The Doctoral Program of the Graduate School

　In the second period of the doctoral program (doctorate), lecturers within and outside the school provide special lectures (seminars, symposiums, and speeches) and lectures on how to write theses and make presentations in English.

　A 7-day special seminar is provided to admitted students, who are from a university other than Kitasato university and are interested in the seminar. Explanatory meetings regarding computer networks and using the library, as well as seminars on safety measures (e.g., handling of chemical substances and microorganisms), are also provided for all admitted students.

　Foreign teachers, whose mother tongue is English, provide lectures on how to write theses and make presentations in English.

　The Kitasato Institute for Life Sciences, Graduate School of Infection Control Sciences, Kitasato University, faculties, research departments, or attached institutions actively hold special lectures (e.g., symposiums, seminars, and speeches) presented by first-line researchers within and outside Japan. Through these lectures (including debates), participants obtain the latest scientific information and learn international ideas and values.

　Since 2003, we have conducted questionnaires aimed at improving classes, which are provided by full-time and part-time teachers of the graduate school.
　Through these questionnaires, postgraduate students express their opinions, give feedback, and describe issues, which will be hopefully improved, about whether lectures are easy to understand, as well as the details of presentations and distributed materials.
　The results of the questionnaire affect the evaluation of limited-term teachers, and aid in improving teachers’ abilities and lectures.

• Subject registration
  (1) Subjects are selected with the aid of mentors, and their registration is completed after their mentors’ approval.
  (2) Students should obtain 14 credits or more from: main subjects, Shared Lecture II, Special Research II, special lecture (Special Lecture II), special seminar (Special Seminar II on Infection Control), and related subjects. For details, please see the “Curriculum Guidelines of the Graduate School of Infection Control Sciences”.
  (3) If there is a special reason and approval is obtained from the students’ mentors, it is possible to take subjects from any faculty of Kitasato University.
  
  　However, the credits of subjects from these faculties are not added to those required for course completion, but are counted as course credits.
  
  
• Credit approval
  　Those who have passed the examination of the subject are granted certain credits in accordance with the graduate school rules.
  
  
• Examinations and grades
  　Examinations are performed within the specified periods. However, class participation and performance can be used as a substitute for examination grades.
  　Grades are determined on a four level scale according to the methods described in the item of evaluation criteria of the subject syllabus: fail (lower than 59 points), passing (60-69), good (70-79), and excellent (80-100).

• Requirements for obtaining a degree
  (1) Attend the school for 3 years or longer to complete the course.
  (2) Obtain at least 14 credits from the following mandatory subjects of the major fields: main subjects (2 credits), shared lecture (4 credits), special research (4 credits), special lecture (2 credits), and special seminar (2 credits).
  (3) Pass the preliminary review (presentations of doctoral theses)
  
  　The entire or part of the submitted thesis needs to be published (or scheduled to be published) in at least 1 report of a peer-reviewed English scientific journal as an original article, with its writer being the first author.
  
  
• Requirements for course completion
  　Students are required to meet the above-mentioned criteria, and pass the final examination.
  
  
• Thesis review
  　A thesis review (doctorate) and other degree-related issues are stipulated by the degree regulations of Kitasato University.

　Apart from the above-mentioned attending period (3 years), 2nd-year postgraduate students can apply for a degree earlier if the conditions below are met. With this system, those who have achieved an outstanding performance can shorten their attending periods based on the Regulations of the Graduate School, Kitasato University.

• Requirements for 2nd-year postgraduate students to obtain a degree
  (1) Obtain the specified number of credits from the second period of the doctoral program (doctorate).
  (2) The primary scientific thesis has been published (or scheduled to be published) in a peer-reviewed English scientific journal. One of the following conditions also needs to be met:
  
  (i) At least 3 original articles have been published with their writer being the first author.
  (ii) The impact factor of 3 scientific articles (the writer is the first author) combined is 10 or higher.

　The second period of the doctoral program is adopting a long-term curriculum system, with which those who have difficulty in ensuring sufficient time for studying can prolong their attending periods up to 5 years.

　The following shows the standard 3-year schedule of the second period of the doctoral program

　In the second period of the doctoral program, a Ph.D. in infection control sciences and that in life sciences had been granted to a total of 26 students until the 2011 school year.

※　random order