Students are expected to focus on fulfilling the coursework requirements during the first semester.

Requirements: Complete 3 courses with at least two subject-based courses in the first semester.

Notes:

• Students may begin participating in their research group concurrently.
• All remaining coursework requirements must be completed by the end of the 4th semester.

Students are required to take QE-1 during the first week of their second semester.

Examination Details:

• The oral examination will be based on undergraduate-level physics syllabus and may include fundamental concepts related to theoretical or experiments topics.
• Please refer to the detailed syllabus: QE-Comprehensive-Syllabus7Aug14.pdf
• The duration of the oral examination is approximately 1 to 1.5 hours per student.

Outcome and Retake Policy:

• Students who fail the first attempt will be given a second attempt at the end of the second semester.
• Students who fail the second attempt will be downgraded to the MSc programme.
• PhD candidates downgraded to the MSc programme will no longer be eligible for scholarship support and will be self-funded from the point of downgrading.

Students are strongly encouraged to complete QE-2 by the end of their second/third semester.

Benefits of Early Completion:

• Earlier eligibility for additional top-up
• Reduced risk of delayed completion, as strictly no extension beyond the 4th semester is permitted.

Examination Details:

• QE-2 will be conducted by the Thesis Advisory Committee (TAC), comprising the thesis advisor(s) and two TAC members appointed by the thesis advisor(s).
• The examination consists of:
  
  • A public presentation and Q&A session, followed by
  • A closed-door Q&A session with the TAC.
• The TAC will determine the pass/fail outcome and provide feedback and recommendations.

Submission Requirements:

• Students must submit the research proposal title and abstract for the oral presentation announcement at least one week before the examination.
• A report summarizing the candidate’s performance and the TAC’s recommendations will be submitted to the Department for the official outcome notification.