Hye, I'm planning to pursue a postgraduate degree in Strategic and Defence Studies (part-time) in UM. I have been searching through the net for quite a while and a "local" answer to my question is nowhere to be found.

Question:
What does it takes to upgrade a Masters into PHD?

Any of u have been through this situation? Please enlighten me. Thanks in advance!

Hi Fadzy,

Do you mean conversion of a Masters degree into PhD? If so, these are some of the requirements.

1) Within 15 months of your candidature (may differ for part-timers).
2) One paper accepted in ISI journals.
3) Application letter to Dean of your faculty.
4) Letter of support from your supervisor and Head of Department.
5) Written report (inclusive of further additional research).

If your application is successful, you will then need to do a conversion seminar. The panel of evaluators will then decide to approve your conversion or not.

Please take note that you should clarify the requirements with the faculty or Institute of Graduate Studies for an up-to-date information.

Good luck!

I think that one is the hardest right? ><"

Definitely. That's the main hinder to those wishing to do a conversion. It's a bit difficult to get a publication accepted in less than 15 months. Especially, f you are starting a new project, and you need to plan the experimental designs etc.

On the other hand, it's not stated that it needs to be Tier 1 or 2 (Q1 or Q2) publication, so you can actually go for Tier 4 (Q4), which is supposedly easier to get your paper accepted? As long as you and your supervisor don't mind.

thanx for your input guys! btw does the research topic contributes to the opportunity of doing conversion? what i understood is that doing phd is contributing new things to the body of knowledge. lets say i do my research in something totally new, will that grant me the chance for conversion?

Your research need not be something entirely new but at least I believe your theoretical and practical contributions should be beyond the Master's level.

Browsing through some PhD thesis can help to assess what are the typical contributions made by past PhD students.

But I have to admit that reading some past thesis might make you drop your jaw and say, "like that also can get PhD ah?" because the contributions are just minimal.

that is what i thought exactly. not trying to be too ambitious, i believe that i am able to produce something worthy of a phd (provided that they only want something new) especially in defence.

Exactly, you just need to show the examiners (or the committee) that your contributions are worthy of a PhD.

The committee usually require that, for a Master by research to be convertible, it must be:

(1) Feasible, i.e., a kind of subject-matter eligible for research

(2) Novel, i.e., at least some aspect of the research must be new

(3) Non-obvious, i.e., meaning that a "scientist having ordinary skill in the art" would not know how to solve the problem at which the research is directed by using exactly the same mechanism

(4) Useful or be susceptible of industrial application

Professor Stuart Pugh (the inventor of decision-matrix method), provided a list of 24 factors that may be used to evaluate the usefulness of your research outcome.

1. Performance
2. Environment
3. Life in service
4. Maintenance
5. Target product cost
6. Transportation
7. Packaging
8. Quantity
9. Manufacturing facilities
10. Size and weight
11. Aesthetics, appearance, and finish
12. Materials
13. Product life span
14. Standards
15. Ergonomics
16. Quality and reliability
17. Shelf life and storage
18. Testing
19. Safety
20. Product policy
21. Social and political implications
22. Product liability
23. Installation and operation
24. Reuse, recycling, and disposal