Graduate School

Dear Student,

Welcome to the Doctoral Program.

Throughout your studies, you can seek support from the program chair for all academic processes and procedures. You can communicate via OIS by sending a message.

You can access the necessary forms and information for your studies on the Graduate School of Education website. Additionally, we recommend that you read the Graduate Education and Training Regulations.

Course Schedule
Course schedules are announced at the beginning of each semester in the announcements section of the Graduate School of Education website.

Course Registration Process
During the course registration dates specified in the academic calendar, you must select your courses via OIS and submit them for your advisor’s approval. Course selections not submitted for approval are invalid according to regulations. Your course registration is complete once your advisor approves it. Your OIS username and password are provided in the SMS sent to you.

Program Duration
The doctoral program consists of eight semesters, regardless of whether you register each semester, and must be completed within a maximum of twelve semesters. Students are required to complete the courses in their study plan in at least two semesters and at most four semesters. Within this period, you must complete your courses and prepare your dissertation.

Qualifying Exam
Students are allowed to take the qualifying exam a maximum of two times and, according to the regulations, must take it by the end of the fifth semester at the latest.

The qualifying exam consists of two parts: written and oral. Students who pass the written exam proceed to the oral exam.

Students who fail the qualifying exam will retake it in the following semester. Students who fail the exam a second time will be dismissed from the doctoral program.

Thesis Writing Guide
The guide can be accessed on the Graduate School of Education homepage under the “Thesis – Project Writing Guidelines” section.

Ethics Committee Application and Evaluation
In graduate-level scientific research, ensuring compliance with ethical principles is essential. You can access the information note regarding the ethics committee application process and procedures for researchers through the text below.

Click to view the Ethics Committee Application and Evaluation Process Information Note.

Thesis Monitoring Committees
For students who pass the qualifying exam, the department proposes a Thesis Monitoring Committee within one month. Additionally, the student must defend their thesis proposal orally before the committee within six months, presenting the purpose, methodology, and work plan of their research.

Following the defense, the Thesis Proposal Report must be submitted to the Graduate School by the advisor.

For students whose thesis proposal is accepted, the Thesis Monitoring Committee meets at least twice a year (once in January–June and once in July–December). At least three monitoring committee reports must be submitted to complete the thesis process.

After each committee meeting, the Thesis Monitoring Activity Report and the Thesis Monitoring Evaluation Minutes must be submitted to the Graduate School by the advisor.

Procedures Before the Thesis Defense

• Prior to the defense, students must complete their dissertation and present it to their advisor. The advisor submits the dissertation to the Graduate School along with their assessment on its readiness for defense.
• The request petition for the formation of the Doctoral Thesis Jury must be submitted to the Graduate School by the advisor.

Procedures After the Thesis Defense

• Students whose thesis is defended must have the Doctoral Thesis Defense Report and Thesis Approval Form submitted to the Graduate School by the advisor within three days following the defense.
• After the defense, the jury meets in closed session and decides by simple majority to accept, reject, or request corrections to the thesis. Students whose thesis is accepted are considered successful.
• Students whose thesis is rejected are dismissed from the higher education institution.

Graduation Process
At the graduation stage, the following documents must be submitted to the Graduate School Secretariat. You can contact the Secretariat at enstitusekreterligi@okan.edu.tr.

• Thesis Approval Certificate
• 1 Hardbound Thesis Copy
• 2 CDs in PDF format
• 3 Thesis Data Entry Forms (can be obtained via E-Government)
• National or international publication (including conference papers)
• Declaration of Generative AI Use
• Plagiarism Report (e.g., Turnitin, iThenticate)
• Artificial Intelligence Usage Report (Pangram)

Note: The combined result of the Plagiarism Report and AI Usage Report must not exceed 20%.

Graduation procedures commence once the required documents are submitted.

Graduation Ceremony
At the end of each academic year, a graduation ceremony is held on the date specified in the academic calendar. Participation requires completing the participation form available on our website.

We wish you a successful academic journey.

Welcome to İstanbul Okan University.

Sincerely,
Graduate School