Doctoral Training Programme
The doctoral training programme is a flexible study programme
of 60 study points (ECTS credits) with four components. Information on how to register for courses can be found here.
The ECTS system guarantees that each credit point corresponds to 25–30 hours of learning activity.
As a Doctoral School member, you are automatically registered for the doctoral training programme when you register for the doctorate. Your registration gives you the right to take up to 60 study points from the study programme. In general, however, the doctoral training programme is not compulsory.
Your individual doctoral programme
Your Faculty may impose a compulsory curriculum on you at the time of your first enrolment for the doctorate (indicated in section D of the first enrolment form). A compulsory curriculum may consist of a specific list of courses, seminars or activities, or your Faculty may determine a minimum number of study points to be obtained within one or more components of the study programme. If your Faculty does not specify a preset time limit for the compulsory curriculum, it should be completed before your thesis defence. More information is given on the training pages of the specific doctoral schools. You can find out whether you have a compulsory doctoral training curriculum on your personal Doctoral school page.
Your individual doctoral training programme curriculum is subject to the approval of your promoter(s) and the members of your Doctoral Guidance Committee (if applicable). You can build your individual curriculum by reporting all courses, seminars and research activities that you have attended or carried out during the past year in your annual Doctoral Schools progress report.
Students who finish the complete curriculum receive a certificate of the doctoral training at UGent. Students who finish only part of the doctoral curriculum can receive an attestation specifying the parts for which credits were earned. The certificate is only awarded if all the parts, including the doctoral defence, are passed. The attestation is only for parts with a pass mark. See what to do when finishing your PhD training.
| Study programme |
Minimum study points |
Maximum study points |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Specialist studies | 12 | 40 |
| 1.1. Regular course units from ManaBa or ManaMa study programmes staged by Ghent University and, subject to due motivation from the supervisor, from the Bachelor study programmes, or preparatory or linking programmes staged by Ghent University 1.2. Specialist courses and regular course units staged by a Doctoral school at Ghent University 1.3. Specialist studies staged by another Flemish or foreign university or by a Permanent Training Institution |
||
| 2. Doctoral seminars aimed at competence training (transferable skills) |
9 | 25 |
| 3. Research-related activities undertaken by the doctoral student |
8 | 30 |
| 4. The defence of the doctorate |
3 | 3 |
A tentative list of research-related activities yielding study points is also available for each Doctoral School. The underlying idea is that activities related to research entail a learning process. The Doctoral Schools aim to stimulate these activities in the curriculum and to honor these with study points:
Doctoral School of Arts, Humanities and Law
Doctoral School of Social and Behavioural Sciences
Doctoral School of Life Sciences and Medicine
Doctoral School of Natural Sciences
Doctoral School of (Bioscience) Engineering
