Qualifying Examination

Following completion of coursework all PhD students must take and pass a qualifying examination. The qualifying exam of students in the PhD program in Regional Planning is an internal program-level exam (an exam administered independently of the Graduate College) whose purpose is to evaluate a student's preparedness both to undertake dissertation research and to teach undergraduate and master's level courses in Urban and Regional Planning in a PAB accredited program. As such, the exam should gauge the student's command (over a reasonably bounded domain) of planning theory, planning methods, and the substantive area of knowledge that the student anticipates contributing to through his or her dissertation research.

The exam usually includes several sets of questions in these three different areas prepared by separate members of a qualifying exam committee, although the questions may be integrated, sequenced or otherwise edited by the chair of the committee, who is usually the student's advisor, with the consent of the other committee members. The qualifying exam committee must include the student's advisor and at least two other PhD in Regional Planning program faculty members who in combination are knowledgeable about planning theory, the research methods of interest, and the student's area of specialization. Other program or non-program faculty may be included on the committee. Note that the composition of the qualifying exam committee can be, and often is, different from that of the committees for the student's preliminary and final examinations.

Student and advisor work together to develop reading lists to aid the qualifying exam committee in writing pertinent questions. For example, research methods may focus on qualitative or quantitative approaches. The substantive specialization may be defined by functional attributes, such as transportation or land use, cultural and institutional situations, such as international development or community development, or tools development, such as regional economic modeling or planning support systems. Questions on planning theory and methods should cover some material that student enrolled in a professional master's program would be exposed to, as well as material of a more advanced or substantive nature pertinent to research. Questions in the substantive area of the student's specialization may take into account the general topic that the student is anticipating working on but should not be too narrowly focused nor delegate planning to a minor role.

The exam is generally taken at the end of the final semester of coursework or shortly thereafter. It has both written and oral components. Students generally have one week to complete written responses to the questions. An oral defense of those responses before the exam committee must occur not more than ten days after completion of the written exam. Committee members may take one of three actions on the exam: they may pass the student, fail the student, or require a re-examination. A disagreement must be discussed by the committee members and a single result agreed upon. A student is allowed only one re-examination attempt.