Subject Board Guidelines (pre 2015)

The TIFR graduate program in Computer and Systems Science will follow the basic guidelines and procedures set out in this document prepared by the Computer and Systems Science Subject Board. These guidelines apply to the students starting their graduate program in 2014 or earlier

Overview

• The graduate program leading to a Ph.D. degree will consist of two specialist streams:
  • Computer Science.
  • Systems Science.

In order to register, the student must fulfil the requirements for one of these streams.

• The requirements will have three components:
  • Graduate Courses.
  • Project.
  • Qualifiers.
• These requirements should be completed within two years from the date of joining STCS.

Graduate Courses

• Every student will clear eight graduate courses.
• Four of these eight courses must be taken in order to fulfil the core requirements (see below) for the respective stream. For the remaining four courses, the student may choose any of the courses offered under the Computer and Systems Science Subject Board.
• To clear a course, the student will require a B+ or better grade in the course. The student should have no more than two B+ grades among the list of eight courses he or she wishes to use for registration.
• Students are expected to clear at least six courses in the first two semesters, either by taking them or by obtaining course waivers.
• The course requirements should preferably be completed within a year and a half from the date of joining STCS.

Core requirements for computer science

• The following two (compulsory) core courses must be cleared.
  • Mathematical Foundations for Computer Science
  • Introduction to Mathematical Logic
• At least two of the following four (elective) core courses must be cleared. (This list may change in order to accurately reflect the research focus of the STCS faculty.)
  • Algorithms and Datastructures
  • Automata and Computability
  • Complexity Theory
  • Semantics of Computation

Core requirements for systems science

• The following two (compulsory) core courses must be cleared.
  • Mathematical Foundations for Systems Science
  • Introduction to Probability Theory
• At least two of the following seven (elective) core courses must be cleared. (This list may change in order to accurately reflect the research focus of the STCS faculty.)
  • Advanced probability
  • Communications
  • Detection and estimation theory
  • Information theory
  • Machine learning
  • Optimization
  • Quantum information processing

Course waiver

Students who feel they have sufficient prior exposure in the core courses through their B.E./B.Tech. or other degrees, may apply to the subject board for a waiver.

• A course waiver can be granted by the subject board after conducting an examination to evaluate the background and competence of the student in that particular course. A course grade will be assigned based on the performance in the examination.
• Course waivers can be granted only for the core courses listed above, and not for any other course.

Project

• An exploratory project will be completed by each student under the supervision of an academic member of STCS.
• The duration of the project will be one semester, and it will have a load equivalent to four courses. (See below for the requirement if the student wishes to obtain a Masters degree.)
• To clear the project requirement, the student must obtain a grade of A- or a better grade for the project.
• The project requirement should be completed within two years from the date of joining STCS.

Project waiver

• Students who have completed a two semester project as part of their M.E. or M.Tech. degrees may apply for a waiver in the project requirement.
• The subject board may decide to grant a waiver to these students after evaluating the relevance and quality of the project work.

Qualifiers

• The qualifiers will consist of written or oral exams in three different subjects. In the oral exam format, the student will be examined by a committee of at least two faculty members for each subject.
• Students will appear in the qualifying examinations after clearing the required eight courses.
• For the qualifiers, students will choose three of the courses they cleared while completing the course requirement, subject to the conditions given below for each stream.
• Qualifiers will be held in the months of January and July every year.
• Students should preferably appear in their first attempt in the qualifying exams within a year and a half from their date of joining STCS.
• Candidates will be graded Pass or Fail in the qualifying examinations.
• Students who do not qualify in the first attempt, may be allowed a second attempt to qualify, within a duration of another six months.
• Students should complete their second attempt (if required) in the qualifying exams within two years from their date of joining STCS.
• Candidates who fail in the qualifying examinations, even after the second attempt, will not be allowed to continue in the Computer and Systems Science Ph.D. program.

Qualifying examinations in computer science

• Two of the three courses must be chosen from the following list. (This list may change in order to accurately reflect the research focus of the STCS faculty.)
  • Algorithms and Datastructures
  • Automata and Computability
  • Computational Geometry
  • Complexity Theory
  • Mathematical Logic
  • Semantics of Computation

• The courses on Mathematical Foundations for Computer Science,  Mathematical Foundations for Systems Science, and Introduction to Probability will not be available as options for qualifying exams.
• For the third course for qualifiers, the student may choose any of the other courses offered under the Computer and Systems Science Subject Board.

Qualifying examinations in systems science

• Two of the three courses must be chosen from the following list. (This list may be modified in order to accurately reflect current research focus of the STCS faculty.)
  • Advanced probability
  • Communications
  • Detection and estimation theory
  • Information theory
  • Machine learning
  • Optimization
  • Quantum information processing
• The courses on Mathematical Foundations for Computer Science, Mathematical Foundations for Systems Science, and Introduction to Probability will not be available as options for qualifying exams.
• For the third course for qualifiers, the student may choose any of the other courses offered under the Computer and Systems Science Subject Board.

Masters degree

The requirements for the grant of Masters degree are as follows.

• The student must clear all the courses required for Ph.D. registration as mentioned earlier, with B+ or better grades in each course.
• The student must complete a two-semester project in STCS, with an A- or a better grade in the project. (In particular, a waiver of the Ph.D. project requirement based on a project done elsewhere will not enable a student to meet this requirement.)

Students who fulfil these requirements will be awarded a Master's degree as follows.

• If the student completes all the requirements for the award of a Ph.D. degree, then a Master's degree will be awarded along with the Ph.D. degree.
• If the student needs to drop out of the Ph.D. program (e.g.~if he or she fails to clear the qualifying exams), but has fulfilled the above requirements for a Master's degree, then the student will be given a Master's degree at the time of leaving.