The Graduate School UNY has successfully held the comprehensive exam for the Doctoral Program students batch 2014 on 15^th and 16^th  March, 2015. This exam is a form of evaluation to determine the overall level of ability in mastering the learning materials that have been given to the students in theoretical lectures. Through this exam, it can be seen whether a doctoral student is eligible to become a Doctoral Candidate, before starting research for their dissertation.

In this exam, the students are tested for their ability in understanding and mastering theoretical learning materials according to their scientific field. In addition, it is also conducted to assess the breadth of students’ academic insight and abilities as a result of the lectures they are taking and to assess students' reasoning and analysis abilities which are formulated and outlined in their writing.

The students of Graduate School UNY who take the comprehensive exam are required to have taken and passed all courses in semesters 1, 2, and 3, have passed English courses (minimum TOEFL score 430), grades below B- (B minus) are at most one, and are actively registered as even semester students of the 2015/2016 academic year. In addition, the students should also pass the Dissertation Writing Project and Dissertation Proposal Seminar courses.

On this occasion, the comprehensive exam is taken by the Doctoral Program students from 5  programs, starting from the Educational Research and Evaluation, Vocational Education, Educational Management, Educational Science, and Language Education Science. Most participants come from IP study programs because they consist of several concentrations, namely Education, Mathematics Education, Non-Formal Education, Science Education, Social Science Education, Sports Science, as well as Pre-School and Elementary School Education.

The students work on exam questions in 4 hours, starting from 8.00 a.m. to 12.00 p.m. with the material being tested covering all materials in the field of study being studied, whether it is related to issues, theory, research methodology, sciences that directly support the writing of a dissertation, both basic and specificities, as well as practice matters. The results of this exam will be assessed and determined by the head of the study program or the relevant secretary of study.

The students who have passed this comprehensive examination can carry out the stages of completing the dissertation according to their respective fields of interest. After being declared to have passed this exam, the doctoral students can continue the next stage, namely the dissertation proposal examination process, carry out research, research results examination (closed) and end with a final exam (open). Meanwhile, the students who have not graduated are given the opportunity to take a comprehensive remedial examination with a time determined by their respective study programs. (Rubiman).