Studies

The structure of the doctoral studies, described below, is the same for both the Doctoral School of Electrical Engineering and the Doctoral School of Informatics (the difference between them lies only in the research topics).

credits

During the 8 semesters of the doctoral studies min. 240 credits must be obtained. The source of the credits are:

  • 30 credits of elective doctoral courses should be completed. These doctoral courses provide the disciplinary background of research.

  • 120 credits for research work
  • 60 credits for publications
  • 30 credits for contribution to teaching BSc and MSc students, in order to improve the soft-skills related to presentation, explanation and reasoning. Contribution to teaching mostly consitst of conducting laboratories or supervising BSc/MSc students' project labs or theses.

The phases of the studies

The curriculum comprises 2 phases:

  1. In the training and research phase, students should take all the required doctoral subjects, while actively working on their research and publications. They should contribute to teaching BSc and MSc students as well. At least 120 credits should be obtained by the end of the 4th semester.

    The detailed description of this phase, including the list of elective courses, can be found here. 

     

  2. In the research and dissertation phase, students should continue and finish their research, produce further publications, and start working on their dissertation. Another min. 120 credits should be obtained, having altogether min. 240 credits by the end of the 8th semester. 

    The detailed description of this phase, including the evaluation of the publication activity, can be found here.

The student status ceases at the end of the 8th semester, independently of when the dissertation is submitted and defended.

The curriculum of the PhD programme

Milestones

The most important milestones are:

  • The Complex Review Exam should be taken at the end of the 4th semester, as an entry to the "Research and dissertation phase". The aim is to give an account of the knowledge gained from the taught subjects, and of the results already achieved and to be achieved during the research work.
  • Submission of the dissertation for public defence, after earning all the 240 credits set in the curriculum, completing the dissertation and passing the in-house defence, and having all the publications required for the degree appeared.  Dissertation for the public defence must be submitted within 3 years from the date of the complex review exam. The minimum requirements and the description of the doctoral assesment procedure are avaialble here.
  • In order to earn the degree, the dissertation should be successfully defended in a public defence. Note, however, that the doctoral assesment procedure does not end here. The final decision is made by the Doctoral Council of the Faculty and of the University, as described here

 

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