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The PhD in PE consists of a minimum 60 credit hours, distributed as follows: 3 credit hours of Program Core courses, 21 credit hours of Program Technical Elective courses, 36 credit hours of Dissertation research and two zero credit PhD Research Seminar courses. The technical background of the student will be assessed by a Written Qualifying Examination (WQE), followed by a Research Proposal Examination (RPE) which the student must successfully complete in order to progress further in the program. The components of the PhD program are summarized in the table below.

All the courses that the students will take are at PhD level.

Program Core (3 credit hours)

Students must complete the core courses listed below.

Program Electives (21 credit hours)

Students must complete a minimum of seven technical elective courses from the list below. At least two of these electives (6 credit hours) must be PhD level courses with a substantial mathematical component, as outlined in the ‘Mathematics Requirements’ section below.

The petroleum engineering PhD elective courses are listed below (all 3cr)

Subject to the approval of the dissertation Main Advisor, up to two elective courses (6 credit hours) can be taken from other PhD programs at KU.

PhD Research Dissertation (minimum 36 credit hours)

Students must complete a PhD Research Dissertation that involves novel, creative, research-oriented work under the direct supervision of at least one full-time faculty advisor from the department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, and at least one other full-time faculty who acts as a co-advisor. The outcome of research should demonstrate the synthesis of information into knowledge in a form that may be used by others. The research findings must be documented in a formal Dissertation and defended successfully in a viva voce examination. Furthermore, the research must lead to publishable quality scholarly journal articles.

The Direct PhD in PE consists of a minimum 72 credit hours, distributed as follows: 12 credit hours of Program Core courses, 24 credit hours of Program Technical Elective courses, 36 credit hours of Dissertation research and two zero credit PhD Research Seminar courses. The technical background of the student will be assessed by a Written Qualifying Examination (WQE), followed by a Research Proposal Examination (RPE) which the student must successfully complete in order to progress further in the program. The components of the direct PhD in PE program are summarized in the table below.

All the courses that the students will take are at PhD level. The students will only be able to attempt  PhD Written Qualifying Exam (WQE) after successfully completing a minimum of 27 credits of formal coursework.

Program Core (12 credit hours)

Students must complete the core courses listed below.

Program Electives (24 credit hours)

Students must complete a minimum of eight technical elective courses from the list below. At least two of these electives (6 credit hours) must be PhD level courses with a substantial mathematical component, as outlined in the ‘Mathematics Requirements’ section below.

The PhD elective courses are listed below (all 3cr)

Subject to the approval of the dissertation Main Advisor, up to two elective courses (6 credit hours) can be taken from other PhD programs at Khalifa University.

PhD Research Dissertation (minimum 36 credit hours)

Students must complete a PhD Research Dissertation that involves novel, creative, research-oriented work under the direct supervision of at least one full-time faculty advisor from the department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, and at least one other full-time faculty who acts as a co-advisor. The outcome of research should demonstrate the synthesis of information into knowledge in a form that may be used by others. The research findings must be documented in a formal Dissertation and defended successfully in a viva voce examination. Furthermore, the research must lead to publishable quality scholarly journal articles.

Various teaching and learning methods will be used to deliver the Ph.D. in Petroleum Engineering program. Depending on the nature of the course and the associated learning outcomes, the teaching and learning methods include lectures, class discussions, hands-on projects, research projects, coursework, and use of some software tools.

A variety of methods are used to assess the performance of the students. Depending on the nature of the course and the associated learning outcomes, the assessment may include quizzes, examinations, assignments, projects, case studies, and presentations. The syllabus of each course details the assessment methods that will be used and the weight for each component.