Symbiosis International is a deemed university whose doctoral programme is administered by the Symbiosis Centre for Research and Innovation (SCRI). Its PhD sits inside the UGC 2022 framework, set out in our Manipal guide.
Check which rule book applies to you. SIU publishes a 2025 rule book under Notification No. 1712, and a 2023 one. If you registered earlier, confirm with SCRI which governs your registration.
The programme flow
SIU publishes the sequence clearly, and it is worth seeing whole before planning:
- PhD entrance test
- Personal interview
- Admission
- Coursework
- Proposal presentation, leading to confirmation
- Actual research work, including publications
- Mid review
- Pre-submission seminar
- Thesis submission
- Thesis examination
- Viva voce examination
- Provisional award of degree
- Convocation
The programme is described as non-tenured and non-tutored, which is SIU's way of saying the research is yours to drive.
Confirmation is the clock that matters
Two dates get confused at SIU, and the difference is a year or more.
Provisional admission is when you join. Confirmed registration is when your research proposal is approved after presentation to the Research Advisory Committee (RAC).
The minimum duration for submission of the thesis is two years from the date of confirmed registration, provided the total duration of three years after provisional admission is completed.
And separately:
The Research Student shall submit the thesis not earlier than 2 years from the date of registration.
So both clocks have to be satisfied. Confirmation is meant to happen within a year of admission, with the proposal due around three months after coursework and extensions available.
The practical reading: get confirmed quickly. Every month of delay in getting your proposal approved pushes your earliest possible submission back by the same month.
Coursework
- Roughly six months
- Content decided by the Deans of faculties
- 75% attendance is compulsory
- Students who have completed an M.Phil with research methodology are exempted
The publication requirement, precisely
The Research Student shall submit proof of acceptance or publication of at least two research papers, mentioning SIU affiliation, in peer reviewed and indexed journals, before submitting the thesis. At least one of the two should preferably be accepted or published in journals indexed in Scopus, SCI, SSCI, AHCI, ABDC, ABS or FT50 at the time of thesis submission.
Three features worth drawing out, because they are more accommodating than several other Indian universities and it is worth knowing what you actually have to clear.
Acceptance counts. Not only publication. An acceptance letter satisfies the requirement, which removes the wait for an issue to appear. This is materially easier than a rule demanding published papers, and it can save months.
Only one needs to be in the premium indexes, and even that is "preferably". The other needs to be in a peer reviewed and indexed journal. Compare Manipal, which requires two first-author SCOPUS or Web of Science papers with no softer alternative.
SIU affiliation must appear. This is the one people get wrong. If you are working elsewhere and publish under your employer's name alone, the paper may not count. Set the affiliation at submission; journals are reluctant to amend it afterwards, and some will not.
SIU defines refereed journals as those indexed in Scopus, WoS, ABDC, SCI and similar.
The practice-based route
Unusual in India, and genuinely different:
Practice-based Ph.D. means an option given to a scholar to pursue the Ph.D. programme in the Faculty of Media and Communication using a practice-based research mode.
How the thesis changes:
- The chapter on results and discussion is replaced by the practice component
- The candidate showcases the pilot output to the RAC
- The written thesis has a minimum length of 15,000 words
- It is based on the interpretative paradigm and uses a qualitative research-based framework
- It documents process development, context of the study, literature review, methodology and outcome
Fifteen thousand words is short for a doctoral thesis, and that is the point: the practice carries part of the argument. But note what the written component still has to do. Documenting process development and situating it theoretically in 15,000 words is demanding precisely because there is no room for padding.
If you are in media and communication and your work is genuinely practice-led, this route exists. It is not a lighter option, and it is not available in other faculties.
The research proposal
The proposal has a prescribed structure, ending with two items easy to overlook:
- Hypotheses, if any
- Methodology, tools and techniques
- Precautionary principle
- Schedule of the proposed work
- References
- Check-list
- Similarity report
A similarity report is required at proposal stage, not just at thesis. Soft copies go to the Head, Research Programmes at SCRI before the RAC, with hard copies after RAC approval.
Thesis submission
What goes in:
- Entire thesis and synopsis in PDF
- Chapter-wise thesis in PDF
- All publications with a list
- Passport-size photograph
- Originality report for plagiarism check, signed by the Research Student and the Supervisor, included in the thesis as an annexure
- Any pending fees cleared
Two details there. The chapter-wise PDF is a separate deliverable from the whole-thesis PDF. And the originality report is bound into the thesis as an annexure, not merely submitted alongside it.
Assessment points along the way
- Mid review
- Pre-submission seminar, defined as an academic assessment by the RAC before the thesis is formally submitted for examination
The pre-submission seminar is an internal gate. Clearing it is what allows formal submission.
Pre-submission checklist
- Confirmed registration obtained promptly, since the two year clock runs from it
- Three years since provisional admission also completed
- Coursework done with 75% attendance, or M.Phil exemption confirmed
- Two papers accepted or published, in peer reviewed indexed journals
- SIU affiliation on those papers
- At least one in Scopus, SCI, SSCI, AHCI, ABDC, ABS or FT50
- Acceptance letters retained as proof
- Mid review completed
- Pre-submission seminar cleared with the RAC
- Originality report signed by me and my supervisor, bound in as an annexure
- Both whole-thesis and chapter-wise PDFs prepared
- Publication list compiled
- Fees cleared
- If practice-based: pilot output showcased to RAC, written thesis at least 15,000 words
Where to get help
SCRI owns the rules, the submissions and the process. Your Research Advisory Committee owns confirmation, the mid review and the pre-submission seminar. The Research Recognition Committee handles administrative matters of the programme.
If the writing is the bottleneck, our thesis writing support works chapter by chapter, our PhD thesis help covers doctoral work, and our research paper support is relevant if the publication requirement is what stands between you and submission.
