VTU or Visvesvaraya Technological University has 194 colleges and offers 28 disciplines in varied undergraduate courses. Also, it offers 71 disciplines in post graduate studies. It offers doctoral studies in both part-time as well as a full-time option. The university is famous for a relatively different PhD course structure that it follows. The PhD programme here is split into different stages. What is different here is that, at the beginning of the II Part of the programme, which is followed by the course work in the previous part, the scholar is expected to face the comprehensive VIVA VOCE.
This Comprehensive VIVA is slightly different from other universities and has the following details:
The scholar is expected to submit a written request for the conduct of the same within a span of maximum six months from the completion of the course work in Part I of the programme. A further extension of 6 months may be requested by the scholar with due approval of the research guide, in the case of any health related issues.
The research centre of the university has the responsibility or organising the comprehensive VIVA in consultation with the doctoral committee. It usually gets scheduled within the span of one month of the request submitted by the scholar. It is a tough closed door examination which includes the members of the doctoral committee, other than the scholar, and the research supervisor. The doctoral committee has the right to invite examiners also if the research guide has recommended any specialist or expert in the area of study.
The scholar is expected to prepare a presentation on the research topic. It should include in detail the work done so far, and what is the proposed work for the future. The intention of the doctoral committee is to verify and ensure that the scholar is through with the fundamental concepts, and also has the know how to apply the knowledge for the smooth conduct of the research work.
You got to be prepared and thorough at tackling the comprehensive VIVA. Be very particular about having a good study on the existing literature in your area of study. Particularly the one that has been taken up in the past 3 years as this is where the new trends could be understood. You must also know where your study fits in to fill the gap that has been created by previous studies. Your research methodology should be elaborate and simplified to the extent that each stage should smoothly graduate to the next one. Have the justification ready for your chosen research tools and techniques as well.
