First of all, you need to finish your course work and, after that, take a
qualifying examination before starting writing a dissertation. Moreover, to be
graduated, you must have an English score of 500 and publish a paper based on
your dissertation in an internationally recognized journal or one on the list
approved by Higher Education Commission (e.g. ABAC's Prajavihara, MU's The
Journal, UTCC Journal, etc.). Many already pass the English requirement.
However, as for those who, on application, didn't submit the English score or
had one lower than 500, you should to take the examination provided by the
Graduate Studies three or four rounds a year. It is less expensive that TOEFL.The qualifying exam takes different forms in different PhD programs. As for
ours, students will be asked to develop a research topic, write a research
proposal and one chapter. The proposal has a specific format, which will be
circulated to you later. (Since the proposal will become Chapter One, it means
that the chapter you will write will become Chapter Two.) A period of one
semester will be given to do all these. When both chapters are submitted, the
student will defend them before a committee set up by the program. Note that
students can take the qualifying exam only twice. Second failure means that
student has to leave the program.

When developing  research topic  and proposal, the student has to approach one
of the program members (i.e. Dr. Pathompong, Dr. Mattia, Dr. Giuliano, Dr.
Sukhumpong, Dr. Kalansupamas) and ask him to be a major advisor. The major
advisor can't be someone outside the program. However, a co-advisor can be
someone outside the program, department, faculty or university. But, he or she
must have a PhD and be able to come on the day of defense. Please consult the
major advisor before approaching anyone outside the program. A student can have
a major advisor and one or two co-advisors. On the day of defense, an external
examiner will be invited to sit among the committee and evaluate the work.

If the student passes the qualifying exam, he or she will be given some time to
further develop the proposal before defending it again to officially start
writing a dissertation. It is advisable that the student continues working on
the topic he or she defended in the qualifying exam. It can be totally changed
but that means the student has to start all over again. It's the program's
policy to help students save dissertation writing time when it is decided that
they write a research proposal when taking a qualifying exam.

As for those who haven't yet finished the course work but want to have a
qualifying exam, please contact the program. For example, the exam can be taken
when the student has one or two courses left to finish in that semester and is
sure he or she can write a proposal and one chapter while studying these
courses. And, as Dr. Pathompong suggested, it's highly advisable that everyone
starts thinking and studying for a possible research topic to make it easier
when taking a qualifying exam. In doing so, the students can consult any
lecturers in the program.

If you have any question, please feel free to ask.