After completing Part‑I and the comprehensive exams of Part‑II of M.Phil, a candidate can apply to join the Ph.D programme directly if the candidate has obtained an overall ‘A’ in the M.Phil comprehensive examinations and the M.Phil course work.  All other students can apply to join the Ph.D programme after their M.Phil thesis has been approved by the thesis committee of the BASR. 

The credits earned by a student for M.Phil. courses will automatically be transferred to Ph.D programme.

For the award of Ph.D. degree in economics, all candidates will have to complete the requirements of Part I and Part II of Ph.D. Programme at AERC as specified below:

Requirements in Part‑I of the Ph.D. programme consists of earning at least 57 credit hours through course work which includes 42 credits of M.Phil.  course work.    

All Ph.D. candidates will have to successfully pass 12 courses of 3 credit hours each from the following courses.  Three of these courses, i.e. Microeconomics‑III, Macroeconomics‑III and Econometrics‑III are compulsory.  These courses are based on three quarters of 10 weeks each per academic year.

                1)       Microeconomics‑III               2)       Macroeconomics-III

                3)       Econometrics-III                   4)       Development Economics-II

               5)       Urban Economics-II               6)       Advance Econometrics-III

               7)       Public Finance-II                     8)       Agriculture Economics-II

               9)       Monetary Economics-II         10)     International Trade-II

              11)     Finance-II                                 12)     Industrial Economics-II

              13)     Mathematical Economics

        To obtain credit for a course, a candidate must obtain at least a ‘D’ grade.  A student will have to repeat a compulsory course in which he/she fails to obtain a minimum of ‘D’, and repeat or take an alternative course if he corresponds to an optional course.  He/she will have to repeat one (or more) courses if the average grade of course work is less than ‘B’. 

Academic Committee of the AERC, in the light of relevant university rules, will determine the equivalence and will grant credit transfers for the course work done elsewhere.  Additions/Deletions of courses and changes in the syllabus will be approved by the Academic Committee of the AERC.

Comprehensive Exams
On completion of the above mentioned course work, the candidate will have to qualify written comprehensive examinations in Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, and two fields of his/her choice.  The candidate must pass all these exams (securing at least a “C” grade in each exam) and, will have to obtain an overall minimum average of ‘B’ grade in the M.Phil comprehensive exams.  If a candidate does not earn an average ‘B’ grade, he/she will be entitled for one more chance to appear at the said exams.  However, he/she will be required to take only those parts in which he/she failed to earn a minimum of “b” grade.  Comprehensive exams will be conducted by the AERC.

Dissertation (22 Credit Hours)
After qualifying the comprehensive exams, the candidate will be required to present a research proposal before the Faculty.  Following this, the Incharge, GSP, in consultation with the candidate, will constitute a Dissertation Committee.  All members of this committee must have a Ph.D in Economics.  The committee members will ordinarily be from the Teaching and Research Staff of the AERC.

The Committee will appoint a Principal Advisor from among its members, who will provide main guidance to the candidate during his/her research.

The dissertation proposal together with the Committee’s recommendations will be forwarded for the consideration and approval of the BASR, University of Karachi.  The dissertation will require at least one year’s research work.  The candidate will be required to submit six copies of his/her dissertation which must be written in English, along with an abstract not exceeding 1000 words.

The dissertation will be examined by a committee of examiners which will consist of two members of the Dissertation Committee and two external examiners, who will be experts in the subject at least one of which will be from abroad.  The examiners will be appointed by the BASR on the recommendation of the Incharge, Graduate Studies Programme.

The candidate will also be required to defend his/her dissertation orally before the Committee.  The award of the degree will be contingent upon positive recommendations of the Principal Advisor and at least two of the other three members of the Committee, one of which must be from outside the University/AERC.

Duration of Study
The minimum period for the award of Ph.D. degree will be three years beginning from the Ph.D course work.  The maximum period will be six years failing which the candidate will have to take the Comprehensive examinations again.

Residency Requirements
All Ph.D. students are required to do Part‑I of the Ph.D. program as full-time students to the AERC.  During Part‑II period, the residency requirements will be regulated in accordance with the advice of the Principal Advisor, in consultation with the Incharge, GSP.