Chandigarh University's PhD sits inside the UGC 2022 national framework, which our Manipal guide sets out in full. What distinguishes Chandigarh is the precision of its formatting requirements, published by the Dean Research Office.
Most universities say "follow your discipline's conventions". Chandigarh tells you the paper weight.
The page, exactly
| Element | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Paper size | A4, 21.5 cm × 28 cm (8.5 × 11 inches). No other size permitted |
| Printing | Double-sided |
| Paper weight | 80 to 85 GSM or more |
| Binding-edge margin | 3.75 cm (1.5 inches) |
| Opposite margin | 2.5 cm (1 inch) |
| Top margin | 2.54 cm |
| Bottom margin | 2.54 cm |
| Typeface | Times New Roman throughout |
| Body text | 12 point, justified, 1.5 line spacing |
| Subsection headings | 12 point bold, left adjusted |
| Equations | Double spacing |
| Footnotes, captions, long tables, references | Single spacing |
| Between two references or two equations | Double spacing |
Three of these are worth pulling out.
The binding margin is asymmetric. 3.75 cm on the binding edge against 2.5 cm on the other. With double-sided printing that means the wide margin alternates sides between odd and even pages, which is a mirror-margin setting in your word processor rather than a uniform one. Set it at the start; retrofitting it reflows the entire document.
Double-sided printing is specified, not assumed. Combined with the mirror margins, this is how the thesis is designed to sit in a hard binding.
Only A4 is permitted. Oversized figures and tables must be reduced to fit, with care not to compromise clarity, or folded to fit the thesis size.
Page numbering
Pages prior to Chapter 1 are numbered in Roman numerals. From the first page of the first chapter onward, Arabic numerals. Page numbers go in the centre at the bottom of each page. The title page is page (i) but the number is not printed.
That last clause is the classic counted-but-not-printed rule, and it is easy to get wrong in a word processor that either numbers everything or nothing.
Figures and tables
- Presented following their first mention in the text
- Short tables and figures within the text; large ones on separate pages
- Prepared in standard software in vector graphics format, and scalable
- Image resolution must exceed 300 dpi with 256 greyscale
The vector graphics requirement is unusually specific and worth acting on early. A chart exported as a low-resolution bitmap at the end of the write-up cannot be rescued; regenerating it from the source data is the only fix.
The synopsis
Before the thesis comes the synopsis, with its own rules:
A synopsis should not exceed 40 pages, including the prefacing material.
You prepare two spiral-bound copies in the prescribed format and submit them to the DAR office for the external synopsis viva.
Note that the synopsis viva is external. This is not an internal progress check; it is an examined stage with an outside examiner, and it sits between you and thesis submission.
Submission
Five or six copies in maroon colour hard cover binding, for the candidate, supervisor or supervisors, the department, UCRD and the library, along with a soft copy on a pen drive, submitted to the Department of Academic Research office through proper channel.
Maroon is specified. So is the pen drive. Neither is the sort of thing to discover on submission day.
Proofreading is a stated requirement
Most universities imply this. Chandigarh writes it down:
The thesis should be free from typographical errors and proper proofreading from the supervisor and at least two peers should be done before final submission.
Two peers, named as a requirement. Build that into your timeline: two colleagues reading a full thesis properly is a matter of weeks, not days, and asking them the week before submission will not produce a useful read.
The guidelines also ask you to write as concisely as possible, with clear and adequate expression. No word count is published, which means concision is judged rather than measured.
Coursework
All coursework must be completed within the first semester or year, with a minimum CGPA of 7.5.
The curriculum covers research ethics, scientific methodology and domain-specific expertise, aligned to UGC guidelines.
A 7.5 CGPA is the same bar Manipal sets and is meaningfully above a pass. Coursework at the start of an Indian PhD is not a formality to be cleared while the real work begins; a weak CGPA here can end the programme before the research does.
After the thesis
The final Ph.D. thesis viva voce is held, and on a satisfactory outcome the case is recommended for the award of the degree.
Under the UGC framework, the full text is then deposited with INFLIBNET or the institutional archive before the award is announced. In practice that means Shodhganga.
What to confirm with the Dean Research Office
The format document is detailed but does not cover everything:
- Publication requirements before synopsis or thesis submission, including how many papers and which indexes
- Any similarity or plagiarism threshold for the thesis
- Citation style, which is a disciplinary matter
- Word or page limits for the thesis itself, as distinct from the 40-page synopsis cap
- Any policy on generative AI use
- Current submission deadlines for your intake
Publication expectations in particular vary widely between Indian universities and are usually the binding constraint on when you finish. Ask early.
Pre-submission checklist
- Mirror margins set: 3.75 cm binding edge, 2.5 cm outer, 2.54 cm top and bottom
- Double-sided layout configured from the start
- Times New Roman throughout, body at 12 point justified, 1.5 spacing
- Single spacing applied to footnotes, captions, long tables and references
- Roman numerals before Chapter 1, Arabic from Chapter 1, centred at the bottom
- Title page counted as (i) but unprinted
- Figures in vector format, images above 300 dpi
- Every figure and table placed after its first mention
- Synopsis within 40 pages, two spiral-bound copies for the external viva
- Proofread by my supervisor and at least two peers
- Coursework complete with CGPA of at least 7.5
- Five or six maroon hard-bound copies plus a pen drive
- Paper at 80 to 85 GSM or heavier
Where to get help
The Dean Research Office owns the thesis and synopsis guidelines. The Department of Academic Research (DAR) office receives submissions. UCRD holds a copy and is part of the research infrastructure. Your supervisor owns the academic content and anything the format guidelines leave open.
If the writing is the bottleneck, our thesis writing support works chapter by chapter, and our PhD thesis help covers doctoral work specifically.
