Conferment of PhD degree

1. In order to be awarded the title of Doctor students need to go through the conferment procedures: they are formal procedures during which the Board of respective Faculty votes whether their PhD research proposals are viable and good enough to become PhD theses. After positive evaluation of the proposals, students write their theses and prepare for public defence.

2. In order to start conferment of PhD, student needs to choose a supervisor, that is an academic with at least “dr hab.” title, and to be engaged in research and producing innovative, original pieces of work which shows their contribution to a given field. They also need to:

• have a book either already published or accepted for publication

or

• have at least one article published in a peer-reviewed academic journal recognized nationally or internationally present on the list of "scored journals" published by the Ministry of Education 

or

• have at least one article published in a peer-reviewed report from an international academic conference

It is important to remember that publishing process may take some time so it is best to plan ahead and start to do the research as soon as possible upon admission to the programme.

3. The conferment procedures should start at the end of the second year of studies to give PhD students time to prepare their theses. If a PhD student fulfils all the requirements and wants to start the procedure earlier it is possible even during the first year of studies.

4. In order to start conferment procedures PhD students need to submit complete set of documents required and pay the fee for procedure opening. The documents required are the following:

• application to the Dean,
• original master diploma or equivalent (legalized, translated into Polish by a sworn translator),
• personal questionnaire,
• signed agreement regarding opening of conferment procedures,
• list of published works
• PhD Concept (framing)  - 5-20 pages long document prepared by the PhD student in collaboration with supervisor (“Karta Programowa”)
• Information about the process of PhD conferment, if the candidate has previously pursued a PhD in the same discipline,
   

5. Once the PhD Concept (framing) is ready and approved by supervisor, a PhD student is required to present it to the Interdepartmental Commission. The Commission is constituted by members of the Programme Council, supervisor, selected members of the supervisor's department, and other departments that are involved in the conferment procedure. Meeting of the Commission is open to the general public. A PhD student is required to attend the meeting of the Commission on the designated date, time and place. After the presentation the Commission issues an opinion on the PhD Concept. If the opinion is positive, the candidate can submit aforementioned documents to the appropriate Dean's office. If the opinion is negative, a PhD student is required to correct/ fill in the deficiencies in the PhD Concept and present it again.

6. The conferment application is examined during a meeting of a relevant Faculty Council. Faculty Council can, but is not obligated to uphold the decision of the Interdepartmental Commission. The PhD student does not participate in the Faculty Council’s meeting. If the Council’s decision is positive, the conferment procedure can be opened. If the decision is negative, the PhD student have to correct (supplement/revise) his PhD Concept and present is again during a meeting of the Council.

7. Doctoral dissertation:

• may be presented in language other than Polish,
• may be presented in a form of a published book, unpublished book (typescript) or as a series of articles thematically consistent, published in peer-reviewed journals,
• may also be an independent and separate part of a collective work, if it shows student's individual contribution in concept development, the performance of experimental design and interpretation of the thesis results,
• d) should constitute an innovative and original solution of scientific problem and show candidate's general and theoretical knowledge in particular scientific discipline and ability to carry on scientific work independently,
• should be accompanied by a summary written in English. Doctoral thesis prepared in English should be accompanied by a summary written in Polish,
• should be submitted in four copies (together with the summary) plus one copy on CD,
• should be submitted within 12 months after the end of the last year of PhD studies (if otherwise, additional fee will be charged),
• ordinance concerning the rules of placing the doctoral dissertation in the digital library and the rules of making them accessible to the interested persons
•  

8. After submitting the dissertation and before the public defence PhD students have to pass doctoral examinations in the same field as the one of his/her PhD thesis, in additional field and in foreign language (or submit a certificate confirming knowledge of a foreign language). After passing doctoral examinations PhD students defend their theses.

9. PhD students who will complete all the subjects in the study programme but fail to write, submit or defend their doctoral dissertation will be awarded certificates confirming that they have successfully met the requirements of the programme and completed third-cycle studies. However, they will not be awarded the title of Doctor. PhD students lose their student status after three years. (It is possible prolong this period by a year if a PhD student is involved in a long-term research – the application for prolonging the study period have to be backed by a supervisor and approved by programme director.)

10. Detailed information on the conferment procedures and obtaining the doctoral degree will be given on an introductory training during the first meeting.