General Program Specification

Unless the content otherwise specifies, ‘home institution’ shall refer to the institution at which a student is originally enrolled and intends to graduate, and host institution shall signify the institution at which a student is temporarily enrolled as a visiting exchange student during the program. Exchange students shall mean UNIFI doctoral students at ASU or ASU doctoral students at UNIFI.

Student Selection and Admission into the Joint Ph.D. Program

Students will be admitted into the joint Ph.D. program through meeting the appropriate admission requirements of both universities concurrently. In terms of the entrance requirements for Arizona State University, students must meet the minimum requirements of the ASU Graduate College, as well as specific admission requirements of the ASU Department, discussed in Section III.A. Likewise, students must satisfy eligibility requirements from UNIFI. Students will first be admitted into the home institution meeting the admissions requirements of the home institution. Subsequently, students will then be nominated for the Joint Ph.D. program by the home institution.

Nominations from one institution for students commencing a period of exchange must be received and approved by the other institution in advance of the exchange. For UNIFI students intending to register for study at ASU in the Fall semester, application materials must be delivered to ASU no later than April 1 of the preceding Spring Semester. For students coming for the spring semester, applications must be submitted to ASU by October 1 of that academic year. For ASU students registering for study at UNIFI in the Fall semester, requests must be delivered to UNIFI no later than May 1, and for students studying in the spring semester applications must be delivered by November 15 in of the academic year. Unless otherwise agreed to in writing, the student exchanges shall conform to the academic calendar year of each university. Each party shall notify the other as to the acceptability of the nominations within 30 days of receipt of the applications.

Degree Requirements

Students graduating in the joint degree program must satisfy the degree requirements of each institution separately, including coursework requirements, exams, and residency. In addition, students prior to residency at the host institution must demonstrate language competency of the host institution at a level sufficient to participate in lecture classes, seminars, and research.

-Credit Hours: Students enrolled in the program will be required to satisfy the ASU requirement of 84 hours beyond the U.S. Bachlor’s degree in a field related to the field of study of the Ph.D. Students entering the program graduating from an approved Italian University with the ‘Laurea’ degree (5 year program) will be considered the equivalent of an U.S. M.S. graduate, completing 6 hours of dissertation, and 24 hours of coursework. Due to the reduced time of the Laurea, students with this degree will be required to fulfill 30 hours of classes from an agreed upon list of courses in both the home university and host university according to Section II.D, in addition to 6 hours of dissertation, and 18 hours of research credit.

-Residency: Students will spend a minimum of 1 year residency as an exchange student at the host institution in order to meet the requirements of the joint degree program. During the exchange period, students will be enrolled full-time, where they enroll in classes, seminars, and research credit in order to meet the requirements of the joint program.

-Language Requirements: For students from ASU (home institution) whose native language is not Italian, they will be required to take of 1 year of Italian language corresponding to ITA 101 and ITA 102 at Arizona State University. Further language study beyond ITA 101 and 102 through summer or special language institutes at the host university. Students from Italy enrolling at ASU would be required to pass the TOEFEL exam at the minimum level required for admission into the graduate program at ASU.

-Ph.D. Committee: For students enrolling in the joint Ph.D. program, a doctoral committee will be formed consisting of at least one faculty from the host university, and then a sufficient number from the home institution to make five members total. The joint doctoral committee will then be involved in the required functions of the doctoral committee at both institutions, including participation in examinations (comprehensive and final exams, as well as department specific exams), review and approval of the program of study, and final dissertation.

-Exams: A minimum of two exams are required for the joint Ph.D. program, the equivalent of the ASU Comprehensive exam, and a final dissertation defense. The exam will be conducted by the joint Ph.D. committee described above. Further department specific exams will also be conducted as detailed in part III.

Articulation of Courses and Course Selection

A list of classes will be submitted from both institutions for approval by the department and governing boards (e.g. Graduate College at ASU) as courses acceptable for the Joint Ph.D. program. Review of these courses will be conducted annually. Students graduating from the Joint Ph.D. program will included only approved courses from this list in their programs of study.

Grade Reports.

Ideally within four weeks of the end of each semester, the host institution will forward to the International Office (IO) of the home institution, grade reports for each exchange student. The home institution’s IO will then make the on-campus academic record changes for the students, in accordance with its procedures and at the home institution’s sole discretion and subject to the home institution’s grade review procedures. If requested, the host institution will provide to the home institution information on their method of determining the grades for students of the Exchange Program. Additional information relating to grades may be requested.

Tuition and Fees

Students participating in the Exchange Program will pay their normal tuition and fees to the home institution. During the term of this Agreement, the host institution agrees to waive regular tuition costs for exchange students visiting under this Agreement. The visiting exchange students are liable for all other charges, including without limitation, any special activity fees, laboratory fees, studio fees, health insurance, registration fees, etc.

Department Specific Requirements

ASU Electrical Engineering Department

In addition to the general degree requirements detailed in Part II, participants in the Joint Ph.D. program must satisfy additional departmental requirements. Specifically, a Qualifying Exam is required for students enrolled in Electrical Engineering within two semesters of enrolling. This requirement will be upheld for students admitted to ASU as the home institution. For students admitted to UNIFI as their home institution, a qualifying exam would not be required at ASU based on the national entrance examination required for Italian Ph.D. candidates which conforms to expectations set for the ASU EE Qualifying exam.

Students from UNIFI as their home institution hold the Laurea as their highest degree will be required to take 30 hours of course work as part of the joint Ph.D. program.

UNIFI

No department specific requirements are set at this time.