A Doctorate at D-BAUG (2022)

Overview

As mentioned beforehand, your Aptitude Colloquium (AC)

• must take place within 12 months of your provisional admission date.
• has a very strict deadline in myStudies or on your admission letter.

Please note:
If the deadline is not met, you get dematriculated.
 

To Do

Observe the following steps in order to organize your Aptitude Colloquium (AC) in a smooth manner:

1. Well ahead of time, approach your thesis supervisor for a discussion on
   possible members for your Aptitude Colloquium, Art. 6.
   You may have 4 additional experts (beyond the compulsory committee members) nominated for participation and evaluation of your doctoral plan.
   Please include their names in the online form as sudden "pop-up" experts on the AC day will not be allowed to participate. 
   
   Important: The members of your AC committee may change their status by the time your doctoral examination takes place, i.e. they may publish with you in the meantime. Therefore, there are other rules for your doctoral examination committee; its final composition must be determined about 8-9 months prior to the doctoral examination.
   
   
2. Two months before your AC deadline, please get the name of your chairperson from the .
   Thereafter, please send an email to the chairperson and introduce yourself to him/her: your name, your professorship, title of your research project.
   Note: Fixed time slots won't work for the chairperson, and such request will thus not be processed.
   Important: The chairperson is there to guide through the AC and ensure that the exam is carried out professionally and in a fair manner. – Thus, her/his research area might be totally diffrent from yours.
   
   
3. Two months before your deadline, send out a Nuudel to your entire Aptitude Committee, incl. the chairperson, in order to find a suitable date.
   
   
4. Once the date is confirmed, send an Outlook invitation to all members of the Aptitude Committee.
   
   
5. Fill in the online form, with all details of your Aptitude Colloquium.

Doctoral Administration D-BAUG will, in due course, send the result sheet to the chairperson of your AC, copying you and your thesis supervisor.

Duration of AC:

• about 1 ½ hours, as it consists of the DP presentation (max. 30’)
• followed by a round of questions posed by the Committee of minimum 30 minutes.

Exam character of AC:

• treated like BSc/MSc exams at ETH, consequently
  
• not public (decision by Doctoral Committee D-BAUG, 02.12.22)

Tasks of the AC Committee:

• focuses on the research objectives
• considers the suitability of candidate for conducting a research project independently and authoring a doctoral thesis
• evaluates applicant's performance as “passed” or “failed”
• gives its opinion on the further points in the doctoral plan (teaching tasks; other duties; extended doctoral studies, if applicable).
  This "opinion part" does not affect the evaluation of the student's performance during the AC.
  

Upon completion of AC:

• The chairperson will inform the Doctoral Administration D-BAUG about the outcome
• D-BAUG Admin will then pass on the information to the Central Doctoral Administration for processing.
• You will receive confirmation of definitive admission to your doctorate at D-BAUG

What if I fail?:

• one repetition possible, provided thesis supervisor agrees
• repetition must take place within three months of the first definitive result
• thesis supervisor may only refuse repetition if AC committee unanimously assessed 1st attempt as "failed"

What if I cannot meet the AC deadline?:

On substantiated Downloadrequest (PDF, 149 KB)vertical_align_bottom, comprising a statement by the thesis supervisor, the Vice Rector for Doctoral Studies may -- on rare occasions -- extend the deadline for the first aptitude colloquium or the repetition of the AC.
The request form also needs to be signed by the Head of the Doctoral Committee D-BAUG; thus send it to .

Legal Basis

Art. 12-17, Ordinance on the Doctorate at ETH Zurich

Art. 4, Rector's Implementation Provisions

Art. 6, Detailed Stipulation D-BAUG

Overview

12 credit points:

• to develop knowledge in the field of your doctoral thesis
• compulsory "Ethics and Scientific Integrity course"; one course offered by D-BAUG every semester; other courses available
  
• different categories that you need to take courses in, see Art. 10.3 for overview
• see courses under "D-BAUG subject specialisation, transferable skills etc." and regular course catalogue
  
• aside from conferences or summer/winter schools in your specific field, credits can be collected through:
  Continuing Education at ETH
  Courses offered by the ETH Library
  
• credits will show in transcript, based on your final LAG version

Learning Agreement (LAG):

• produced in myStudies
• summarizes performance achievements for final transcript at end of doctorate
  
• serves as working/planning tool during doctorate
• allows for external courses, too (see To Do hereunder)
  
• final LAG (min. 12 credits achieved) to be approved by thesis supervisor
• finalized LAG to be sent to Dr-Admin D-BAUG (via button: "Request completion of doctoral studies")
  

Transcript:

• after submission of your deposit copies to Academic Services
  
• issued by Academic Services of ETH Zurich

To Do, in chronological order

within the first 12 months of your doctorate, i.e. before your AC:

• discuss collection of planned 12 credit points with thesis supervisor
• in myStudies, produce tentative LAG (only working tool, at this stage)

with regard to academic performances outside ETH, you have two options

• either via myStudies: under Performance Assessments, "Transfer of Approved Study Achiements from other Institutions" to get the exact course/event description on your transcript; upload of confirmation included
  
• or via our

latest 3 -4 months before your doctoral examination:

• to get 12 credit points confirmed, fill in upper part of Downloadregistration form (PDF, 886 KB)vertical_align_bottom for doctoral examination
• send registration form and make sure to finalize LAG for confirmation by
  
• refer to separate "Doctoral Examination" page for all further steps leading up to your examination (incl. registration of doctoral examination)

after your promotion request got approved at a Department Conference (DK):

• deliver deposit copies to Academic Services 
• receive transcript of your academic record
  

Legal Basis

Implementation Provisions, Art. 10 onwards (German version is legally binding).

Annual Status Conversation with Progress Report

Overview

After definitive admission, a written progress report must be submitted to the doctoral thesis supervisor each year.

The progress report must describe the following:

• status and anticipated progress of research work
• any significant deviations from the research objectives set out in the doctoral plan

The individual annual status conversation must include the following:

• discussion and assessment of research progress (based on progress report)
  
• determination of next steps
• progress of doctoral studies
• working situation in the research group
• personal development possibilities and the corresponding measures if required

To Do

• The progress report and the report on the status conversation must be submitted to the second advisor (and possibly additional experts) for information purposes.
• The doctoral thesis supervisor and the doctoral student are both obliged to store progress reports and the respective status conversation reports until the time of dematriculation. -- If legal proceedings are pending the documents must be retained until a legal ruling has been issued.

NOTE: The status conversation comprises two separate parts:
1. Scientific progress
2. Evaluation of career and personal development

The first part of the discussion addresses the doctorate and the research project.
Involving the second advisor in the first part is recommended. Further experts in the field may also take part.

The second part of the discussion is conducted as a development interview which involves mutual feedback and addresses the further development of competences. This part concerns the doctoral thesis supervisor and the doctoral student only and is confidential.

Legal Basis

Art. 29, ETH Zurich Ordinance on the Doctorate

Art. 9, Rector's Implementation Provisions

See separate website "Doctoral Examination", comprising comprehensive information for a smooth wrap-up of your doctorate.