Graduation Requirements

Graduation Requirements of the Department of Energy Systems Research

  1. Common Requirements: All students must take “Introduction to Energy Systems” to graduate.

  2. Elective Requirements: (For students who started before the first semester of 2014) Students must complete one core elective course in their detailed major and one course in other majors.
    However, students in Energy, Energy Economics, and Energy Engineering are assumed as different fields.
    (For students who started from the first semester of 2014) Students must take more than one out of four core elective courses (Energy Storage Technology, Energy Materials and Devices, Energy Economics, and *Energy Engineering [Changed to Energy Conversion Engineering from Energy Engineering]).

    The existing regulations are applied to students who started before the first semester of 2014. They can also apply to newer students who started in the first semester of 2014.

    Students who started from the second semester of 2016 must take the course Energy Engineering, not Energy Conversion Engineering, among four core elective courses. Students who started before the second semester of 2016 are under the existing regulations; it is possible to take more than one course from the four core electives (Energy Economics, Energy Engineering, Energy Storage Technology, and Energy Materials and Devices) under the restructured curriculum from the second semester of 2016 <Updated on June 20, 2016>.

    For students who completed the graduation requirements for a master's degree in the Department of Energy Systems Research (Ajou University) and started Ph.D. courses after 2017, the required courses can be waived. <Updated on March 14, 2018>

    For students who started in the second semester of 2020, students must complete one core elective course. Energy Economics, Energy Engineering, Energy Storage Technology, Energy Conversion Engineering, and Energy Materials and Devices are selectable core elective courses.  <Updated on December 07, 2022>

    For students who started in the first semester of 2020 or before the first semester of 2020, they can follow the curriculum requirements updated in 2020 or previous regulations. <Updated on December 07, 2022>

Criteria for Thesis Publication in Academic Journals

Criteria for Thesis Publication in Academic Journals
  Graduate School’s
Common Criteria
(Admission before 2015)
Graduate School’s
Common Criteria
(Admission from 2015)
Departmental Criteria
Ph.D.

For those who publish(or scheduled) the contents of their thesis in a journal approved by the graduate school as follows:

  • Science and Engineering:
    more than two Domestic or one International Journal accepted
  • Humanities and Social Sciences:
    more than one Domestic/ International Journal accepted
 

FULL TIME

  • Science and Engineering:
    More than three SCI-level papers published (or scheduled); more than one paper must be accepted as the lead author
  • Social Science:
    more than three papers in academic journals (or scheduled); more than one paper must be accepted as the lead author (SCI-level academic journals, or reports with major international energy-related research institutes)
  • Common features:
    Thesis must be written in English

PART-TIME

  • Apply the Graduate School’s common criteria to part-time students
Master & Ph.D.
Integrated Course

For those who publish (or scheduled) the contents of their thesis in related journals:

  • Science and Engineering:
    more than one international journal paper
  • Humanities and Social Sciences:
    more than two domestic journal papers

For those who publish (or scheduled) the contents of their thesis in a journal approved by the graduate school:

  • Science and Engineering:
    more than one international journal paper
  • Humanities and Social Sciences:
    more than two domestic or one international journal papers
 
table scroll image

Criteria for publishing thesis contents in academic journals for Ph.D. /Master & Ph.D. Integrated Course degree programs (from admissions in 2015).
- Graduate students should publish journal papers as the first (lead) or corresponding author.
- Acceptable International Journals: SCI(E) level and A&HCI listed journals and for Science and Engineering; SSCI- and SCIE- levels, A&HCI listed journals for Humanities and Social sciences.
- Acceptable Domestic Journals: Journals listed (or candidate) in the National Research Foundation of Korea.

Final Graduation Requirements

  • Completion of the above degree programs (or to be completed).
  • Thesis submitted for the degrees (Master’s: May/November, Ph.D.: April/October)
    • Completion of Non-Subject Education (e.g., Research Ethics, Research Note Writing, and Thesis Writing).
    • Pass the Qualification Test (e.g., foreign language and comprehensive tests).
    • Journal requirements (including departmental requirements), etc.
  • Those who pass the thesis evaluation upload the final copy (printed copy) of the thesis to the library website and submit four hard copies of the thesis.

Graduation Ceremony

  • The graduation ceremony is held once every school year in February.
  • Late (August) graduates receive their degree first on the graduation date (usually at the end of August) and attend the graduation ceremony in February of the following year.