Awarding of Doctoral Degree
There is presently a wide assortment of Doctoral Degrees being granted by universities around the globe, with the most common being the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D). Among the five departments of IGSES (ASEM, MMS, AEES, EEE and ESST) three types of Doctoral Degrees may be awarded after the successful completion of the program syllabus. These are the Doctor of Engineering (EngD), Doctor of Science (ScD) and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D). The EEE department is currently only able to award EngD or Ph.D degrees.
The primary reason behind the awarding of three different Doctoral degree types is that universities in some nations do not accept a particular type of degree. Hence by awarding the three most common types of degrees it is possible to avoid any incompatibility issues between different nations and universities.
The policy of IGSES allows the doctoral student to select the type of degree which is awarded towards the completion of their program. Generally, supervisors or departments do not impose any limitation except that which was mentioned previously for the EEE department.
In practice there is absolutely no variation in the research content, coursework requirements, requisite credits or academic reputation between the three degree types. The specific requirements for successful course completion depend on the policy of each department, however generally a degree can be awarded after approximately 3 years of study, the publication of an acceptable number of peer reviewed publications and the submission of a doctoral thesis which has been passed by a thesis review committee.