College of Science, Department of Chemistry
Degree Requirement
1. Master's Degree Program
1) Courses must be chosen with the agreement of the advisor and the department head. Students are required to take one core course that is directly related to their area of specialization from the following list: Advanced Quantum Chemistry, Advanced Organic Chemistry, Advanced Organic Synthesis, and Physical Inorganic Chemistry. Students specializing in Organic Chemistry are required to take both Advanced Organic Chemistry and Advanced Organic Synthesis. Students specializing in Analytical Chemistry are required to take a course assigned by his/her advisor. All students may take up to 6 credits of Chemical Research Methodology courses and 6 credits of seminar courses.
2) Students are required to publish more than one SCI (E) journal as the first author (accepted papers are counted) or give more than two presentations at conferences (oral or poster, at least more than 1 presentation as a first author). Only papers and presentations published with the Department of Chemistry, Korea University, listed as the institution of affiliation are counted.
2. Ph. D. Degree Program
1) Students are required to choose specific courses with the agreement of his/her advisor and the department head. Students may take up to 12 credits of research courses and up to 9 credits of seminar courses. However, Students may not take Chemical Research Methodology courses.
2) CHM 511 (Advanced Quantum Chemistry) is a prerequisite course for CHM 512 (Molecular Spectroscopy).
3. Integrated Master & Ph. D. degree program
1) After the first two semesters, Master's degree program students may apply to the integrated Master & Ph. D. degree program with the agreement of his/her advisor and may be admitted through the proper admission procedure.
2) If admitted, the students are not required to submit a Master's degree thesis, only a Ph. D. degree thesis. Students should enroll for at least 4 years and complete 54 credits, including up to 15 credits of research courses and 15 credits of seminar courses. Credits earned through Chemical Research Methodology courses taken during the Master's degree program are not taken into consideration when calculating the above credits.
3) Admitted students satisfying all requirements for the Master's degree program will be awarded a Master’s degree.
4. Approval range for major credits accrued through courses taken outside the major field of studyCourses taken outside the major field of study are recognized for major credits upon the approval of both the advisor and the department head. Students should submit an Approval for Major Courses Outside the Major Field of Study form.
5. Graduation Requirements for the integrated Master & Ph. D. degree program and the Ph.D. degree program
1) Candidate oral exam (in-major area): Oral defense for research proposal (research progress + plan) is evaluated by three committee members including the advisor. Integrated Master & Ph. D. degree program students must pass the exam before the beginning of fifth semester and the Ph.D. students before the beginning of fourth semester. (in the event of failure, students can re-apply once more in the next semester.)
2) Cumulative exam: The exam is administered in March, May, September and November, and a total of four passes must be accumulated before graduation.
3) SCI(E) papers: Students must publish more than 3 papers (2 papers as a first author at least) and the IF (impact factor) sum of first author papers must be above 8.0 (For IF, papers of equal contribution are counted as 1/n out of n main authors. First authors in other departments or institutions are not counted). Recent 5-year average IF or highest IF during a whole degree period is applied. If papers are under review, acceptance letters must be submitted to the committee during the application period for degree. Only papers acknowledging affiliation to the Department of Chemistry, Korea University are counted.
4) Out-of-major area proposal oral exam: An oral exam on a topic separate from the thesis research is required to be passed by the end of seventh semester for the integrated Master & Ph. D. degree program and by the end of fifth semester for Ph.D. students. In the event of failure, students can re-apply once more in the next semester. The committee is composed of more than three professors including the advisor.
6. Master - on - Demand program
1) Course and other requirements are identical to those of the Master's degree program.
2) In addition, students are required to take specific courses assigned by his/her advisor and the sponsoring company with the approval of the chair of the Graduate Committee.
3) The advisor and the sponsoring company undertake joint responsibility for guiding the student through the program.
7. Addendum
1) Other details not indicated here shall conform to the regulations of Korea University.
2) These rules become effective from September 1, 2013.
Comprehensive Examinations
1. Master's Degree ProgramStudents must take examinations in three courses: one from his/her area of specialization and two from other areas.
2. Ph. D. Degree ProgramStudents must take examinations in four courses: one from his/her area of specialization and three from other areas (physical chemistry, analytical chemistry, inorganic chemistry, organic chemistry, biochemistry, polymer chemistry).