Admission

I. Duration of study and suspension of school: In accordance with the Taipei Medical University Academic Regulations.

II. Credit Requirements

1. Students shall complete a minimum of 30 credits, including 24 required credits (12 credits from Dissertation, 0 credits from Research ethics) and at least of 6 elective credits for graduation.
2. Elective courses for graduation from the program must be certified by the program. Any credit from the uncertified courses is not counted as the graduation credits.
3. Students who have met the above requirements (except 12 credits from Dissertation) within the first two academic years are eligible to apply for the Ph. D. Qualifying Examination.

III. Thesis Advisory Committee (TAC)

1. Students should select a thesis advisor in the first semester. The thesis advisor is responsible for constituting the TAC consisting of three to five members and serves as the Chair of the committee.
2. Starting from the second academic year, students are required to report their progress to TAC at least once every year.
3. TAC gives advice on the student’s progress and completes a comment report to student and his/her thesis advisor for their following up. A copy of comment report should be submitted to the Program Office for record.
4. When students change a new thesis advisor, the TAC shall be reconstituted within three months to accomplish the change. Students are not allowed to change thesis advisor after submitting degree examination.

IV. Qualifying Examination Requirements

1. Students who satisfy the course requirements, including all of the compulsory course (except Dissertation) and elective courses (minimum 6 credits) may register for QE.
2. Students must pass QE for advancement to candidacy no later than the fifth semester.Students are only allowed to attend twice. Failure to pass QE on the second attempt means the student is subject to disqualification from further study for the doctoral degree.
3. Composition of QE Committee:
   1. Program Director should designate one full-time or an affiliated academic faculty in the program to serve as the committee’s convener.
   2. Convener recommends 5-7 candidates to the Program Director who selects the final 4 nominees (at least one is external to TMU) for QE Committee along with convener (the total number of QE Committee member is 5).
   3. Student’s thesis advisor is ineligible for committee member.
4. Required documents
   1. A completed Ph.D. QE application form.
   2. An official transcript.
   3. An abstract including specific topic directly connected to the candidate’s Ph.D. thesis project.
5. Examination format
   1. Oral presentation of the Ph.D. QE Report directly connected to the candidate’s Ph.D. dissertation topic.
   2. Content of Ph.D. QE presentation should include:
      • A brief overview on the topic of interest in this proposal.
      • The central concepts or ideas of the study.
      • The research hypothesis and objectives.
      • Preliminary data (including experimental designs) and other evidence to support the hypothesis.
      • Discussion of critical assumptions, contrary findings, and alternative interpretations.
   3. A copy of comprehensive research proposal using program-designated format must be submitted to the program office no later than ten days before the exam date.
6. Evaluation criteria
   1. Evaluation items are as follows:
      • Literature Review and Comprehension.
      • Coherency throughout the subject and creativity quality.
      • Research proposal writing capacity.
      • Quality of illustrations and ability to engage audience.
   2. The candidate may pass the QE by granting approval from at least 4 committee members.

V. Preliminary evaluation of the Ph.D. dissertation

1. Application time: Offered twice a year. Please refer to the announcement from the Program for the active submission period.
2. Eligibility:
   Student who have completed the following requirements are eligible to apply.
   1. Except Dissertation, minimum course credit requirements must be obtained. Elective courses for graduation from the program must be certified by the program. Any credit from the uncertified courses is not counted as the graduation credits.
   2. Passing the Ph. D. Qualifying Examination.
   3. At least one research publication meets the following criterions:
      • Original articles published/accepted in SCI, SSCI, EI journals (ranked in the top 20% of at least one subject category or Impact Factor ≧3) as the single first author.
      • The primary affiliation of the applicant listed on the publication must be the program with the full name of “International Ph.D. Program for Translational Science, College of Medical Science and Technology, Taipei Medical University”.
      • The applicant’s thesis advisor must be the corresponding author.
      • Content of the publication has to be fundamentally logical, coherent and also relevant to the applicant’s Ph. D. Dissertation.
3. Required application documents
   1. Official transcripts for coursework completed.
   2. Photocopies of published articles (or the acceptance letter).
   3. Dissertation draft.

VI. Degree examination

1. The program shall establish a Ph.D. Degree Examination Committee consisting five to nine members who are suggested by applicant’s thesis advisor and selected by the Dean of College of Medical Science and Technology in accordance with university’s regulations; at least one-third of committee members are external to TMU. The minimum score to pass the examination is 70.
2. Students who have passed the degree examination are obligated to revise his/her Dissertation according to the Committee’s comments. Once completing the administrative procedure for graduation, students will receive the certificate of doctoral degree.

VII. Matters not covered in the current document shall be referred to the relevant regulations set by Ministry of Education and Taipei Medical University.

VIII. These regulations shall be implemented after approval by Academic Affairs meeting and reported to the University’s President. Any amendments shall be processed accordingly.