TITLE I GENERAL PROVISIONS
Article 1.1 The Doctoral Program in Food Engineering shall be governed for its operational purposes by the General Regulations of the Graduate School and by the Regulations of Programs leading to the academic degrees of Master and Doctor, taught by the Universidad del Bío-Bío.
Article 1.2 Notwithstanding the above and with the purpose of recognizing the individuality of the Programs, the Doctorate in Food Engineering shall be complemented with the present Internal Regulations and the aspects not covered shall be resolved by the Academic Committee of the Program.
TITLE II ADMISSION TO THE PROGRAM
Article 2.1 Applications shall be made within the deadlines set forth in the respective calls for applications. For this purpose, interested parties shall submit an application for admission, which shall be directly addressed to the Director of the respective Program, accompanied by the following documentation:
- Completed application form
- Curriculum Vitae
- Three passport-size photos of the candidate
- Legalized photocopy of the Bachelor’s or Master’s degree by virtue of which the applicant is applying and of the Study Plan taken to obtain it. In the case of foreign applicants, they may submit photocopies of the documents, but if the applicant is accepted, he/she must legalize such documents at the Chilean Consulates of the respective countries and submit them before the enrollment process.
- Transcript of grades (original or legalized copy), indicating scale used and minimum passing score.
- Undergraduate and/or master’s degree graduation ranking, when applicable
- Letter of intent, stating the reasons for pursuing the program, areas of thesis development of interest and the name of a sponsoring professor, attached to the program, who could direct the thesis.
- Indication of the source of financing available to fund the Program.
- Two letters of recommendation attesting to your ability to pursue doctoral studies.
TITLE III PROGRAM FACULTY
Article 3.1 The academic staff of the Program will be made up of professors with a doctorate degree, with an outstanding trajectory in teaching and research in the area of Food. For operational purposes, the Program considers three categories of Professors, according to their trajectory, scientific productivity and degree of commitment to the development of the Program:
- Regular Professors: Those academics with a doctoral degree who demonstrate active research activity and high scientific productivity, who may teach courses, workshops, direct and co-direct theses.
- Adjunct Professors: Academics with a doctoral degree who can contribute significantly to the program. They may teach courses, workshops and co-direct theses.
- Guest Professors: Academics of recognized national and international prestige, who may teach courses, workshops and co-direct theses.
Annually, the Academic Committee of the Program will evaluate the degree of commitment and the level of productivity of all academics in order to maintain or modify their category.
TITLE IV OF THE SYLLABUS
Article 4.1 The Study Plan leading to the degree of Doctor of Food Engineering will have a minimum duration of 8 academic semesters and a maximum of 12 semesters for those students accepted who only have a Bachelor’s degree or Professional Degree. For those students who enter with a Master’s degree, the minimum duration will be 6 academic semesters and a maximum of 10 semesters, depending on the process of validation of the courses previously taken. In both cases, the duration of the studies considers the exclusive dedication of the students to the Program.
Article 4.2 The Academic Committee of the Program shall designate a Tutor Professor for each student. According to his/her academic background, the Tutor Professor will propose to the Academic Committee, during the first semester, the Work Plan to be carried out by the student during his/her stay in the Program. This Work Plan must include all the Compulsory Courses and those Elective Courses that are defined according to the thesis topic, for a total of 240 credits including the Qualifying Exam and the Thesis.
Article 4.3 The Guiding Professor may supervise a maximum of three doctoral theses and in parallel one as co-guide, which must be framed within the two lines of research of the Program.
Article 4.4 Students taking a given course may not resign from it, except for reasons of force majeure, which must be accredited before the Program Director.
Article 4.5 Students must register a minimum of 9 credits per semester.
Article 4.6 Students who, for justified reasons, have missed classes, laboratories, tests or do not comply with the delivery of reports requested in the courses, must regularize their situation before the Program Director within a term not exceeding five working days.
Article 4.7 If the applicant in the Selection Process is conditioned to a leveling stage for his/her definitive acceptance, he/she must take and pass the suggested courses. These leveling courses will not be part of the Doctoral Program.
Article 4.8 Students who have passed the Master’s Program in Food Science and Engineering of the Universidad del Bío-Bío, may validate the first year courses corresponding to: Mathematical Methods in Food Engineering, Physical Properties of Food, Experimental Design in Food and Topics in Food Science.
TITLE V THE QUALIFICATION EXAMINATION AND THESIS PROJECT
Article 5.1 During the IV Semester, having passed a minimum of 43 credits corresponding to courses of the formative stage of the program, the student must take the Qualifying Examination. This exam will be a requirement to be considered as a Doctoral Candidate and to be able to initiate the development of the thesis.
Article 5.2 The Qualifying Examination will consist of the preparation, writing and defense of the Thesis Project. This exam will evaluate the level of knowledge and mastery of the areas related to the thesis topic, their ability to formulate a problem, support the working hypothesis, establish the methodology and discuss the expected results. The purpose of this exam is to verify your potential as a researcher.
Article 5.3 The Academic Committee of the Program will appoint a Qualifying Examination Committee, composed of three professors with doctoral degree. One of them will be the Guiding Professor, a permanent professor of the Program and a professor external to the UBB. This Commission will be chaired by the Program Director or whoever he/she designates for this purpose.
Article 5.4 The Thesis Project must have the following format: General background, Abstract, General formulation of the project including the statement of the problem, general objective, specific objectives, theoretical foundations and working hypothesis, Methodology, Work Plan, Bibliography and the resources available for its execution.
Article 5.5 The Qualifying Examination may be evaluated as “Pass”, “Pass with modifications” or “Fail”. If approved with modifications, the student must include the observations made by the Commission and submit a corrected printed version within a period not exceeding twenty working days. When the Examination is failed, the student must prepare a new Thesis Project and take a new Qualifying Examination during the course of the following semester (V). This may be done only once during the student’s stay in the Program.
Article 5.6 Upon passing the Qualifying Examination, the designated Qualifying Examination Committee shall become the Thesis Evaluation Committee.
TITLE VI OF THE DEGREE THESIS
Article 6.1 The Doctoral Thesis is the central activity of the Doctoral Program, which will demand a dedication equivalent to 173 credits, corresponds to the execution of the Thesis Project, where the student must integrate and apply the knowledge and competencies acquired in the formative stage. It must correspond to an original research in the area of Food Engineering, which represents a significant contribution to the discipline. The Thesis will allow evaluating the student’s capacity to carry out an original research in an autonomous way.
Article 6.2 The degree of progress of the Thesis will be evaluated through Thesis Progress Seminars. These seminars will be presented to the Thesis Evaluation Committee and will be held at least once a year.
Article 6.3: The structure of the Doctoral Thesis must consist of the following parts, indicated in the same order.
1) Summary
2) Abstract
3) Table of Contents
4) Introduction
5) Body of the thesis
6) Conclusions
7) Bibliographic references
8) Annexes
This should be preceded by a blank page, followed by a reproduction of the title page, a dedication may be included. The numbering of the contents should be of the decimal type (2.1; 2.1.1., etc.) not exceeding five numbers.
The title page should include the title (and other antecedents). In the text of the references, the author’s last name and year should be indicated in parentheses, and each reference should be written as follows:
1) Surname(s) and initials of the author(s) in capital letters
2) Year of issue
3) Title of the Activity (in case of journals, congresses, etc.).
4) Source (name of book, journal, congress, etc.).
5) Publishing house (books), volume, number and pages (magazines)
6) Place of publication (books)
Article 6.4. If the work includes drawings larger than letter size, they must be folded according to the format of the Degree Activity. The type of material used for the pasting shall be lined cardboard and blue in color.
Article 6.5 The paper to be used shall be of the original white type. The writing shall be adjusted to the following modalities:
- a) Lateral margins : 2,5 cm
- b) Spaces : 1 ½
- c) Numbering : Centered at the bottom of the page.
- d) Typeface : Similar to Arial 11
Article 6.6 All candidates for the academic degree, whose thesis has been approved by the Thesis Evaluation Committee, must submit five copies of the thesis, bound and recorded on two CDs (PDF format) according to the guidelines for submission of reports of the University Library and the regulations of each program, one of which will remain in the Department where the program is taught.
Article 6.7 The development of the doctoral thesis should generate a presentation of its results in a national and/or international congress of recognized scientific level and at least one publication in a scientific journal indexed in ISI.
TITLE VII OF THE DEGREE EXAMINATION
Article 7.1 Once the written version of the Thesis has been approved, the Thesis Evaluation Committee shall become the Degree Examination Committee. The Program Director, who shall not have the right to vote in the evaluation procedures, shall be a member of said Committee.
Article 7.2 Before proceeding to the Degree Examination, the student must send to the Program Director a copy of presentations made at National and International Congresses and a copy of an article of his/her thesis published in a scientific journal indexed in ISI.