What are qualifiers? [engineering education]

Before a student begins actual work on their dissertation, they must pass what are commonly known as qualifiers or comprehensive exams. This paper describes qualifying exams, which are given by an education department to test a student's breadth and depth of knowledge and to see if they have "what it takes" to earn a doctorate. These written and/or oral exams test a student's ability to reason, to solve problems, and to create original knowledge.