Develop a world-class level of knowledge and doctoral research in Computer Science.
Computer Science
The PhD program in Computer Science aims to enrich Palestinian researchers with competitive state-of-the-art knowledge in Computer Science and complementary relevant research skills, and enable them to develop new innovative AI and software systems research-driven solutions and applications designed and localized towards national and regional needs. It also aims to equip the Palestinian workforce with new R&D skills for more knowledge-empowered decisions and policy making capabilities.
The PhD Program in Computer Science aims at:
- Preparing researchers that are able to conduct research of exceptional quality, and to produce world-class original and scholarly research in a field of Computer Science.
- Empowering Palestinian researchers with advanced and internationally competitive Computer Science abilities and knowledge.
- Conducting and fostering Computer Science research, and promoting intelligent and software technologies take-up in the local, regional, and international ICT industry and society.
- Equipping researchers with the necessary research skills to address a wide-range of computationally intensive problems in computer science.
- Developing modern and smart computing applications designed and localized towards the specific national needs of Palestine and the Arab region.
- Improving employability and equipping the Palestinian workforce with new Research & Development skills for more knowledge-empowered decision and policy making capabilities.
The graduates of the program shall have the following depth and breadth competences:
- Show mastery of core and advanced Computer Science knowledge and skills, and the professional practices necessary to work as an academic or researcher with demonstrated research expertise in at least one specialized area of computer science research.
- Show independent self-learning academic and research abilities to learn new methods, approaches, and techniques in computer science as they emerge, and to appreciate the necessity of continuing professional development.
- Practice and acquire professional skills with abilities necessary to conduct scientific research that is both ethically and legally valid.
- Show research abilities to critically evaluate the literature, discover new research problems, analyze complex computer science research challenges, and synthesize research results into valid conclusions.
- Show mastery abilities for conducting state-of-the-art scientific research, in computer science, empowered with cognitive analytical abilities to critique new computer science methods, and address new research challenges.
- Demonstrate communication skills with demonstrated oral and written abilities to disseminate research results in archival computer science literature, including relevant conferences and journal publications.
- Demonstrate proficiency in research and experimental design, and in identifying and using appropriate and relevant research methods for different research challenges, contexts, and problems.
- Demonstrate broad cross-disciplinary knowledge and academic abilities to develop research-lead solutions for multidisciplinary application domains.
- Lecturer or assistant professor of Computer Science in universities and colleges.
- Post-doctoral researcher, and later seeking research professorship positions in academia.
- R&D manager, chief scientist, or researcher at research labs in IT companies.
- Technical expert, software systems engineer, or solutions architect at IT and non-IT companies and institutes.
- Expert consultant in computer science at private and public institutions.
Graduation Requirements
After completing the remedial courses, where needed, students will be required to finish 30 credit hours of coursework: 12 credit hours of mandatory courses (to develop the research-oriented skills that are essential for all students at the PhD level) and 18 hours of elective courses (to develop depth knowledge in one of the Program’s main areas, Artificial Intelligence and Software Systems). After finishing the coursework requirements, students should pass the Qualifying Exam and should successfully defend their Dissertation Proposal in order to become PhD candidates and register their Doctoral Dissertation. Students will be granted the PhD degree after a successful defense of their Doctoral Dissertation.
First: Complete any remedial courses required from the student when accepted into the program.
Second. Complete 30 credit hours distributed into mandatory and elective, as follows:
Mandatory courses (12 credit hours)
Students must successfully complete these courses.
|
Course No. |
Course Title |
Credits hours |
|
Research Methods |
3 |
|
|
Directed Study in Computer Science |
3 |
|
|
Research Work in Computer Science |
3 |
|
|
Dissertation Pre-candidacy |
3 |
Elective Courses (18 credit hours)
Successful passing 18 credit hours from the following elective courses, at least one course from each of the two areas, below.
Artificial Intelligence Area
|
Course No. |
Course Title |
Credits hours |
|
Advanced Algorithm Design |
3 |
|
|
Natural Language Processing |
3 |
|
|
Speech Processing and Applications |
3 |
|
|
Advanced Information Retrieval |
3 |
|
|
Automated Reasoning and Applications |
3 |
|
|
Data Engineering and Big Data Technologies |
3 |
|
|
Advances in Knowledge Engineering |
3 |
|
|
Machine Learning Technologies |
3 |
|
|
Neural Networks and Deep Learning |
3 |
|
|
Computer Vision |
3 |
|
|
Digital Image Processing and Applications |
3 |
|
|
Medical Image Computing |
3 |
|
|
Special Topics in Artificial Intelligence |
3 |
Software Systems Area
|
Course No. |
Course title |
Credits hours |
|
Distributed Systems |
3 |
|
|
Software Methodology and Engineering |
3 |
|
|
Methods of Software Requirements Engineering |
3 |
|
|
ِAdvances in Software Design |
3 |
|
|
ِAdvances in Secure Software Development |
3 |
|
|
Search-based Software Engineering |
3 |
|
|
Modern Mobile Software Development |
3 |
|
|
Cloud Computing |
3 |
|
|
Data and Business Process modeling |
3 |
|
|
Human Computer Interaction |
3 |
|
|
Special Topics in Software Systems |
3 |
PhD Candidacy Requirements
Students become PhD candidates after completing the following:
- Successfully passing the coursework requirements.
- Successfully passing the Qualifying Exam,
- Successful defense and acceptance of a PhD Dissertation Proposal.
Third: Complete dissertation research (24 credit hours):
After successfully passing the PhD candidacy requirements and becoming a PhD candidate, students can register for the Doctoral Dissertation, which spans over at least three semesters, with 8 credit hours each semester. Students will be granted the PhD degree after a successful defense of their Doctoral Dissertation.
|
Course No. |
Title |
Credits hours |
|
Doctoral Dissertation |
24 |
A successful applicant to the doctoral program must satisfy the following admission criteria:
- A Master degree in Computer Science or related fields. Applicants are expected to have attained a minimum assessment of “very good” or its equivalent. This may be waived if an applicant possesses a demonstrated equivalent level of related professional experience.
- An acceptable 500-word reflective personal statement that describes the applicant’s academic and professional goals.
- Three formal recommendation letters.
- Passing the individual PhD-admission acceptance interview.
- Meeting the language requirement for doctoral studies as stipulated in Birzeit University regulations.
Prerequisites
PhD applicants are expected to have an adequate computer science background and a good competency in, at least, the following topics:
- Algorithms Design
- Database systems
Students who lack all, or any of, the prerequisites will be conditionally admitted with remedial requirements defined by the Program Committee.
|
1st Year |
Semester I |
Semester II |
||||
|
Directed Study in Computer Science |
3 |
Research Work in Computer Science |
3 |
|||
|
Research Methods |
3 |
|
Elective course |
3 |
||
|
|
Elective course |
3 |
|
Elective course |
3 |
|
|
|
Total |
9 |
|
Total |
9 |
|
|
2nd Year |
Semester I |
Semester II |
||||
|
Dissertation Pre-candidacy |
3 |
|
Elective course |
3 |
||
|
|
Elective course |
3 |
Doctoral Dissertation |
8 |
||
|
|
Elective course |
3 |
|
|
|
|
|
Qualifying Exam |
0 |
|
|
|
||
|
|
Total |
9 |
|
Total |
11 |
|
|
3rd Year |
Semester I |
Semester II |
||||
|
Doctoral Dissertation |
8 |
Doctoral Dissertation |
8 |
|||
|
|
Total |
8 |
|
Total |
8 |
|
