The First Section General Principles

Southern Taiwan University of Science and Technology

Rules for Graduate Degree Examination

Approved by the University Academic Affairs Committee Meeting on July 18, 2002

Ratified by the Ministry of Education, as written in its official letter coded as Tai Chi (4) Zi, No. 0920025638, dated February 25, 2003

Amended and approved by the University Academic Affairs Committee Meeting on November 16, 2011

Ratified by the Ministry of Education, as written in its official letter coded as Tai Chi (4) Zi, No. 1000229671, dated December 27, 2011

Article 1 Southern Taiwan University of Science and Technology, henceforth abbreviated as STUST, establishes the rules to govern the degree examination of graduate students according to University Act and its enforcement rules, Degree Conferral Law and its enforcement rules and STUST Academic Regulations.

Article 2 Graduate students who meet all the following requirements may apply for the degree examinations:

1. Enrollment in the program for a period longer than the minimum prescribed in the STUST Academic Regulations

2. Fulfilling all the course requirements

3. Fulfilling all the other requirements specified by the department

4. Passing the doctoral qualifying examinations for students in doctoral programs.

Article 3 To evaluate the qualifications of graduate degree examinees and confirm the committee members of graduate degree examinations, the STUST preliminary screening committee for degree examination is formed. The preliminary screening committee consists of the STUST President, Dean of the Office of Academic Affairs, Deans of all colleges and all the Chairpersons of the departments holding the graduate degree examinations. The STUST President and Dean of the Office of Academic Affairs will serve as the chairperson and vice chairperson of the screening committee, respectively.

Article 4 To hold the graduate degree examinations, the aforementioned preliminary screening committee will evaluate the qualifications of the examinees before the graduate degree examinations.

Article 5 The doctoral degree examination committee consists of 5 to 9 members. No less than two thirds of the members should come from outside of STUST. In addition to the expertise on the degree examinee’s dissertation topic, each member should also be or has been one of the following:

A Professor

2. An Academician or Research Fellow of Academia Sinica

3. An Associate Professor or Associate Research Fellow of Academia Sinica with distinguished academic achievements

4. An individual who had distinguished achievements on academic research or related profession in a rare or specialized area.

An individual with a doctoral degree who has distinguished academic achievements

The criteria for 3, 4 and 5 above are to be decided in the departmental meetings.

Article 6 The master’s degree examination committee consists of 3 to 5 members. No less than two thirds of the members should come from outside of STUST. In addition to the expertise on the degree examinee’s thesis, works of creation, public exhibition/performance, written reports or technical reports, each member should also be or was one of the following:

A Professor or Associate Professor

2. An Academician, Research Fellow or Associate Research Fellow of Academia Sinica

An individual with a doctoral degree who has distinguished academic achievements

4. An individual who had distinguished achievements on academic research or related profession in a rare or specialized area.

The criteria for 3 and 4 above are to be decided in the departmental meetings.

Article 7 To form the examination committee for a doctoral degree examination, the department shall propose a list of 10 to 15 candidates to be reviewed by the STUST preliminary screening committee for degree examinations. To form the examination committee for a master’s degree examination, the department shall propose a list of 6 to 9 candidates to be reviewed by the preliminary screening committee. A certificate of service will be issued by the STUST president to each of the degree examination committee members.
The chairperson of the graduate degree examination committee is the elected committee member who is not the supervising professor of the examinee.

Article 8 Degree examination committee members should be present during the examination. No substitution is allowed. The degree examination cannot be held unless

1. Two thirds of the members are present

2. At least 3 members are present in a master’s degree examination; at least 5 members are present in a doctoral degree examination

3. At least two thirds of the attending members are coming from outside of STUST for master programs from which the first graduate has not graduated for more than 3 years. The ratio may be made lower afterwards.

Article 9 The format, paper usage and binding of theses/dissertations are to be prescribed in other regulations.

Article10 Articles which were used as theses/dissertations for conferred degrees in any educational institutions cannot serve as the theses/dissertations for STUST degrees.

Article11 Graduate students need to abide by the rules of the National Library and upload theses/dissertation abstracts in the National Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations in Taiwan. Related procedures will be prescribed in another regulation.

Article 12 In principle, the degree examinations are given orally. Written tests can also be held if necessary. Master's theses may be substituted by works of creation, public exhibition/performance, written reports or technical reports for masters programs in the fine arts category provided that a written abstract is presented.

Article 13 In principle, degree examinations shall be held before the end of each semester. Holding degree examination should follow the time frame and procedures described below:

1. To hold the doctoral/master degree examinations, each graduate student shall obtain the signed agreements from their supervising professors 50 day in advance. Students should then enclose related documents and submit applications for the graduate degree examinations to the departments/programs before the deadline.

2. Each department/program should review applicants’ materials and check if all departmental requirements are met within two weeks after the application is filed. The list of examinees meeting the requirements and the corresponding proposed examination committee members should then be sent to the STUST preliminary screening committee for degree examinations.

3. The STUST preliminary screening committee for degree examination should hold a meeting to review the proposed degree examination committee members 30 days before the degree examinations. After confirmation, STUST President will issue certificates of service to the degree examination committee members 3 weeks prior to the examinations. The graduates should also send their theses/dissertations to the committee members 3 weeks in advance.

4. Degree examination shall be held in public. It is necessary to announce the time and place for examination one week in advance.

5. The degree examination committee should decide the grade right after the examination and submit the grade in writing to the supervising professor of the examinee. The supervising professor of the examinee should report the grade online and send the grade

in writing to the Office of Academic Affairs.

Article 14 Grading of the degree examination adopts Hundred Mark System. 70 and above is pass, and 100 is the full score. The examination can only be graded once, and the grade is the average score given by all the attending members of the degree examination committees.

If the degree examination committee discovers plagiarism or fraud during the examination, the examinee will fail the examinations.

Article 15 If the student fail the degree examination, but have completed the thesis/dissertation, upon the consent of the supervising professor(s), a reexamination can be held within a month. The result of the reexamination is decided according the grading system prescribed in Article 14.

Article 16 If students fail the graduate degree examinations, they may apply for the graduate degree examinations for only once more within the time limits of study prescribed in the STUST Academic Regulations (4 years for the masters, 7 years for Ph.D., excluding the period of approved study suspension).

Article 17 After the graduate degree examination, if the students fail to file their theses/dissertations with the warrant signed by all graduate degree examination committee members before the deadline (the registration day of the following semester), the grade of the graduate degree examination would not be recognized, nor will the examination be considered failure.

Article 18 If plagiarism or fraud is confirmed on the thesis/dissertation, works of creation, public exhibition/performance, written reports or technical reports based on which the graduate degree have been conferred. The degree would be publically revoked. STUST will also issue an official notification on the degree revocation to all education institutions and related administrative offices in Taiwan.

Article 19 According to Article 9 of the Degree Conferral Law, a graduate student with direct admission to a doctoral program and succeeded in passing the doctoral qualifying examination, but fails the doctoral degree examination may be awarded a master's degree if the doctoral degree examination committee determines that his/her work meets the standards for a master's degree.

Article 20 Perspective supervising professors and graduate degree examination committee members should avoid conflicts of interests if the graduate student is their spouse, ex-spouse, a fourth-degree relative by consanguinity or a third-degree relative by affinity.

Article 21 These rules are passed in the Academic Affairs Committee Meeting, promulgated by the STUST president and sent to the Ministry of Education for reference to take effect. The same applies to any later amendments made.

The English version was translated from the original Chinese text. In the event of any discrepancy, the Chinese will take precedence.