1. The duration for the Degree of PhD shall not be less than eight and more than 16 semesters in full residence and not less than ten and more than 18 semesters for the university employee admitted as part time students.
2. The employees of the government/ other agencies nominated for PhD degree at this University shall have to take study leave to pursue studies as a regular student, failing which he/ she shall not be admitted. However, after getting admission by a nominee in the university, it would be obligatory for the parent department to sanction the study leave or extension in the leave in favour of the nominee within one semester failing which his/her admission shall stand cancelled.

The scheme of study for the degree programs are given in SCHEDULE IV which may be amended from time to time. A student shall present an acceptable thesis in addition to completing his/her approved course work and comprehensive examination in order to qualify for the award of the degree.

1. A student admitted to the degree program shall take minimum 18 credits followed by Comprehensive Examination. He/she will have to defend PhD synopsis and thesis at university level. Deficiency course(s) shall not be counted toward the minimum credit hours requirement.
2. Public thesis defense is mandatory, in the presence of a board of senior researchers, consisting of members from an outside department/organization or a university.
3. The defense is done in a public presentation in which teachers and students can participate. The scholar presents his/her research work and answers the questions of the audience The University will notify in advance the date, time and venue of the event via its website, newsletters and news papers etc.

Admission may be conducted twice a year i.e. in the fall semester and spring semester. If a candidate fails to complete enrollment formalities i.e. deposit the semester dues and Course Registration Form (CRF) in the office of the DAS, his / her admission shall stand cancelled. However, nominees of HEC, GCUF, foreign countries and other government organizations, may be admitted up to the end of mid exams with the condition that they will have to cover up the courses by taking seminars, special problem and research project.

The Academic Staff: A teacher / researcher of the GC University, Faisalabad (regular) may be allowed to enroll himself / herself for postgraduate courses after getting permission from the competent authority. He / she under this arrangement will be a part time student and a full time employee. He / she will be allowed to enroll maximum of two courses and one seminar or special problem in a semester and pay half dues of the semester alongwith examination fee.In case, he / she intends to take maximum credit hours allowed to a full time student then he / she will have to take leave from the University and pay full University dues.

1. If a student fails to enroll in any semester(s) without permission of the competent authority, he/she shall cease to be on the rolls of the University and in case he/she desires readmission, he/she shall have to apply for the same.
2. The Advanced Studies and Research Board may readmit such a candidate subject to the payment of Rs. 2,000/- as re-admission fee and Rs. 10,000/- as per semester gap fee, if applicable.
3. The Advanced Studies and Research Board may refuse the re-admission if the reasons presented are not convincing.

Note: The period of gap semester will be counted towards residential requirements.

1. A student admitted to the course shall take a comprehensive examination, within two semesters after he/she has successfully completed the approved course work.(Explanation: The comprehensive examination shall be arranged within 10 weeks while the date, time and venue of examination shall be notified within first week of the termination of each regular semester. A student will have to apply for comprehensive examination on the prescribed form at least four weeks before the examination.If a student does not apply within the specified period or does not appear in the examination, he/she will be deemed to have availed one chance and failed to qualify in the first attempt).

2. The comprehensive examination will cover the complete course work. It will be designed to ascertain whether the student has attained the breadth of knowledge and the intellectual maturity necessary to become a successful scholar in his/her chosen discipline.It will not be a mere re-examination of previous courses but will test the students’ ability to integrate and assimilate the knowledge obtained from the courses, seminars and independent studies.

3. A student has to apply on the prescribed form for comprehensive examination to the office of the Director Advanced Studies (for 1st and 2nd attempts). In case the student does not apply/appear in the examination, his/her chance will lapse.

4. The Controller of Examinations shall, with the approval of the Vice Chancellor, notify the date, time and venue of the examination at least two weeks before the commencement of the examination.

5. Student is required to apply for the comprehensive examination with in two weeks after the completion of course work and declaration of results.

6. The number of paper shall be one comprising of three parts of equal marks.

7. Examiners for the comprehensive examination shall be appointed by the Vice Chancellor, processed through Controller of Examinations office from a panel of examiners(three for each section of paper) proposed by respective Board of Studies.

8. The appointed panel of examiners will prepare their questions for comprehensive and submit in sealed envelope to the controller examination through respective chairperson/incharege.
9. Each member shall, within seven days after the receipt of the answer book/s, return them duly marked to the Controller of Examinations along with the award list.
10. To pass the examination a student must secure 65% marks in each section separately.
11. If a student does not qualify comprehensive examination,he/she can reappear only in the failed paper but only once in next compressive exam.
12. If a student fails in two or more papers, he/she will be re-examined in all the papers, he/she shall be eligible to appear in the failed subject again but only once and within two semesters from the date of the declaration of the result of the examination.
13. A student who has passed the comprehensive examination shall be deemed to have become a candidate for admission to PhD degree.
14. Special chance of compressive exam may be allowed in special circumstances , with the permission of competitive authority only.

1. A student shall be entitled to submit thesis for examination after he/she has qualified the approved courses work, qualified the comprehensive examination (written) and has also fulfilled the residential requirements. He/she is required to submit thesis examination fee before the submission of semi-final thesis.

2. The thesis shall be completed according to the guidelines approved by the Advanced Studies and Research Board and shall be submitted to the office of the Director Advanced Studies within 90 days after the termination of the semester.

3. The thesis must be an original and scholarly contribution to the knowledge of the candidate’s chosen field of study.

4. The thesis duly certified by the Supervisory Committee that the contents and form of the thesis are satisfactory for submission shall be sent to the external examiner by the office of the Controller of Examinations (CE) for evaluation.

5. A PhD candidate is required to submit at least three copies of his PhD thesis for evaluation.

6. A panel of 8-10 foreign external examiners will be proposed from developed countries except the subject where limitations applies; by respective Supervisor or Chairperson, recommended by the respective Board of Studies. These examiners should be from at least HEIS/ Universities or research organizations of developed countries. At the same time a panel of minimum 06 -08 local / national external examiners approved by the BoS will be submitted for approval from the competent authority who will appoint two foreign for evaluation of thesis and two local external examiner for conduct of viva .from the two national examiners one will act as evaluater and submit his report but the other will act as examiner only,and both will take the viva exam/thesis defense.

7. Each External Examiner shall explicitly state in his/her report:
   a) Whether or not the thesis is of sufficient merit to justify the award of PhD Degree to the candidate.
   b) Whether the candidate should be allowed to revise and re-submit his thesis. In the later case the broad lines on which the thesis should be revised must be clearly stated.

8. If both the foreign examiners reject thesis, the candidate shall be declared as failed. However, the Advanced Studies and Research Board may allow a student to re-conduct his/her research and re-submit his/her thesis on a new topic as recommended by his Supervisory Committee. This facility would be available only once within the period of residential requirements.

9. If one of the foreign examiners approves the thesis and the other rejects it, it shall be sent to a third examiner, for evaluation. If the third examiner approves the thesis,the candidate shall be recommended for the award of the degree, otherwise he/she shall be declared as failed.

10. If one of the foreign examiners approves the thesis and the other rejects it, it shall be sent to a third examiner, for evaluation. If the third examiner approves the thesis,the candidate shall be recommended for the award of the degree, otherwise he/she shall be declared as failed.

11. If one of the foreign examiners approves the thesis and other is of the view that it is not acceptable in the form in which it has been presented but requires revision, the following procedure shall be followed:

    1. The supervisory committee of the candidate may either:(a) write to the examiners concerned explaining why it is not possible to revise the thesis and taking the position that it should be examined in its original form, or (b)if the views of the examiner were acceptable to the Committee, require the candidate to revise and re-submit the thesis within a period not exceeding two semesters, for re-evaluation.
    2. If the examiner approves the original thesis or the revised thesis, as the case may be, the candidate shall be recommended for the award of the degree.
    3. In case of disagreement between the supervisory committee and the examiner, the matter shall be referred to the Advanced Studies and Research Board which may suggest such action as it may consider expedient.

12. If both the examiners express the opinion that the thesis as presented is not acceptable, but required revision, the following procedure shall be adopted:
    (i). In case the lines, on which the examiners have suggested revision of the thesis, are substantially the same and are acceptable to the Supervisory Committee,they shall call upon the candidate to revise the thesis on these lines and re-submit it within a period not exceeding two semesters, for reevaluation. The revised thesis shall then be sent to the examiners.
    (ii). In case the lines on which the examiners have suggested revision are not acceptable to the Supervisory Committee, the mater shall be referred to the Advanced Studies and Research Board which may suggest such action as it may consider expedient.
    (iii). In case a candidate, who is required to revise and re-submit his/her thesis, does not do so within the period allowed, he/she shall be declared to have failed.

13. Acceptance/publication of one research paper in at least HEC approved “X” category journal; in case of Sciences /Engineering and “Y” category in case of all other disciplines, is essential for the award of Ph.D degree. The financial incentive to the teacher will be redeemable after the publication of the paper. The name of the authors must include the names/s of supervisor/s.

14. Student is required to submit the finally approved three copies of hardbound PhD thesis along with two CDs. one each for HEC and University Library.
15. Student is required to submit the finally approved three copies of hardbound PhD thesis along with two CDs. one each for HEC and University Library.

16. If the thesis, submitted by a candidate for final evaluation, is proved to be copied / plagiarized, it will be liable to be rejected. The admission of such a candidate shall be cancelled and he/she will not be readmitted to PhD under any circumstances.

17. If the thesis of a candidate is proved to be plagiarized after its evaluation and declaration of result, previous result of the candidate will be cancelled and he/she will be declared to have failed in thesis examination. Such a candidate shall not be readmitted to PhD under any circumstances.

1. While defending PhD Thesis by a PhD scholar in the absence of supervisor or Member, the Chairman of the Department/Director of the Institute in which student is enrolled will sign on behalf of co-supervisor or member. Note: (In case the Chairman of Supervisory Committee is also a Chairman of Teaching Department or Director of Institute and is on leave (within country) he must attend the PhD thesis defense and a date in this regard shall be fixed with his consultation.

2. For “Minor Change” in the title of the Synopsis/Thesis, a letter from the Supervisory Committee of the student, will serve the purpose.
3. In case of major change, the student will have to defend it again at University level evaluated by the Supervisory Committee.
4. The student who enrolls extra semesters beyond the minimum residential period (six semesters) will have to pay full semester fee for each and every extra semester.
5. After submission of the thesis, the students will not be allowed to stay in the University hostels
6. A candidate who has fulfilled all the requirements prescribed for the course shall be awarded the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy.