, research or development as part of their regular work shall belong to this category.
  Part-time Candidates (External) : Candidates working in Industry involved in R&D activities, Colleges or Research

• Organisations, recognized by this University, and who are permitted for pursuing Ph.D. Programmes in this University while continuing in their job, shall belong to this category. While they shall pursue research in their place of employment, such candidates shall report to their respective supervisor as and when required.

• Research outside the University : During the course of the Ph.D. Programme, for reasons approved by the Doctoral Committee, a candidate may be permitted by the University to spend up to one year in an Institution or on a project approved for the purpose, outside the University for carrying out research in areas related to the subject of investigation. The conditions for this will be laid down by Board of Academic Research from time to time.

Duration of the programme:

• the duration of the programme and the time for submission of thesis for various categories of Ph.D. programmes shall be as under

• In all the categories the maximum period shall be six years. In exceptional cases maximum period shall be extended for one year based on the recommendation of the doctoral committee. This shall be approved by Board of  Academic Research.

• * Minimum period may be reduced by one year if the M.Phil., degree relates to the Ph.D. field of research. However this shall be applicable to only regular/part-time students and not to students from distance education mode.

Registration Procedure

• Candidates desirous of registering for the Ph.D. Degree shall submit the application in the prescribed form through proper channel, wherever applicable.

• All such filled applications, shall be then scrutinized by the Research Committee of the School headed by Director of the School/HoS. The other members of this committee shall be the HoD, two senior faculty members. This Committee, with the identified research supervisor, is responsible for the screening of the candidates by way conducting interview/test and recommending for admission to the Ph.D. programme to Board of Academic Research

• The Research Supervisor shall suggest a panel of six names (out of which four should be from external establishments) with their specialization, in the application form, for the constitution of the Doctoral Committee.

• Candidates whose registration has been approved by the Board of Academic Research, shall be admitted to the Ph.D. Programme by the Registrar of the University under intimation to the concerned Research Supervisor, the candidate, and the sponsoring institution, if any.

• For approved candidates the date of registration shall be the date on which the Board of Academic Research has recommended admission. Such dates shall be quarterly viz., 1st January, 1st April, 1st July and 1st October, as the case may be, as per the University calendar. However, fees payable is on six month basis based on date of registration.

• Every approved candidate shall register by paying the initial fees prescribed and then continue to pay the prescribed fees every six month, in order to keep the Ph.D. Registration alive until the thesis is submitted. If a candidate fails to do so within the permissible dates of payment of fees, the registration will be withdrawn and the candidate’s name will be removed from the rolls after referring to the Research Supervisor.

Research Supervisors and Number of Candidates

•  An updated and approved panel of recognised Research Supervisors for the Ph.D. programme of the University shall be maintained by the University. Faculty members of this University who can guide in interdisciplinary areas shall register themselves in the relevant Schools. The Research Committee of the School shall examine and recommend the application form to Board of Academic Research. After approval the faculty member can be included in the panel of recognized Supervisors of the School.

• All categories of Ph.D. registrants shall be required to work under a recognised Research Supervisor of this University. Full-time and part-time (internal) students can also have a Joint-Supervisor depending on the nature of work, which shall be approved by Dean of Academic Research. Joint-Supervisor shall be a faculty having Ph.D or in the category of Asst. Prof. and above. Faculty members without Ph.D need a special approval from the Research Committee to be a Joint-Supervisor.

• In the case of Part-Time candidates (External) there shall be a Co-guide/ Research Coordinator from the organisation where he/she is employed.

• In exceptional cases a candidate shall be allowed to register under a recognised guide of this University, who is working in an approved institution/R&D lab/Industry by this University. However in such cases Joint-Supervisor from this University is mandatory. Joint-Supervisor shall be a faculty having Ph.D or in the category of Asst. Prof and above.

• When the Research Supervisor of a candidate happens to be away from the University on other assignments for more than six months, he/she may continue to guide the candidate, but a second Research Supervisor belonging to the University faculty shall be officially nominated by the Board of Academic Research in keeping with abilities and background, and research adequacies and willingness of the interim Research Supervisor in consultation with the original Research Supervisor.

• If the research supervisor happens to resign, Board of Academic research shall appoint a new supervisor from the relevant area within three months.

• Provision for changes
  

  • Change of Research Supervisor : The Board of Academic Research may consider a research scholar to change his/her Research Supervisor on valid reasons.

  • Change in the category : A full time research scholar in the event of getting any employment may change the category from Full - time to Part – time and vice-versa. In such cases the duration of the programme shall be reviewed by Board of Academic Research.

• Recognition:
  Recognition of Research Supervisor/Joint Research Supervisor for guiding research work will be accorded by the Chairman-Academic Council on making an application in the prescribed format and on the recommendations of the Board of Academic Research, provided the candidate possesses:

  • A Ph.D. Degree in the relevant or allied areas of research in which he/she proposes to guide the candidate.

  • A minimum of one technical paper published in the relevant or allied areas of research in a refereed Journal or two refereed papers in Conference proceedings and/or patents.

• Number of Candidates
  A Supervisor shall not guide more than five doctoral candidates at any time, unless the Board of Academic Research specifically permits the same under extraordinary circumstances. In addition to this a Research Supervisor can act as Joint Supervisor for not more than three candidates.

Doctoral Committee

• The Doctoral Committee shall constitute as under:

Director of the School/HOS-Chairman
Research Supervisor-Convenor
Joint Supervisor, if any
Two experts (external)
One expert (internal) -within the School

• The Research Supervisor shall furnish in the application of every candidate, the name of the experts well versed in the field of proposed research, from the faculty of the University and other organizations

• The Research Supervisor from the University shall be the Convenor of the Doctoral Committee. In the event of the Supervisor of the University leaving the University temporarily or permanently the second/Joint-Research Supervisor shall be the Convenor

• All communications shall be routed through the concerned Head of the School.

Prescription of Course work and Comprehension Examination

• Course work

1. The Doctoral Committee of the candidate shall meet within a period of one month from the date of communication of the provisional registration and prescribe course work for the candidate.

2. A minimum of four courses at P.G level being offered under any approved programme of this University shall be recommended by the Doctoral Committee from courses approved by the Board of Studies. If courses are newly prescribed for Directed Self Study, then all such courses shall be approved by Chairman-Academic Council of this University and subsequently ratified by the academic bodies.

3. For candidates with M.Phil./M.S.(by Research) Degree (regular/part-time), Doctoral Committee shall prescribe a minimum of two courses. However Doctoral Committee shall exempt these students from course work if their Ph.D research work is in the same area of their M.Phil/M.S.(by Research) Degree.

4. For all categories of candidates the comprehension examination is mandatory and may be conducted accordingly.

5. No change in the courses prescribed shall be made without the prior approval of the Doctoral Committee.

6. Normally courses taken after the date of provisional registration only shall count towards this requirement.

7. The prescribed courses shall normally be completed within one year from the date of provisional registration.

• Comprehension Examinations

1. On the successful completion of the course work, as evidenced by the Grade sheet given by the Controller of Examinations, the Doctoral Committee along with Dean- Academic Research, shall conduct for every candidate a comprehension examination to test the overall background knowledge of the candidate in the broad area of specialisation. The minutes of the above committee shall be submitted to the Dean- Academic research within one month from the date of the examination held for documentation.

2. If, based on the results of the comprehension examination, a candidate is not approved by the Doctoral Committee, then a grace period of up to a maximum of six months shall be given, and at the end of which the candidate shall be re-examined. If found satisfactory, the candidate shall be permitted to proceed with the doctoral work. Otherwise, the candidate’s provisional registration shall be cancelled.

Monitoring the Progress of Candidates

• Every six months, commencing from the date of provisional initial registration, the candidate shall submit progress reports in the prescribed format to the Research Supervisor who shall forward it through the Head of the Department to the Dean (Academic Research) for information, action and documentation.

• The Research Supervisor shall arrange to make a presentation by the candidate of his/her work once in a year before the Doctoral committee. A Doctoral Committee (without external expert) shall review the progress of the candidate in between two Doctoral Committee meetings atleast once.

Cancellation of Registration

• The registration of a candidate whose progress is either not satisfactory or who has exceeded the maximum period (including grace period) stipulated for the Ph.D shall be cancelled by Board of Academic Research based on the recommendation of Doctoral Committee

Synopsis of Thesis

• On satisfactory completion of the research work, carried out after successful completion of all prescribed courses and the comprehension examination, the candidate shall submit to the Doctoral Committee through the Research Supervisor, six copies of the synopsis of the Ph.D. work carried out.

• The synopsis shall be accepted only when the research scholar has at least one paper either published or accepted for publication in a referred national/ international journal

• If the Doctoral Committee along with the Dean- Academic Research approves the research work reported in the synopsis, it shall forward six copies of the approved synopsis to the Controller of Examinations along with a panel of at least nine names of thesis examiners, six from India (three from outside the state of Tamil Nadu-Pondicherry and three from Tamil Nadu-Pondicherry) and three from abroad.

Submission of Thesis

• The thesis report shall be prepared in an organised and scholarly fashion, an account of the original research work of the candidate leading to the discovery of new facts or techniques or correlation of facts already known (analytical, experimental, hardware oriented etc.) and demonstrating a quality as to make a definite contribution to the advancement of knowledge and the candidate’s ability to undertake independent research and present the findings in an appropriate manner with actual accomplishments of the work, plainly stated and honestly appraised.

• Six copies of the thesis shall be prepared and submitted to the Controller of Examinations in accordance with the format and specification prescribed. These shall be submitted within six months of the approval of the Synopsis by the Doctoral Committee along with three copies of the abstract of the thesis in about 400 words. Under no circumstance, the thesis submission can be delayed except under extraordinary circumstances, where an extension of two months may be permissible with the recommendations of the Doctoral Committee.

• The thesis shall include a certificate from the concerned Research Supervisor (and Joint Research Supervisor, Co guide, if any) to the effect that the thesis is a record of the bonafide research work carried out by the candidate under his/her/their supervision and guidance and that the work reported in the thesis has not been submitted elsewhere for a degree or diploma.

• Along with the submission of the thesis, the candidate shall submit a copy of the thesis in CD ROM duly certified by the Research Supervisor.

• Instructions to candidates for preparing synopsis and thesis shall be laid down by the Controller of Examinations.

• Fees shall be paid by the candidates on six monthly basis, till the submission of the thesis.

Thesis Evaluation

• The thesis shall be referred to two examiners (outside Tamil Nadu-pondicherry) nominated by the Vice-Chancellor from the panel of names recommended by the Doctoral Committee.

• The Dean (Academic Research) shall take such steps to the Controller of Examinations as deemed necessary to enable the reports of the Examiners to be received as quickly as possible. The examiners are expected to send, in the prescribed form, their reports within two months from the date of receipt of the thesis.

• The examiner shall include in his / her report an overall assessment, placing the thesis in one of the following categories :

  • Recommended for the award of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy : Highly commended/Commended.

  • Revision required : (i) Revised thesis be resubmitted (ii) Revised thesis need not be resubmitted.

  • Not Commended

• The examiner shall enclose a report in about 300 words, indicating the standard attained in case (a), the nature of revision in case (b) and the reasons in case (c).

• If both the examiners recommended the award of the degree, thesis shall be provisionally accepted. Any minor revision, modification etc., suggested by the examiners shall be carried out before the oral examination is arranged.

• If both examiners recommended rejection, the thesis shall be rejected and the registration of the research scholar stands cancelled

• If one examiner recommends the award of the degree while the other recommends rejection, then the thesis shall be referred to a third examiner (within Tamil Nadu)  to be nominated by the Vice-Chancellor from the panel of examiners. If two of three examiners recommended the award, the thesis shall be provisionally accepted. If two of the examiners recommend rejection, the thesis shall be rejected and the registration of the research scholar stands cancelled.

• If any examiner recommends revision of the thesis the candidate shall be permitted only once to revise and resubmit the thesis within 6 months and the revised thesis shall be referred to the same examiner only in the situation such as (i). when the examiner recommends new experiments and major modification involving new methodology and also (ii). the examiner insist the university to send the thesis back to the same examiner after revision for offering his final recommendation on the thesis which should only be either recommended for the award of rejected. In case, the examiner does not insist on sending the thesis back to him, the thesis shall be referred to the Supervisor to ascertain the corrections carried out in the thesis as suggested by the examiners. The Supervisor shall study the report of the examiners & accordingly send consolidated report to the Controller of Examinations. Controller of Examinations, based on the approval of Vice-chancellor, constitute oral examination board, within a period of two months from the receipt of the reports from the supervisor.

• Individual cases not covered by the above clauses shall be referred to the Vice-Chancellor. On deemed fit reasons, the Vice-Chancellor shall refer to the Board of Academic Research  which in turn shall refer to the Board of Management, if necessary.

Oral Examination

• The Board of viva-voce Examination shall be constituted by the Vice-Chancellor as under :

• HOS shall be the Chairman of the Board of Examiners

• Supervisor, Joint Research Supervisor, if any.

• One of the examiners

• The viva-voce examination shall be conducted in this University as “Open Defence Type” examination. The decision of the Board of Examiners shall be final.

Award of Ph.D. Degree

• If the Board of viva-voce Examination recommends, the candidate will be awarded  Ph.D. Degree with the approval of the Board of Management.

Publication of Thesis

• Papers arising out of the thesis may be published by the candidate. However, the thesis as a whole shall not be published by the candidate without the specific approval of the Board of Academic Research of the University.

The Act of Plagiarism

• In the case of research scholars who have copied a dissertation / thesis / book for M.Phil. / M.S. or Ph.D. degree his / her thesis shall be forfeited and his / her research registration shall be terminated in this university and also he / she shall be debarred to register for any other programme in this University.

• For the abetment of above such action, the recognition of his / her supervisor shall be withdrawn for a period of 5 years and he / she shall be debarred from guiding the research scholars for any research programme in this University till such period.

Power to Modify

• Notwithstanding anything contained in the above said regulations, the Board of Management reserves the right to modify any of the above said regulations from time to time.