The major part of a student's time will be devoted to research in fulfilment of the dissertation requirement. Course work would be established through discussion with the student's Advisory Committee.

PhD students will become candidates for the PhD degree upon completion of a qualifying examination, which must be conducted not later than the fifth semester of the PhD program. The examination will be primarily research focused.

Submission and defence of an acceptable dissertation complete the requirements for a PhD. An acceptable dissertation comprises a report of the candidate's research on a particular and well-defined research problem or hypothesis. It should represent a significant contribution to knowledge in that field. Emphasis is placed on the quality of the work judged by the expression of mature scholarship and critical judgment in the dissertation. Dissertation approval implies that it could be published in reputable, refereed journals in its field.