The maximum period of study is limited to seven years for a PhD student, excluding two years for an approved leave of absence. Those who do not finish within the stipulated duration will be dismissed from the program.
The Qualifying Exam for the PhD program should be completed within four years of initial enrollment, excluding two years for an approved leave of absence. Those who do not fulfill these requirements will be dismissed.
Students have to take a minimum of 30 credits (the equivalent of 10 courses, 3 credits each). Students are evaluated on a 100-point scale. The passing grade is 70 points.
There are two required courses (6 credits in total) for IDAS students: Asia-Pacific Regional Development and Research Methods.
Students can take up to one-third (⅓) of these credits (10 credits) from other programs and departments at NCCU, or partner universities in other countries.
Credit hours must be from a PhD program taught in English related to Asia-Pacific studies, except for 2 courses that can be non-English taught if they are related to the students' dissertations. Courses taken from other programs, departments, or universities must be approved by the IDAS Director before they are taken to ensure all requirements are fulfilled.
Students who study abroad must follow the relevant NCCU rules and regulations in this regard.
Students who wish to apply for credit transfer must provide official transcripts, course syllabi, term papers, and other related documentation before the designated date announced by NCCU.
The application for credit transfer must be approved by the IDAS Committee.
Beginning academic year 2016-2017, newly enrolled students (including those who have early enrollment before Fall 2016), must complete the research ethics coursework before the end of their first school year. The student is required to pass the research ethics course or be exempted from the research ethics course, before applying for the final graduate degree examination.
To comply with the Research Ethics Course requirement, please follow the following guide.
Research Ethics Education Course log-in (The account is your student ID/The default password is the last 5 digits of your student ID.)
This section refers to the rules and regulations regarding the Qualifying Exam (QE). For further details on the exam, please refer to the Qualifying Exam section.
Students who pass the QE will become PhD candidates.
The QE should be completed within four years after initial enrollment, excluding two years for an approved leave of absence. Those who do not fulfill this requirement will be dismissed.
The QE is held twice per academic year: in May (before the 31st) and September (before the 30th).
Students can take the QE once they have completed all their course credits, or if they are in their final semester of coursework. Therefore, students who are still taking courses can take the QE only if that is their final semester taking courses.
To take the QE students must submit their application by filling the QE application form (see Qualifying Exam section) and handing it in to the IDAS office.
To take the exam in May, apply before November 15th (previous semester); to take the exam in September, apply before May 15th (previous semester).
Students who have already applied may withdraw the application no later than one month before the exam. The application cannot be withdrawn after this date unless the applicant obtains an approved leave of absence or approval from the IDAS Director due to unforeseen circumstances.
Students must choose one of the four IDAS tracks to take the QE: International Relations, Political Economy, Public Governance, and Society and Culture. Each track covers different topics, students can choose the track they are more interested in or experienced in to take the QE.
Every track has an independent reading list (see Qualifying Exam section); students must consider the reading list as the base for the QE and expand the literature themselves from there.
The QE may also include the IDAS foundational courses, at the discretion of the examination committee.
Refer to the Qualifying Exam section for more information about the tracks and their content.
The QE exam consists of several essay-type questions.
QE questions are prepared by different professors and graded individually on a 100-point scale. Students must score at least 70 points in order to pass the QE. This means that the average of all the questions needs to be 70 or above. Students can pass the QE even if the score for one question is less than 70 as long as the total average score is 70 or above.
Plagiarism is strictly forbidden and all exams will be checked to ensure their academic integrity.
Students who fail the initial exam must retake the exam during the following academic year. Students are allowed to retake the QE only once. Those who fail to pass their second QE will be dismissed from the program. The above-mentioned time frame does not include leave of absence periods.
The exam venue and exact date will be arranged by the IDAS office and announced a few weeks before the exam.
Refer to the Qualifying Exam section for more information about how to answer QE questions and to access previous QE questions.
All students must have completed the following requirements before their final defense:
PhD students must select an advisor for their PhD dissertation within three years of their formal enrollment, and conduct their dissertation research and writing under the advisor's supervision for at least two years. Students who do not meet these criteria are required to publish one journal article for each postponed semester (excluding approved leave of absence).
Students must select a dissertation advisor who is currently an NCCU full-time faculty (Adjunct Chair Professors may also be dissertation advisors).
Students who wish to have an external advisor should still find an NCCU full-time faculty member to co-advise their dissertation. In other words, students with an external advisor are still required to have an NCCU advisor who will co-advise their dissertation. Students are allowed to apply for a change of advisor; however, they shall report to the original advisor and specify reasons for the change, and final approval must be obtained from the Dean.
All PhD candidates are required to pass a proposal defense before writing their final dissertation.
A dissertation proposal is a detailed and lengthy document that fully develops the rationale, study questions, framework, hypotheses and methodology of the project, including any pilot testing. All aspects of research design are relevant to assessing the project’s feasibility.
The purpose of the proposal defense is to assess the feasibility of the intended research topic, as well as its quality and knowledge contribution. Feasibility, quality and knowledge contribution will be considered based on the likelihood of the research being published in a peer-reviewed academic journal after the dissertation is completed.
The committee must have 3 to 5 members, one of them being the advisor’s student. One third of the committee members must be external; if the committee is composed of 3 members, then 1 must be external, and if the committee is composed of 4 or 5 members, then 2 must be external. It is expected that all or most of the members of the dissertation proposal committee will also serve on the candidate’s final defense committee.
The proposal examination committee shall give a pass, conditional pass, or fail mark.
The proposal defense is open to all IDAS students and other interested parties. At the advisor’s discretion, the audience may be invited to ask a few questions at the end.
The final defense is the last step before graduation. Students will defend their whole dissertation before a committee.
The date of the final defense should be at least two months after passing the proposal defense and follow the academic calendar schedule for dissertation defense.
Before applying for the dissertation defense, candidates must present a completed draft of their dissertation approved by their advisor.
At least two weeks before the defense, PhD candidates should submit a copy of their complete dissertation to all committee members for feedback, as well as receive the approval of their advisor and the IDAS director in order to proceed with their final dissertation defense.
If a PhD candidate is unable to complete the dissertation defense process due to justified reasons, the withdrawal application must be submitted before the date specified by the program for this matter. Failing to properly withdraw from the dissertation defense will result in failing the dissertation defense.
The committee shall consist of 5 to 7 members, recommended by the dissertation advisor and approved by the IDAS Director and/or Dean. At least one of the members should be a full time professor from the College of Social Sciences, and 2 members should be external professors.
Among the committee members, between 3 to 5 members should first obtain the approval of the program. Non Taiwan R.O.C nationals need to be approved by the program and possess valid qualifications according to the Ministry of Education.
All members of the PhD Accreditation Exam Committee should possess one of the following qualifications in addition to having expertise on the dissertation subject proposed by the PhD candidate:
* “Distinguished academic record” means one of the following criteria:
** Any video recording of the ‘Dissertation Defense/Accreditation Exam’ requires approval by the program.
The final dissertation defense is an open-style oral exam. In addition to the advisor and members of the committee, other lecturers and students can also attend. They may not disturb the progress of the oral exam and, at the advisor’s discretion, the audience may be invited to ask a few questions at the end.
In order to pass the accreditation exam, PhD candidates must receive a minimum score of 70 and obtain a passing vote from more than two-thirds (⅔) of the attending committee members. The committee shall vote and assign scores only once. Upon passing the oral exam, the committee will recommend that the university grants the PhD candidate a doctorate degree.
PhD candidates who fail the accreditation exam may apply to retake the exam within the seven-year time frame. The retake date cannot be in the same semester. Students may retake the oral exam only once. Those who fail their retake exam will be expelled. Those who do not pass the oral exam within seven years will also be expelled.
After passing the oral dissertation and finalizing the required revisions, students should log in to the “NCCU Electronic Thesis and Dissertations System,” and upload the electronic copy of their work. Two hardcover copies and one paperback copy of the dissertation must be submitted to the university library. One additional hardcover copy must be submitted to the IDAS office. Finally, students must agree that a version (complete or abridged) of their dissertation may be posted on the program's website.
