Vrije Universiteit Brussel

 

• Enrolment
• Compulsory or not?
• Certificate of the Doctoral Training Programme
• Structure of the Doctoral Training Programme
• Registration for Activities
• Credits & Evaluation
• Proof of Participation
• Certificate of the Doctoral Training Programme
• Forms

 

Enrolment

Upon enrolment as a PhD student, you automatically (and without additional costs) become a member of one of the VUB's three Doctoral Schools, which means you can partake in the Doctoral Training Programme.

 

Compulsory or not?

The Doctoral Training Programme is in principle not compulsory. Although individual faculties may decide to make the programme or parts of it compulsory, basing themselves on a suitability check of the prospective PhD student’s personal file (a procedure which is, in fact, already being applied).

 

Certificate of the Doctoral Training Programme

Doctoral School members who have obtained at least 60 credits and who have successfully defended their doctoral thesis, receive a Doctoral Training Progamme Certificate (Getuigschrift van de Doctoraatsopleiding) in addition to their Doctoral diploma.

PhD students, which are member of a Doctoral School, who did not obtain 60 credits and/or have not successfully defended their doctoral thesis may apply for an official document. An Attestation (Attest van gevolgde activiteiten), listing the activities attended as part of the Doctoral Training Programme.

 

Structure of the Doctoral Training Programme

The Doctoral Training Programme consists of 60 credits. Each package of course units will be put together on an individual basis which means it will vary from student to student.

The package of course units consists of 4 different clusters, each with its own minimum and maximum. These ensure a well-balanced programme. It is possible to gather more than the required 60 credits but when you apply for the Certificate of the Doctoral Training Programme, great attention will be paid to the required minima and maxima.

Doctoral Training Programme	Minimum credits	Maximum credit
1. Regular course units from VUB, UGent, Institution of Life Long Learning or any other institute E.g.: Bachelor’s, Master’s and Advanced Master’s course units Specialised course units organised by a Doctoral School Specialised course units organised by any other institution	9	40
2. Doctoral Seminars E.g.: Specialised knowledge Generic skills Master Classes	9	25
3. Research Activities * E.g.: Publications Presentations Conferences	9	30
4. The defence of the doctoral dissertation	3	3

* Component 3 (Research Activities) will be divided in several subcategories per Doctoral School

 

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Registration for Activities

Cluster 1 - Regular Course Units

If you want to register for regular course units at the VUB you can do so by using the form Registration Regular Course Units, signed for approval by your supervisor and the Professor teaching the concerned course. Deposit the completed and signed for at your faculty secretariat.

As a PhD student you are, just like the regular students, obliged to respect the registration deadline. The deadline for registering for course units of the first semester is usually set mid-October, registration for course units of the second semester can be done as of the beginning of January until the end of February. The exact deadlines can be found at the top of the registration form.

 

Clusters 2 & 3 - Doctoral Seminars & Research activities

Registration procedures for doctoral seminars are usually stated in the announcement of the activity. Please follow the registration procedures as the organizer communicates them.

For activities organized by the Central PhD Office and the Doctoral School of Human Sciences following registration rules apply:

• The activities organised by the Central PhD Office and Doctoral Schools in the framework of the Doctoral Training Programme are only open to members of the Doctoral Schools of the Vrije Universiteit and Ghent University. All other possible participants will be added to a waiting list and most likely won't be able to take part free of charge.
• The registration for activities organised by the Central PhD Office and the Doctoral Schools will be opened 8 weeks prior to the start of the activity.
• All registrations need to be done through the registration module on the website of the R&D department. You can reach this registration module by clicking on the activity of your choice in the table of activities below or by surfing to http://rd-ir.vub.ac.be/en_GB/events
• The registrations will (in principle) close 2 weeks prior to the start of the activity. After this closure, acceptance will be communicated to the participants and to the people on the waiting list, by e-mail.
• We kindly ask you to only register for activities you can actually participate in. In case you have already registered but are not able to participate, please be so kind as to notify us by sending an e-mail to doctoral.schools@vub.ac.be so we can offer your place to one of your colleague PhD students on the waiting list.
• Registration is mandatory! You can be asked to leave if you don't have a valid registration.

 

Activities at the UGent

The new Doctoral Training Programme is organised in close cooperation with the University of Gent. This ultimately means the PhD students of the VUB can partake in all activities of the UGent and vice-versa. Participation in regular course units is free for both groups with the exception of courses which are part of a program with higher tuition fees.

In order to be able to partake in UGent activities (regular course units and other activities), the VUB PhD student needs to register as a guest student at the UGent. This registration needs to be done in person at the Student Administration (Rectoraat, St-Pietersnieuwsstraat 25, Gent) using this form. You also use this form to register for regular course units at UGent.

In order to be able to partake in activities organised by a UGent Doctoral School, the PhD student also needs to register as a guest student after which he/she can follow the regular registration methods as they are described in the announcement of the event (usually through the organising Doctoral School or through the Coordination Unit).

The activities of the UGent Doctoral Schools can be found here.

 

 

Credits & Evaluation

Cluster 1 - Regular Course Units

For regular courses in bachelor-, master- or master after master-programs, the number of ECTS credits applies. For new course units organized by the Doctoral Schools, the Director will determine the number of credits.

The manner of evaluation for regular course units (cluster 1) is determined by the Professor teaching the course. The evaluation can consist of a written or an oral exam, a portfolio, a project, a paper, an internship, etc... The manner of evaluation for new course units organised by the Doctoral Schools is stated in the announcement of the activity.

 

Cluster 2 - Doctoral Seminars

The general rule is that the organizer decides on the amount of credits granted for an activity.

The number of credits to gain for Doctoral Seminars is thus normally determined by the Director of the organizing Doctoral School or by the Central PhD Office. The number of credits is stated in the announcement of the activity.

The 'mere' attendance of a Doctoral Seminar will only generate a limied number of credits. A good indicator to look at the number of awarded credits is the time and effort that has to be invested to obtain them. Taking a regular course requires an estimated investment of 125 hours, and usually produces 6 credits.

It is possible that, in order to obtain the predetermined number of credits for a Doctoral Seminar, a positive evaluation or an active participation in the seminar is required. The teacher of the seminar will do this evaluation.

 

Cluster 3 - Research Activities

Because different standards apply in the several disciplines, the Doctoral Schools each use a seperate credit table for this cluster that takes into account the individual character of each Doctoral School. These tables (not axhaustive) can be consulted on the Doctoral Schools' webpages.

In general, active participation is required in order to obtain credits for research related activities.

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Proof of Participation

Because there isn't a digital platform available yet, you will need to gather and keep all information and proofs of activities yourselves. At the end of your PhD you can add all these proofs to the application for your Certificate or Attestation (see below).

 

Cluster 1 - Regular Course Units

There is no need to keep proof of participation in regular course units of the VUB because your registration for these courses is listed in the education-database.

In case you participated in one or more course units organized by another university or institution you will need to add proof for these activities.

 

Cluster 2 - Doctoral Seminars

The Central PhD Office uses attendance lists at their activities, therefore you shall not receive any proof of participation nor will you have to add proof of these activities to your application for the Certificate or Attestation. Your presence (and signature on the presence list) however is required.

In case you wish to have proof of your participation in a doctoral seminar for your own personal administration, you can use the Proof of Participation form, which is always attached to the email confirming your registration.

 

Cluster 3 - Research Activities

Research related activities that belong in Cluster 3 of the Doctoral Training Programme have to be entered into the R&D-Net² database if possible.

What is R&D-Net²? R&D-Net² is the unique integrated research database from the VUB, where all meta-data concerning research are stored. Not the results of the research, but all describing and identifying data. Researchers associated with Vrije Universiteit Brussel with a VUB account can adjust and edit their academic profile on the R&D-Net² website. Logging on to the R&D-Net² website requires a registration as a VUB member of personnel. If necessary you can contact the Human Resources department to grant you the necessary access.

The Central PhD Office will us ethis data as proof when processing your application for the Certificate of the Doctoral Training Programme or the Attestation.

 

Cluster 4 - Defense of the Doctoral Dissertation

The fourth and last cluster of the Doctoral Training Programme consists of the public defense of your doctoral dissertation. 3 credits will automatically be granted after the succesful public defense of your doctoral disserttation on order to complete your Doctoral Training Programme.

 

For all other internal or external activities (summer schools, doctoral seminars, congresses, ...) you will be asked to add proof.

 

Certificate of the Doctoral Training Programme

PhD students who have obtained 60 credits and who have successfully defended their doctoral thesis, receive a Doctoral Training Programme Certificate in addition to their doctoral diplomla. The Doctoral Training Programme Certificate is signed by the Rector of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel.

The Certificate shall be awarded to PhD students who are member of a Doctoral School and who have obtained 60 credits including the successful defense of their PhD dissertation. PhD students who are member of a Doctoral School but who have not obtained 60 credits and/or have not passed their PhD thesis defence successfully may apply for an official document (Attestation) listing the activities attended as part of the Doctoral Training Programme. PhD students who are not a member of a Doctoral School cannot participate in the Doctoral training Programme and therefore cannot apply for a Certificate or an Attestation.

 

Application procedure:

Currently, the Doctoral Schools use an application package on paper for the Certificate. Please use this document to file all relevant activities. It is possible to attach an export file of R&D-Net for activities in component 3 (publications and conferences). Make sure to attach all relevant proof and keep your credit suggestions reasonable.

It is allowed to add activities, organized both internally or externally, of previous years if you can provide the necessary and correct information and proof, if you supervisor acknowledges that these activities are relevant to your Doctoral Training Programme and if these activities (only in case of regular course units) were followed after your initial training, i.e. the training that granted you access to the PhD.

You can only submit your application for the Certificate or the Attestation once in your PhD period. The application can be submitted until the 15th of December of the calendar year in which your last registration as a PhD student ends. For example, if your last registration is for the year 2011-2012, you can submit your application for the Certificate or the Attestation until the 15th of December 2012.

 

Forms

All relevant regulations and forms can be found here.

 

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