European Ph. D: report by Prof. Gisèle Van de Vyver

The delivery of a European label attached to the national PhD appears to be a suitable vehicle to promote student mobility by formally recognising their adaptability to a new working environment.

Attribution - Criteria

1. The students have to fulfil all the criteria requested to obtain the national PhD.
2. Additionally they have to:
- spend a stay abroad which would last at least six months.
- During that stay, students have to undertake a pre-agreed research programme.
3. Attendance to advanced course abroad and attendance at scientific meetings with oral presentations will not be obligatory but desirable.
4. Depending on the system of operation in the different European countries, publication of at least one paper in an international journal would be required.
5. Students would be requested to prepare an exhaustive summary of the PhD thesis in the mother language, in another European language and of course one in English.
6. Following the agreement of the Conference of the European Rectors, students will be required to give an oral presentation of the thesis in an European language different from their mother language.

Implementation
l. Candidates must fulfil the requirements to obtain the PhD in the university they are registered.
2. Before the award of the European PhD, the host university has to send to the board of examiners, a written assessment of the period of study.
3. The national board of examiners must include one or more foreign experts.
4. The European label has to be delivered by the mother university, simultaneously with the PhD degree.

Network
EUROBIO proposes to set up a network of interested universities which have to agree with the basic attribution criteria already outlined. EUROBIO has to investigate the different ways capable of providing funds to support student mobility: e.g. Socrates, Some Research Programme (Biomed, Biostat) and also national fellowships.
Very soon, you will receive the present report and an application form through which you could express your desire to participate in a network allowing your students to attach the label "European" to their national PhD. This is of course a first step, a further step would be to define an European PhD. But that is another stage.

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