Ph. D . of Public Relations

The First Stage

• The student studies nine courses, distributed as follows:
• √ Six compulsory courses.
• √Three elective courses from among the courses offered by the faculty for Ph.D. students.
• The study is conducted through research seminars in each course, and the research seminar relies on multiple references and is in accordance with the scientific research methodology and standards.
• The study of each of the eight courses takes four credit hours for a minimum of four weeks, and it may be more than that according to the abilities of each student, after which the student’s competency and knowledge test is held in the course he finished, then he starts in another course in the same way, and so on.
• Courses studied in the first year, the student has the right to extend the study for a period not exceeding a second year.
• If a specialization track is chosen within the general program, elective courses will have to be studied from the courses designated for the chosen specialization.

The Second Stage

● The student is assigned a virtual two course that the faculty chooses from among the courses that the student studied at the bachelor’s level. This is a practical training for the student, with ten credit hours. The student must divide this course into twelve to fourteen abbreviated lectures. The student presents each lecture in the form of a written summary of its topic in Word format, accompanied by a video recording of it in the student’s voice using the Power Point program. Its duration is not less than ten minutes and not more than twenty minutes.

The Thrid Stage

Requirements for registering a thesis topic for a Ph. D. degree in Media and Communication

• Requirements for registering a thesis topic for a Ph.d degree in Media and Communication The student must pass the prescribed academic courses with at least 70%.
• The student obtains a TOEFL certificate with a score of at least 450, or its equivalent, or obtains a corresponding certificate in the French language, with the exception of those who obtained a first university degree in one of the two languages, or in one of the two languages.
• The student submits a request to the university administration to register a Ph. D. thesis with a suggested topic in one of the sub-specialized tracks.
• If the initial approval of the subject title is achieved, the Faculty Council shall specify a supervisor to guide the student and follow him up in preparing the plan.
• The research plan includes the importance of the subject and a critical presentation of the previous studies in it, and a specification of the research problem, then defining the methodology of the study and its main hypotheses or the questions that you want to answer, and the division of the study and its sources.
• The student presents his proposed plan in a scientific seminar. The plan discusses a topic and methodology.
• The student amends his plan based on the notes of the professors in the seminar if he is asked to amend it.
• The plan is presented after the seminar to the Faculty Council to take its decision regarding the registration of the subject.
• In the event of approval, the decision of the Faculty Council is presented to the University Council to approve the registration, and the date of registration is calculated from the date of approval by the University Council.

Jury discussion and degree awarding

• The minimum period for preparing a Ph. D. thesis is 16 months, starting from the date of approval of the University Council to register the subject, and the maximum is 7 years, which can be extended for a third exceptional year upon the recommendation of the supervisor and The approval of the Faculty Council, provided that the total period of the student’s enrollment in the degree does not exceed four years.
• The supervisor submits a semi-annual report that includes what has been accomplished, and what is required in the remaining period.
• After the student completes the thesis and the supervisor reviews it, the supervisor submits to the university administration a report stating that it is valid for discussion, including an evaluation of the student’s performance during the thesis preparation period of 140 degrees, along with submission a full A copy of the thesis signed by him, and a letter with the names of the jury proposed by the professors of the discipline, for presentation to the council the faculty.
• It is required that before the student’s discussion, at least fifteen days have passed from the date of approval of the jury committee from the faculty.
• The jury committee formed to discuss the thesis is six months, which may be renewed for a similar period based on a report from the supervisor and the approval of the Faculty Council.
• The period of validity of the committee formed to discuss thesis is six months. It may be renewed for a similar period based on a report from the supervisor and the approval of the Faculty Council.
• Each member of the jury writes a detailed scientific report on the validity of the thesis for discussion, and evaluates the thesis out of 100 grade, and the average of the three degrees is taken.
• The student may not be discussed unless he obtains at least 70% of the supervisor’s evaluation of his performance and the jury members’ evaluation of the thesis in the individual reports.
• Submit a post-dissertation group report signed by all members of the jury evaluating the thesis discussion out of 100.
• The thesis is approved after public discussion by the jury with one of the grades shown in the following table:

• The following grades are not taken into account for the semester or cumulative GPA.

Credits
Before the 2016-2017 fall semester 1 credit point is equivalent to 1 semester lecture hour. In the 2016 – 2017 fall semester the University introduced the ECTS – European Credit Transfer System.

Academic Calendar
International Suleiman University calendar is based on the semester system. Each semester has a duration of 15 weeks including the week of the final exam. The summer semester is 10 weeks long, including the final exam.