Vrije Universiteit Brussel

Practical information

• Central PhD Office
• The road to a PhD
• Who to contact?
• Regulations and forms
• Ombudsperson for PhD students
• Publication and technology transfer
• Joint PhD
• Doctoral Training Programme &
  Doctoral Schools

Activities

• Workshops
• Newsletter for Junior Researchers

The road to a PhD

• Before you begin
• Application and enrolment
• During your PhD research
• The final year: defending your thesis

Before you begin

Before you can start a PhD research, there are some important things you need to consider:

• Do you really want to study for a PhD degree?
  It is not an easy task. You should expect it to take 4 to 6 years of full-time work and sometimes even longer.
  
  
• Do you have a Masters degree?
  The default requirement for admission as a PhD student is a Masters degree (or equivalent) in a relevant field from a Belgian university. Derogations may be granted for the holders of a Masters degree in a relevant field from a non-Belgian university. Derogations for candidates without a Masters degree are unlikely to be granted unless the candidate has very strong research or professional credentials. The ultimate decision about the eligibility for PhD research resides with the Faculty in which the research will be conducted.
  
  
• Do you have a supervisor?
  You need a supervisor ("promotor" in Dutch). This is a professor at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel in your research field who is willing to guide and evaluate your research.
  We strongly advise you to increase your chances by going through our research pages, to see whether you can find a match between your research interests and research at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. You can browse the university’s web pages or use the search engine available here.
  
  
• Do you have funding?
  You need sufficient financial means to support yourself during your stay in Brussels. Besides the tuition fee, you should have at least € 10.000 yearly for the duration of your research.
  Have a look on the webpages of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel that contain the vacant PhD positions with funding or on the R&D pages for some grants and scholarships. You can also check the Belgian Portal for Research and Innovation.
  
  
• Have a look on this website about studying in Flanders. It gives you some basic information on Flanders, the educational system, study and research programmes, funding opportunities and gives you a check list of things to bear in mind before coming to Belgium.

 

Click here for a schematic overview of the requirements and steps.

 

 

Application and enrolment

Application

When you have found a supervisor and funding, and you think you have the right degree, you can officially make a request for admission as a PhD student. This request or application is NOT the same as a registration or enrolment and does NOT guarantee you will be accepted. There are 2 procedures: one for candidates with a Belgian degree and another one for candidates with a non-Belgian degree.

1. Holders of a Masters degree (or equivalent) of a Belgian institution of higher education

You need to send a written request to the dean of the relevant faculty, specifying the subject of your thesis, the name(s) of your supervisor(s) and the discipline within which the proposed PhD project falls. You must include a sworn copy of the diploma which can give access to the PhD programme (not necessary for Flemish diplomas). Within three months from the date of receipt, the faculty shall come to a decision concerning the application.

2. Holders of a Masters degree (or equivalent) of a non-Belgian institution of higher education

You need to fill out an application package. Download this application package here. The application is screened by the Registrar's Office and the relevant faculty. If your request is accepted, you will receive a letter of approval which gives you the authorisation to start a Phd and to enrol as a PhD student at the VUB.

 

Enrolment

Only after having received the offical approval (Letter of Acceptance), you can enrol as a PhD student. The first time this is done in person at the Registrar's Office. Bring the 'Letter of Acceptance' and your identity card or passport. The following years enrolment is done by bank transfer.

Holders of a Belgian degree need to use this form for the first enrolment, signed by the Dean and the supervisor. Don't forget to bring your identity card and your orginal diploma or a legal copy.

The registration fee in 2008-2009 is for the first year € 256,6. Renewal of enrolment for the following years costs € 58,8. For the year of the defense the fee is again € 256,6.

Permission for the renewal of enrolment is given by the Progress Monitoring Commission ('Commissie voor de Doctoraatsopvolging', or CDO in Dutch). See below for more details.

Activating your VUB account

After your enrolment and/or registration as a member of staff, it is essential that you should activate your VUB account. You will be asked to create a login and password which will allow you access to a number of electronic services, such as email, University databanks, Intranet etc. Activate your account using this link. In this way you will also receive all electronic communications sent out to students and staff. If you will not be using the University's email services, for instance because you already have one or more email addresses, please make sure that mail sent to the VUB email address does reach you. In order to set up this procedure, use this link. This page allows you to link up your usual email address to your VUB email address so that all messages will automatically be forwarded. For answers to a range of questions concerning the computer infrastructure of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, look here.

 

During your PhD research

Annual Progress Report

Deadline

Each academic year, by 1st May at the latest, PhD students are obliged to submit an annual report outlining the progress they have made in their PhD research. The annual progress report will be assessed by the PhD Progress Monitoring Commission of the relevant faculty. The decision whether or not the PhD student will be given permission to enrol for the following academic year is based on their assessment. This means that if you do not submit a progress report, you will not be able to enrol for the following year.
If the Commission is of the opinion that the PhD process is continuing favourably, the Admissions Department will issue the PhD student with the appropriate form for automatic readmission.
If the Commission is of the opinion that there is not enough headway, it may decide to interview the PhD student and the supervisor, if necessary in the presence of the Ombudsperson for PhD students (as requested by the PhD student). The Commission must report to the Rector before the end of June with a full account of its reasons for advising that the PhD student should not be readmitted. 

Progress Report Layout

Most faculties issue documents or templates which each PhD student is expected to complete and submit by 1st May of the current academic year at the latest. (go to: FACULTY FORMS or refer to the Faculty Secretariat). These documents make up the annual progress report, in which the PhD student presents an outline of the progress made during the PhD process. All PhD students are obliged to compile and submit an annual progress report.
As specified in the PhD Regulations, an annual PhD progress report should comprise a minimum of four sections:
- an overview of activities dating from the end of April of the previous academic year until the end of April of the current academic year;
- a plan of the PhD process for the upcoming academic year;
- an indication of problems encountered: a description of past or possible future problems and the manner in which they were or could be dealt with;
- a report by the supervisor outlining the PhD student's activities.
Every faculty is free to add items to this list in its individual faculty regulations, and lay down the format of the form to be submitted. See Faculty Regulations.

 

Appointment Renewal

For each renewal of your appointment, please complete the Appointment Form For Teaching and Research Assistants and Special Research Assistants (AAP/BAP), as well as the Research Registration Form. These are the same forms that you would have filled in for your first appointment as a member of staff.

 

Interruption of Study (e.g. on grounds of pregnancy)

PhD scholarship students at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel who wish to interrupt their studies for specific reasons may do so using the framework set up by the Research Council that allows for their grant to be suspended. The four-year entitlement to a PhD student grant must be taken up over a period of six years. Grants are also suspended in case of absences of three months or longer due to illness. Other institutions offering grants have similar systems in place.
Tax-free student grants may be awarded within a period of 72 months, as detailed in a Finance Ministry memorandum. The Vrije Universiteit Brussel holds the same policy on grants as the Institute for the Promotion of Innovation by Science and Technology in Flanders (IWT), i.e. grants are suspended during a student's pregnancy (with a maximum of 15 weeks per pregnancy) or protracted illness, while the student in question receives a health insurance benefit. At present, this does not apply to Teaching and Research Assistants (AAP) who, if there is an Interruption of Study, may apply for an additional seventh year.

 

Click here for a schematic overview.

 

 

The Final Year: Defending Your Thesis

Compulsory Registration

You will only be admitted to a public defence of your thesis if you are formally registered as a PhD student. Registration fee for the academic year 2008-2009: 256,6 euros.
In your final year, a fee of 58,8 euros is payable in advance; the balance should be paid in full before the oral defence.
Please take note: if you have paid the fee of 256,6 euros because you were expecting to defend your thesis in the current academic year but the defence does not take place until the following year, you will need to re-register for that year! Your registration is not automatically carried over to the following year. You may reclaim the registration fee which you paid the previous year and use it to register for the current academic year.

 

Regulations

While preparing for the public defence procedure you are advised to study the Central PhD Regulations, particularly articles 18-23, as well as the supplementary faculty regulations with regard to PhD thesis defence.

 

Abstract

You are requested to provide your faculty secretariat with an abstract of your thesis, which will be published on the University's central website along with the announcement of your oral defence. For details, see Central Regulations, art. 24 and art. 24b.

 

Click here for a schematic overview.

Back to top