Program Name: PhD in Structural Engineering

About The Program:

The PhD program in Structural Engineering imparts the knowledge and skills towards performing high quality research in the area of Structural Engineering. PhD students are expected to publish their work in leading international journals and conferences pertaining to their area of research.

The program has limited amount of course work, essentially to prepare the student to carry out research, and to develop adequate breadth in the subject area. The main emphasis is on the research work leading to a thesis. This involves delving in depth into a research topic and includes grasping, evaluating and refining ideas, mathematical rigor, problem formulation, literature survey, implementation and performance evaluation. Typically students decide on their research area and faculty advisor within the first year while doing course work. Thereafter, the steps involved are: finishing course work (to build research background and breadth), thesis proposal defense, and thesis defense. Upon clearing the requirements and the acceptance of their thesis proposal, the student works on the thesis, and its successful defense leads to the degree.

Advantages (for the student):

The program offers adequate platform for a student to work on their innovative ideas with self motivation.

Duration:

Flexible (6 semesters minimum; 14 semesters maximum). Typical duration varies between 4-6 years.

Eligibility:

BE/B.Tech or ME/M.Tech in Civil Engineering.

Admission Process:

An all-India examination to test the preparedness of the applicants will be held in May every year. The examination will be held at Hyderabad and a number of major cities in the country depending on the number of applicants from each region. The entrance examination will consist of two papers. Paper I test the general aptitude of the candidate and will consist of objective questions from Mathematics, Programming, and Logical Reasoning. Paper II is the Subject Paper, which tests the candidate's subject knowledge.

Objective:

Breadth Courses

Student is expected to have undergone sufficient breadth in the related areas of research. A student has to take and clear three (3) courses from the list given below. Satisfactory performance is defined as getting an average grade of B or higher in these courses.

Students who take an advanced course instead of the listed course and show satisfactory performance are deemed to have cleared that requirement.

Suggested Breadth Courses

Problem Solving with programming
Structural Dynamics
Finite Element Method
Mathematical Foundations of Solid Mechanics

Suggested Depth related Courses

Numerical Analysis
Earthquake Engineering
Computing Tools
Advanced Structural Design
Foundation Design
Advanced Structural Analysis

Background	Breadth courses	Depth Courses	Comprehensive Exam	Starting Academic Level
PG from outside (respective area)	3	3	Required	L1
M.Tech from IIIT-H	*	3	Required	L1
Converted from MS to PhD without degree (After completing course requirements and making significant progress on research)	*	2	Required	L1
MS by Research Graduate from IIIT-H	*	2	Waiver on case by case basis	L1
All others	3	4	Required	L1

* - Not required as they have finished the courses during their stay at IIIT-H

L1: Rs 9000 per month until completing the Breadth Qualifiers and Comprehensive Exam.

L2: Rs 12000 per month after L1.

Academics