MBA Program Regulations
Institute of Business and Management
National Chiao Tung University
Approved by the Institute on November 7, 2002
Revised by the Institute on March 13, 2006
Revised by the Institute on March 11, 2008
Revised by the College on April 16, 2008
Revised by the Institute on April 15, 2010
Revised by the Institute on March 29, 2012
Revised by the Institute on April 19, 2012
Revised by the Institute on March 21, 2017
Revised by the School on May 15, 2017
Revised by the Institute on April 10, 2018
Revised by the Institute on April 9, 2019
Approved by the School on May 23, 2019
Revised by the Institute on April 7, 2020
Approved by the School on May 19, 2020
1. These regulations are enacted by the Institute of Business and Management (the Institute) of National Chiao Tung University (NCTU), in accordance with the NCTU Regulations for Master and Doctoral Degrees Conferment, and for the purpose of facilitating the study of master students (including full time and part time students) in this program of the Institute.
2. The years of study for full time master students in the Institute ranges from one and a half to four years. The years of study for part time master students in the Institute ranges from one and a half to five years.
3. Any NCTU master students currently enrolled in other programs that desire to transfer to the Institute shall first acquire approval from his/her program, as well as the recommendations from two or more teachers in the Institute. The Institute Council shall have the power to review all applications. If the application is approved, the transfer will be effective in the next academic year after such approval, and the year of study in the original program shall be taken into account.
4. The prerequisite courses of the MBA program include ‘Economics’, ‘Accounting’, and ‘Statistics’. Master students may waive the prerequisite courses by providing the transcript of enrollment exam, university transcript or other relevant certificates to the Institute for reviewing. If the student has not completed the prerequisite courses or the student’s waiver application is rejected, the student may take selective courses opened by the Institute as prerequisite courses following approval by the Institute. However, the credits of such courses will not be taken into account for the graduation requirement (42 credits).
5. Within one year of enrollment, the master student shall provide written application for the thesis advisor selection. If the student fails to complete advisor selection in due time, the Institute will review and arrange an advisor for the student. The thesis advisor must include at least one full-time professor, associate professor or assistant professor from the Institute, Institute of Management of Technology, Department of Management Science, or Department of Information Management and Finance. If the potential advisor does not meet the above requirements, the student must request the approval of the Director of the Institute. If the student wishes to request an advisor change for any reason, he/she may do so under the following rules:
(1) During the period of study, the master student may change his/her advisor by applying to the Institute in written form. This change becomes effective after informing the original advisor and the completion of hand-over matters. The consent of the original advisor is not required.
(2) An advisor who wishes to terminate the thesis advisory relationship shall apply to the Institute in written form. The Institute will inform the master student of the change. The Institute may help the master student find another advisor after the termination of the advisory relationship.
(3) A master student who applies for terminating the advisory relationship or change in advisor, according to the Guidelines for the Interaction between Thesis Advisor and Graduate Students, may use the ideas, concepts or research results of the original advisor, following approval by the original advisor.
6. The number of master students each teacher can advise shall be no greater than the number of enrolled students divided by the number of full-time faculty in the Institute. Each part-time faculty member can advise at most three students (not applicable to those who have been awarded the NCTU Educational Prize).
7. The required courses include ‘Financial Management’, ‘Production and Operations Management’, ‘Marketing Management’, ‘Human Resource Management’, ‘Strategic Management’, ‘Technology and Innovation Management’ and one of the following methodology courses: ‘Statistical Methods and Data Analysis’, ‘Multivariate Analysis’, ‘Empirical Industrial Organization’, ‘Qualitative Research Methods’, ‘Research Methods’, ‘Econometrics’, ‘Consumer Decision Science’, ‘Financial Econometrics’, ‘Performance Assessment’, and ‘Game Theory’. Students must not take the above mentioned courses outside of NCTU unless such courses are not provided in NCTU in that academic year.
8. Regulations for taking master courses are as follows:
(1) ‘Seminar on Business and Management’ course is required to be taken for two semesters. Those who are elected by NCTU for any overseas exchange program (including mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau), may waive one semester of this course.
(2) ‘Lectures on Business’ is required for two semesters.
(3) ‘Individual Study’ is required for two semesters after the advisor is selected.
9. No more than 12 credits combined from waived courses and overseas courses will be taken into account for graduation:
(1) After enrollment, the master student may waive courses reviewed and approved by the Institute, according to the rules as follows:
1) The course titles and credits of the waived courses and the courses previously taken by the student must be basically the same. The students shall provide relevant certificates during the application.
2) If the student wishes to use a graduate course taken during his/her undergraduate study to waive a courses in the master program, the student must have completed the course with a graduate-level passing grade and its credits must have not been used for the graduation requirements of his/her undergraduate program.
3) The student must be enrolled in courses in NCTU for at least one year (not including the duration of a leave of absence) after the course waiver is accepted and must meet relevant requirements before graduation.
(2) Students should register course results after the completion of an overseas exchange program. However, whether the credits will be taken into account for graduation depends on the review of the Institute.
10. Before turning in the master thesis proposal, each of the master students must have earned at least 18 credits, including waived credits, but not including credits from prerequisite and seminar courses. Exchange students must have earned at least nine credits.
11. All master students are required to submit their thesis proposals in due time, as designated by the Institute, for their advisors to review. Students that fail to pass the review will not be allowed to attend the Thesis Progress Report Inspection. The review will be held once a semester.
12. After passing the review of thesis proposal, master students are required to submit their thesis progress reports in due time, as designated by the Institute, for their advisors to inspect. Students who fail to pass such inspection cannot apply for the Thesis Draft Review. The Thesis Progress Report Inspection will be held once a semester.
13. Master students are required to apply for the Thesis Draft Review in due time and submit four copies of their thesis drafts (five copies if the student is co-advised by two advisors). The Thesis Draft Review Committee shall be composed of the student’s advisor and at least two other scholars or experts in fields related to the topic of the thesis and recommended by the advisor or the Institute. If any Committee member rejects the thesis draft with specific reasons, the results of the Thesis Draft Review will be regarded as rejected.
14. Before attending the Master’s Final Examination, each master student must:
(1) Earn at least 36 credits, including waived credits, but not including credits from prerequisite courses and seminar courses.
(2) Pass the Thesis Draft Review.
(3) Complete an originality check on the thesis, and submit the report for the Final Examination Committee members’ reference. The similarity score must not exceed 20%.
15. The Master’s Final Examination shall be conducted as an oral defense with the rules as follows:
(1) The Final Examination Committee shall be composed of three to five members, including the student’s thesis advisor, and scholars or experts from inside or outside of NCTU in related fields. The advisor may recommend such scholars or experts to participate in the Final Examination Committee. After approval by the Director of the Institute and the President of NCTU, the Final Examination Committee will be formed.
(2) The Oral Defense will be arranged by the Institute in an open manner. The date, time, location and subject of thesis will be made public prior to the Oral Defense.
(3) Each of the Final Examination Committee members should attend the Final Examination in person. No representative or replacement is allowed. The Final Examination requires the attendance of at least three of the Final Examination Committee members.
(4) The minimum passing score for the Final Examination is 70 and the maximum score is 100. The final score will be the average of the scores given by each attending member of the Final Examination Committee. However, if half or more of the attending Committee members award the student a failing score, the Examination will be regarded as failed.
(5) The student will be deemed failed if the Final Examination Committee has found any fraud, alteration, plagiarism, ghostwriting, or other unethical conduct regarding the student’s thesis.
(6) Students who fail the Master’s Final Examination may apply for a re-examination after revising their theses. However, the re-examination can only be applied for once.
16. Master students must meet the above mentioned regulations and complete 42 credits, including waived credits, but not including the credits from prerequisite courses or seminar courses. No more than six credits from institutions outside of NCTU will be taken into account for graduation. According to the university regulations, students that pass the Master’s Final Examination will be awarded a Master of Business Administration degree. A master student who fails to pass the Master’s Final Examination within the prescribed time limit of study shall be expelled from the university.
17. If a full-time or part-time master student completes the above mentioned requirements in less than one and a half years (three semesters), the student should submit evidence of his/her outstanding deeds performed during his/her time enrolled, such as academic journal publications, to the Institute Council. After review and approval of such deeds by the Institute Council, and following approval for reference in the Office of Academic Affairs, the student may graduate from the master program.
18. The master theses (and their abstracts) should be written in Chinese or English and comply with the NCTU Thesis and Dissertation Formats. A student is required to post an electronic version of the abstract and thesis on the university website within one month from passing the Master’s Final Examination. (See NCTU Library Abstract, Thesis and Dissertation Electronic Specification for details.) A student must also submit three copies of her/his thesis (one displayed in the library of Taipei Campus, one displayed in the library of Guangfu Campus, and one submitted to the Office of Academic Affairs for collection by other units as specified by the MOE).
19. Regulations for international students shall be referred to the Regulations for International Graduate Students, College of Management, NCTU.
20. NCTU will cancel the master degree that has been conferred to a student, and announce the cancellation of the conferred diploma certificate in any of the following situations:
(1) Any admission qualification fraud, or any misrepresentation or dishonesty during the study period.
(2) Any fraud, alteration, plagiarism, ghostwriting, or other unethical conduct regarding the thesis. After the degree has been cancelled pursuant to the foregoing paragraph, NCTU will request the return of the student’s diploma certificate(s).
21. Matters not mentioned herein will be referred to the NCTU Regulations for Master and Doctoral Degrees Conferment.
22. The modification of these regulations will be effective to students enrolled in the next academic year.
23. These regulations shall be implemented following approval by the Institute Council, the College of Management Curriculum Committee, the University Curriculum Committee, and the Academic Affairs Council. The same shall apply to all amendments made hereafter.
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