Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Eligiblity criteria for PhD Admission

MSE Department invites bright candidates to pursue PhD. for eligibility criteria click here:

Requirement of PhD Programme after admission

PhD programme has following components: Comprehensive exam, State of the art seminar, Open seminar and Oral defense. The students will be allocated their thesis guide(s) based on their research interest and department policy within first semester after entering the programme. The students are advised to complete the course work in the first year. The students will be allotted TA duty during their PhD program. The student will be provided with financial assistantship as per guidelines.

After the implementation of new PGARC in 2023-2024 SEM I, the requirement of courses and other academic matters for graduation has modified. The requirements for graduation in old and new PGARC are provided below:

For PhD students joined on and after 2023-24 SEM-I

(A) Students with B.Tech. in Engineering or a M.Sc. degree

  1. Minimum credit requirement for graduation: 216. In this, minimum credit through course work is 78.

  2. Minimum duration: 6 semesters (excluding summers); Maximum duration: 7 years (8 years for part time or external). Visit Annexure B of Addendum/modification to PG manual.

  3. "Normal" semester load: For regular students, the normal semester load is 36 Credits (1 Course - 9 credits; 1 Thesis - 9 credits) except in summer term (18 credits). For more details, visit clause 4.3 and 4.4 of PG manual.

  4. *Course requirements (Addendum to clause 7.1 and Annexure B of Addendum/modification to PG manual):
    1. Minimum number of courses with credits: 8 (9 credit each) + MSE888 (Introduction to Professional and Communication Skills; 6 credits). In addition, seminar course (MSE 801, with S/X grades) in two consecutive semesters are compulsory before comprehensive exam.
    2. English proficiency test by English Language Cell to be cleared by students in the first academic year.
    3. For obtaining M. Tech degree, four M. Tech compulsory courses (MSE615, MSE626, MSE616 and MSE617, as listed in the requirement for M. Tech program) must be completed. In addition, 135 credits of thesis work to be completed. For more details, visit Annexure IV of PG manual.
    4. Coursework has to be completed before the student can appear for comprehensive exam
  5. To continue in the PhD program, students must have a minimum CPI and obtained minimum satisfactory thesis grades. For academic performance requirement refer Annexure C of Addendum/modification to PG manual.


(B) Students with M. Tech. in Engineering

  1. Minimum credit requirement for graduation: 144. In this, minimum credit through course work is 42.

  2. Minimum residence: 4 semesters (Excluding summers); Maximum duration: 6 years (7 years for part time or external). Refer Annexure B of Addendum/modification to PG manual).

  3. "Normal" semester load: For regular students, the normal semester load is 36 Credits (1 Course - 9 credits; 1 Thesis - 9 credits) except in summer term (18 credits). For more details, visit clause 4.3 and 4.4 of PG manual.

  4. *Course requirements (Addendum to clause 7.1 and Annexure B of Addendum/modification to PG manual):
    1. Minimum number of courses with credits: 4 (9 credit each) + MSE888 (Introduction to Professional and Communication Skills; 6 credits). In addition, seminar course (MSE 801, with S/X grades) in two consecutive semesters are compulsory before comprehensive exam.
    2. English proficiency test by English Language Cell to be cleared by students in the first academic year.
    3. Coursework has to be completed before the student can appear for comprehensive exam
  5. To continue in the PhD program, students must have a minimum CPI and obtained minimum satisfactory thesis grades. For academic performance requirement, refer Annexure C of Addendum/modification to PG manual.

For PhD students joined before 2023-24 SEM-I

(A) Students with B.Tech. in Engineering or a M.Sc. degree

  1. Minimum credit requirement for graduation: 216. In this, minimum credit through course work is 90.

  2. Minimum duration: 6 semesters (excluding summers); Maximum duration: 7 years (8 years for part time or external)

  3. "Normal" semester load: For regular students, the normal semester load is 36 Credits (1 Course - 9 credits; 1 Thesis - 9 credits) except in summer term (18 credits). For more details, visit clause 4.3 and 4.4 of PG manual.

  4. *Course requirements:
    1. Minimum number of courses with credits: 10 (9 credit each). In addition, seminar courses (MSE690A and MSE691A, with S/X grades) in two consecutive semesters are compulsory before comprehensive exam. MSE690A is prerequisite for MSE691A.
    2. For obtaining M. Tech degree, four M. Tech compulsory courses (MSE615, MSE626, MSE616 and MSE617, as listed in the requirement for M. Tech program) must be completed.  In addition, 135 credits of thesis work to be completed. For more details, visit Annexure IV of PG manual.
    3. Coursework has to be completed before the student can appear for comprehensive exam
  5. To continue in the PhD program, students must have a minimum CPI and obtained minimum satisfactory thesis grades. For academic performance requirement refer PG manual (clause 7.7).

(B) Students with M. Tech. in Engineering

  1. Minimum credit requirement for graduation: 144. In this, minimum credit through course work is 36.

  2. Minimum residence: 4 semesters (Excluding summers); Maximum duration: 6 years (7 years for part time or external)

  3. “Normal” semester load: For regular students, the normal semester load is 36 Credits (1 Course - 9 credits; 1 Thesis - 9 credits) except in summer term (18 credits). For more details, visit clause 4.3 and 4.4 of PG manual.

  4. *Course requirements: Minimum number of courses with credits: 4 (9 credit each). In addition, seminar courses (MSE690A and MSE691A, with S/X grades) in two consecutive semesters are compulsory before comprehensive exam. MSE690A is prerequisite for MSE691A. Coursework has to be completed before the student can appear for comprehensive exam

  5. To continue in the PhD program, students must have a minimum CPI and obtained minimum satisfactory thesis grades. For academic performance requirement refer PG manual (clause 7.7).


*List of PG courses can be found at: http://www.iitk.ac.in/mse/data/MSE_PG_Courses.pdf


Steps to PhD Degree

  1. Comprehensive examination (Details are in clauses 8 and 9 of PG Manual)
    • Students registered in the Ph.D. programme must pass a comprehensive examination. Passing this exam is a mandatory requirement for formally registering into the PhD programme.
    • A student can appear in the comprehensive examination only after completion of courses and satisfied the minimum specified CPI requirement.
    • Students admitted with B. Tech, MSc must pass it before the end of the fifth semester after their first registration.
    • Students admitted with M. Tech or equivalent degrees must pass it before the end of the fourth semester after their first registration.

    A Doctoral Monitoring Committee shall be formed for all PhD students after passing comprehensive exam and before State of Art Seminar. (Details are in clause 11.2 of Addendum/modification of PG Manual)

  2. State of Art Seminar (Details are in clause 10 of PG Manual)
    • Every Ph.D. student admitted to the candidacy for the Ph.D. degree is required to give a general seminar in the Department covering the State of Art of the area of research.
    • Should be completed within six months of passing the comprehensive exam
  3. OPEN Seminar (Details are in clause 11.3 of PG Manual
    Before proceeding to finalize the thesis, each Ph.D. student must deliver a seminar open to faculty and students in which the research work will be presented to obtain comments and criticism which may be incorporated in his/her thesis.

  4. Thesis submission and Oral defense (Details are in clauses 11.3 and 11.4)
    The thesis must be submitted within six months of OPEN seminar. After obtaining reviews from the reviewers, the student need to defend his thesis in front of Oral Examination Committee.

Other general comments

PhD students are encouraged to attend as many departmental/institute seminars/lectures (not related to coursework) as possible to broaden their horizons.

Conferences: Institute funding is available to the PhD students after they finish the coursework requirement. In addition, students are encouraged to seek the financial support from various organizations such as DST, DBT, CSIR and many other bodies and trusts.