Topical Areas for Written Qualifying Examination (WQE)
Achieving PhD candidacy is contingent upon successfully passing a two-stage qualifying examination which is composed of a Written Qualifying Exam (WQE), followed by a Research Proposal Examination (RPE). For further details, please refer to the “PhD Research Milestones” section of this catalog.
The primary objective of the PhD Written Qualifying Exam (WQE) is to ensure that students pursuing a Doctoral degree in Petroleum Engineering have graduate level understanding of the fundamentals and evaluates the student’s ability to apply them to solve problems in three topical exam areas. The syllabi for the topical exam areas are taken from undergraduate courses in the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences at Khalifa University.
Students must register for the PhD WQE in Banner before the end of the Add/Drop period of the semester in which they plan to take the exams. The WQE for Ph.D. in Petroleum Engineering consists of written examinations in three topical areas approved by the program. The topical areas for Ph.D. in Petroleum Engineering are the following:
• Reservoir Engineering
• Drilling Engineering
• Production Engineering
The exams are coordinated by the Associate Dean for Graduate Studies and the Chair of the relevant Department (or designee) and held twice per year over a one-week period. The duration of each exam is three hours. A minimum score of 73 percent is required to pass the exam for each topical area. Failing any topical area of the WQE will result in the student failing the entire WQE and placing him/her on Academic Probation Level 1. A failed WQE can be retaken only once and passed upon the next offering. If the student repeats the WQE, then he/she will be required only to retake the exams in the topical areas that he/she failed during the WQE at the first attempt. PhD students who fail the WQE at the second attempt will be placed on Academic Probation Level 2 and will be subject to dismissal from the PhD program.
The list of the three topical exam areas for PhD in Petroleum Engineering and their corresponding undergraduate course syllabi are given below.
Petroleum Engineering
Topical Exam Area: Reservoir Engineering
Topical Exam Area: Drilling Engineering
Topical Exam Area: Production Engineering