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Information for Professors

  • Are you planning to take on a new doctoral student?
  • Do you have questions surrounding the supervision of a doctoral thesis (incl. special conditions after emeritus status)?
  • Would you like to see a summary of the individual administrative steps relating to a doctorate?

Then visit the corresponding section on the ETH main page: Administration Doctorate, where you will find all relevant forms and information sheets.

Please have a read through

 

In the event that not all formal criteria for admisstion to a doctorate at ETH are fulfilled, Academic Services ask the Doctoral Committee D-BAUG to review the application and, upon consultation with the doctoral supervisor, to submit a request to the Rector for admission with extended doctoral studies.

If doctoral students were admitted subject to completion of extended doctoral studies (see Art. 34 of the Ordinance), the curriculum agreed upon must be integrated into the doctoral plan.

Extended doctoral studies must be completed by the date of registration for the doctoral examination.

ETH Zurich Ordinance on the Doctorate: Art. 28, Second advisor and further advisors

1 In consultation with the doctoral student, the doctoral thesis supervisor must designate an academically qualified person who, as a second advisor, will also assist the doctoral student academically. This person must be appointed by the time the doctoral plan is submitted at the latest. 2 During the entire doctorate period doctoral students have the right to request a further advisor who will provide academic or non-academic assistance.

D-BAUG Detailed Stipulations, Art. 7:

Second advisor
The following persons may act as second advisors:
a. University professors
b. Senior Scientists
c. Persons who are scientifically qualified in the respective field (with the exception of
post-docs)
d. Proven experts in the respective field (e.g., from industry)

Please note: The 2nd Advisor needs to be communicated directly to the , as indicated on the respective Downloadform (PDF, 440 KB) to be used for this request.

Aptitude colloquium

ETH Zurich Ordinance on the Doctorate

Excerpt: Art. 12 Aptitude colloquium: Deadline
All candidates must undergo the scrutiny of an aptitude colloquium within twelve months of provisional admission.

Art. 13 Aptitude colloquium: Tasks of the aptitude committee

The aptitude committee, within the framework of the aptitude colloquium, has the following duties:

a. Focusing on the research objective described in the doctoral plan, it considers the suitability of the candidate for conducting a research project independently and authoring a doctoral thesis.

b. It evaluates the investigation of the applicant as “passed” or “failed” and provides the result to the doctoral committee in writing, together with any additional comments on the research objective.

c. It gives its opinion on the further points in the doctoral plan (see previous chapter/tab) as listed in Art. 11, Para. 1 (b–d) and may provide recommendations. The opinion is also set out in writing but has no influence on the overall assessment mentioned in (b) above.

Composition of Aptitude Committee:  Ordinance, Art. 16
1 The aptitude committee is composed of the following persons:
a. A member of the doctoral committee or someone named by the doctoral committee as chairperson; this person must be a member of the Professors’ Conference of an ETH Zurich department.
b.The doctoral thesis supervisor
c.The second advisor

2 The doctoral committee may add further persons to the aptitude committee in individual cases or in general. These persons are entitled to participate in the examination.

In addition to Art. 16, 2, Ordinance, please observe D-BAUG Detailed Stipulations, Art. 6:

The aptitude committee is composed of the following persons:
a. A member of the doctoral committee or someone named by the doctoral committee as
chairperson; this person must be a member of the D-BAUG Professors’ Conference.
b. The doctoral thesis supervisor and the second advisor (see Section 3, Art. 7 “Second
advisor”)
c. An independent additional member. This additional member must be a university
professor working outside ETH Zurich who is not a co-author involved in the doctoral
thesis project and is not a participant in the doctoral project

What if a doctoral student fails?
Art. 14, 2: Ordinance: An examination which concluded with a “failed” result may be repeated once, provided that the doctoral thesis supervisor agrees. The doctoral thesis supervisor may only refuse a repetition if the aptitude committee unanimously assessed the first attempt as “failed”. Any repetition must take place within three months of the first definitive result.

What happens last?
The Doctoral Administration D-BAUG passes on the result to the Academic Services, where the definitive admission is then issued and confirmed to the doctoral student. (Excerpt of 4.2., Implementation Provisions)

DownloadFolder on Aptitude Colloquium (AC) for Chairperson (PDF, 914 KB)

With the 2022 ETH Zurich Ordinance on the Doctorate, the timing for the nomination of co-examiners is now at the Department's discretion.
At D-BAUG, we now would like our doctoral students to have all their co-examiners nominated all at once, around 8-9 months before the doctoral examination.

Reason: By then, it should be clear on who is (still) independent or who would need to come on board as the (2!) independent and external experts (effective 01.01.24, see hereunder).  

Legal basis, with primary focus on:

ETH Zurich Implementation Provisions, 11.3
D-BAUG Detailed Stipulations, Art. 11

Effective 01.01.2024, the examination committee therefore comprises the following minimum number of experts listed hereunder.

  • chairperson
  • doctoral thesis supervisor as examiner
  • two independent and external co-examiners, i.e. outside the ETH Domain and without any co-authorship or involvement in the project of the doctoral student

As of new, there is a template for co-examiner requests. -- Other formats are no longer accepted.

Remunteration of external co-examiners: "Implementation Provisions", 11.3 d
"External co-examiners who participate in the examination committee, and possibly attend the doctoral examination, receive a lump sum from the doctoral thesis supervisor for their efforts. The details are set out in the "DownloadDirective on Remuneration (PDF, 82 KB) for Assisting at Performance Assessments" (in German), Art. 5, section 2: 400 Francs.

Detailed information on cumulative theses is provided on the Student portal Doctoral Thesis.

Additionally, D-BAUG has a separate document DownloadCumulative Thesis: Overview and Structure (PDF, 468 KB).

We refer you to the information for internal use – Downloadreports for supervisors and co-supervisors (PDF, 38 KB) – provided by the central Doctoral Administration of the Academic Services.

Additionally, these are supplemented by DownloadD-BAUG specific elements (PDF, 62 KB), serving as an additional guideline towards quality.

The last moment when it still makes sense to change the title of a thesis is at the doctoral examination. In the event that this is the case, please immediately inform the Doctoral Administration D-BAUG accordingly, so changes can be made in the central database.

After approval by the Department Conference, title and content of a thesis can no longer be changed.

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