National Taiwan Ocean University Doctoral Degree Program in Marine Biotechnology

1. Graduation requires the completion of 30 credits, including 5 required credits, 1 credits in Lab Rotation, 12 elective credits (TIGP courses at least 2 courses elected) and 12 credits in doctoral thesis.
2. The recognition of elective credits should be approved by the course committee of the program.
3. Maximum of study period: 2 to 7 years (excluding the periods of guaranteed admission and leave of absence) as stipulated by the Ministry of Education.

1. This course contains 2-time Lab rotation in total of 1 credit, at least 4 weeks for each rotation. Students must complete before the end of the third semester.
2. Before the beginning of lab rotation, both the student and supervisor sign the consent form indicating the rights and obligations between the student and supervisor. The supervisor completes the evaluation form (provided by the Program Office) in order to evaluate whether the student pass the course. In addition, the average score has to be greater than or equal to 70.
3. Students are required to submit a written report to their supervisors after each lab rotation.
4. Selection of lab rotation in Academia Sinica: In order to enable more supervisors to participate and guide, each supervisor guides at most one student to practice at any time. The selection is as follows:

1. Students fill out the form of " Survey of Laboratory Rotation ", writing down 3 preferable laboratories in order, and hand it over to the Program Office.
2. The Program Office collects and consolidates the form of “Survey of Laboratory Rotation”, and then submits it to the Academic Affairs Committee for coordination. And then the results will be announced on the program website. 
3. If a supervisor chosen by more than one students, the supervisor will screen the application submitted by the students. And the students who are not selected will be placed in the 2nd laboratory according to their “Survey of Laboratory Rotation”.

1. Students can apply for the qualifying examination after completing 18 credits of required courses, choosing a certain supervisor, and finishing an English thesis research plan.
2. Qualifying examination is conducted by verbal examination and mainly emphasize on the thesis research plan. The result of verbal examination should not be under a score of 70 points (full score is 100 points), and the grade is based on an average of all the attending committee members’ scores. If more than 1/3 of the committee members rules that the Ph.D. student did not pass, a failing grade will be instead given. For those who did not pass the qualifying examination prior, he/she may apply to take a 2nd examination during the next semester. A Ph.D. student who is unable to pass the qualifying exam within 3 years of enrolling (excluding leave of absence periods) will be expelled.
3. Once the Ph.D. student has passed the qualifying examination, he/she may apply to the Academic Affairs Department of NTOU as a doctoral candidate.

A Ph.D. student that meets the following criteria and the approval of the supervisors and doctoral degree examination committee may apply to a doctoral degree examination.

1. Passed the foreign language ability verification examination: Students should pass a score of 79-80 points in TOEFL-IBT (an equivalent of 213 points in CBT or 550 points in PBT) or IELTS average score of 6.0 points or TOEIC 750 points or GEBT upper intermediate test (an equivalent of 550 points in PBT) before the graduation. If students can not follow the criteria above that must be held the required elective course of non-basic English course by 8 credits (excluding into account of graduation credits).
2. A Ph.D. student who is in accordance with the bylaws below and gains the approval of the supervisors and the doctoral examination committee is qualified to take the doctoral degree examination:

1. Published (including accepted) at least 2 papers in SCI or SSCI as first author, and one of the published papers should be in top 20% ranking.
2. Published (including accepted) at least 2 papers in SCI or SSCI, accumulating impact factor≧5.0. And one dissertation supervisor is listed as the corresponding author in one of the published papers.

3. For those who did not pass the degree examination prior to reaching the maximal study period, the students may apply for a re-examination during the next semester or next school year. If the student fails a second time, he/she will be expelled.

1. The supervisors chosen by the student shall be approved by the Executive Committee of the program.
2. The selection of dissertation supervisors should be completed before the end of the first semester in the second academic year, after the student fulfils 2-time lab rotation (in both NTOU and Academia Sinica). 
3. The Student should choose two dissertation supervisors (one of each in NTOU and Academia Sinica) or one principal advising supervisor, and the principal supervisor chooses another co-advising professor, but they should meet the requirements of each individual from both NTOU and Academia Sinica.
4. After choosing certain supervisors, the student may apply for a Ph.D. qualifying examination.
5. The student and the supervisors discuss and decide the research topic together.
6. Each supervisor can receive at most two students at any time. 
7. If the student fails to select any supervisor within a timeframe, he or she will not be able to continue the Ph.D. program and the scholarship will be terminated.