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Master of Engineering &
Doctor of Philosophy

Administrative Structure

Students will be administrated by the Faculty of Engineering through the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. It is envisaged that Department will have its own administrative set-up to administer its research students, similar to that of the other departments in the Faculty of Engineering.

Admission Requirements

The prevailing requirements for admission to research degrees shall apply.   The minimum requirement for admission is a Bachelor’s degree with honours (at least 2nd Class Lower) or its equivalent.  Candidates applying for direct admission to the PhD programme are expected to obtain at least a Bachelor’s degree with honours (at least 2nd Class Upper) or its equivalent.

International candidates are expected to submit their TOEFL and GRE test scores in support of their applications.  Candidates are also expected to have the ability to pursue research in the candidate’s proposed field of advanced study.

Candidature

The minimum and maximum periods of candidatures of the regular MEng and PhD programmes shall also apply to students of this discipline

Programme Requirements

The MEng degree requires: 

• at least 16 MCs, of which at least 12 MCs must be at graduate level within the subject or in related disciplines and the remaining credits may be from other levels in the same or other disciplines subject to the approval of the Department.  Students must obtain an average grade of at least a Grade B-; &

• a satisfactory grade in the Graduate English Course (Intermediate Level), for students who do not qualify for wavier of English Language requirement; &

• obtain a satisfactory grade for the graduate seminar; &

• pass the MEng thesis.

The PhD degree requires:

• at least 24 MCs, of which at least 18 MCs must be at graduate level within the subject or in related disciplines and the remaining credits may be from other levels in the same or other disciplines subject to the approval of the Department.  Students must obtain an average grade of at least a Grade B; &

• a satisfactory grade in the Graduate English Course (Intermediate & Advanced Level), for students who do not qualify for wavier of English Language requirement; &

• obtain a satisfactory grade for the doctoral seminar; &

• pass the Qualifying Examination comprising of a comprehensive examination and oral defence of the PhD thesis proposal; &

• pass the PhD thesis and the oral defence.

For coursework requirements, the MEng candidate is to read 4 modules, of which at least 2 modules are to be core modules while the PhD candidate is required to read 4 core modules and 2 electives. The list of core and elective modules available to the students can be found at Annex A.

Supervision 

Students will be supervised by faculty members of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering or together with other departments in the University.

PhD Qualifying Examination (QE) 

The PhD qualifying examination shall consist of a written comprehensive examination and an oral defence of the PhD thesis proposal.  The Department of Materials Science Engineering will determine the format of the PhD comprehensive examination required.  The comprehensive examination tests the general competence of the candidate in his/her discipline(s).  The QE is to be taken between 12 -24 months from the start of the PhD candidature.

MEng candidates may apply to upgrade from MEng to the PhD programme upon completing specified requirements.  Students are to pass the PhD qualifying examination (identical to doctoral students) to be considered for upgrading to the doctoral programme.

Thesis

The Department of Materials Science and Engineering will recommend examiners for each Master and PhD candidate.

• Master's - two examiners, one of whom may be an external examiner

• PhD - three examiners, at least one of whom must be an external examiner

Continuation/Termination of Candidature

The prevailing requirements for continuation of candidature shall apply.

For continuation of candidature:

• in the 1st semester of study, the CAP should not fall below 1.5; or

• for MEng: CAP should not fall below 2.5 for 2 consecutive semesters; or CAP should not fall below 3.0 for 3 consecutive semesters.

• for PhD: CAP should not fall below 3.0 for 2 consecutive semesters; or CAP should not fall below 3.5 for 3 consecutive semesters.

Students whose CAP does not meet the requirements as stated above will have their candidatures terminated.

For any semester in which the student’s CAP falls below the CAP required for graduation (i.e. 3.0 for MEng and 3.5 for PhD), he/she will be issued an academic warning. .A student may also be issued an academic warning or placed on probation for poor performance in the Qualifying Examination, research, or other programme requirements.

Graduation Requirements

For graduation,

• MEng students must:

1. obtain at least 16 MCs, from the list of course modules in Annex A; &

2. obtain CAP > 3.0 in best 4 modules (or equivalent of 16 MCs); &

3. obtain satisfactory grade in the Graduate English Course (Intermediate Level), where applicable; &

4. obtain a satisfactory grade for Graduate Seminar module; &

5. pass the MEng thesis.

• PhD students must:

  1. obtain at least 24 MCs from the list of course modules in Annex A; &

  2. obtain CAP > 3.5 in best 6 modules (or equivalent of 24 MCs); &

  3. obtain satisfactory grade in the Graduate English Course (Intermediate and Advanced Level), where applicable; &

  4. obtain a satisfactory grade for Graduate Seminar module; &

  5. pass the Qualifying Examination comprising of a comprehensive examination and an oral defence of the PhD thesis proposal; &

  6. pass the PhD thesis and Oral Examination

Financial Matters

Fees are identical to those imposed for MEng and PhD.

For more details click here.

Sustainability

The number of graduate students in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering is estimated to be between 50 to 100 when the programmes are fully launched based on the current number of graduate students in the Department of Materials Science (FoS) and the planned staff strength in the department of Materials Science and Engineering. This number is comparable to some of the departments in FoE.

Implementation

It is proposed that the Department of Materials Science and Engineering shall admit its research students from Semester I, 2005/2006.