Description

Contents

Doctoral Supervisor

During the admission process, the doctoral candidate proposes a doctoral supervisor.
When the doctoral candidate is admitted, an educational agreement is concluded, which is signed by the doctoral candidate, the doctoral supervisor and the governing body responsible for study law.

The doctoral supervisor confirms by her/his signature that on the basis of her/his
expertise in the subject the scope of the dissertation proposal can be finished in the time provided. The doctoral candidate agrees by her/his signature to observe the guidelines of Graz University of Technology on the assurance of good scientific practice.

One of the tasks of the doctoral supervisor is to guide the doctoral candidate to
independent scientific work. This also includes encouraging independent scientific
publication.

The doctoral candidate and the doctoral supervisor have to discuss how the work on the dissertation is proceeding at regular intervals. Either party can ask to meet in person.
The doctoral candidate writes the doctoral supervisor a report every year on the progress of the dissertation. The doctoral supervisor also comments on this in writing.
The report and comments are to be made available to the members of the doctoral school who have the teaching qualification.

If the dissertation has not been submitted 5 years after admission to the doctoral
program, reasons for this have to be given in the respective report and comments.

If serious reasons exist, the doctoral supervisor is entitled to address an application to the governing body responsible for study law to resign as supervisor. An explanatory statement is to be enclosed with this, which is to be made public in the doctoral school.

In the case of irreconcilable differences of opinion between the doctoral candidate and the doctoral supervisor on the dissertation, both parties are entitled to appeal to the governing body responsible for study law as an arbitration board.

A justified change of doctoral supervisor is possible up until the dissertation is submitted. The approval of the governing body responsible for study law is required for this.

Curricular Part

The basic extent of the curricular part is 14 hours a week (SWS), which is broken down according to the following paragraphs 2 to 4. The statutes of a particular doctoral school may also require a larger scope to the curricular part in well-founded cases.

Subject-specific basic subjects

Every doctoral school is to specify postgraduate courses on a high level. They broaden the doctoral candidates´ knowledge of their own field and the specific topic of their dissertation and bring them up to the current state of research in additional fields.

* A subject catalog is to be established by each doctoral school. The governing body responsible for study law is responsible for the appointment of this, in consultation with the team of coordinators of the doctoral school.
* The fundamental topics of these courses should be established to a large extent, and they should be offered at least every two years. The institute of the doctoral school is to take turns in the designing of these courses.
* A preview of the courses of the doctoral program for each of the next two academic years is to be made public in good time.
* Every doctoral candidate primarily selects the subject-specific fundamental subjects from the catalog of her/his doctoral school.

Courses from another subject area or another university can be chosen upon application to the governing body responsible for study law and after consulting her/his doctoral supervisor. This is to be made apparent in the doctoral school.

Scientific methods and communication

* "Scientific work" (2 SWS), compulsory starting in the first academic year, semester or year course, which is offered every year per doctoral school. The content of the course is the review, or the teaching and discussion as the case may be, of fundamental methods and conventions of research in the respective subject area. It is recommended to incorporate qualified lectures on the history and theory of science of the respective subject area in these courses.
* "Doctoral candidate seminar" (2 x 1 SWS), compulsory starting in the second
academic year, is offered as a year course in every doctoral school. Professors of the doctoral school take turns leading this seminar, and all the doctoral candidates take part and give lectures in it. All the members of the doctoral school are called upon to take part in it as the audience. The purpose of the seminar is to help the doctoral candidates to improve on their public speaking and communication skills, and the presentation of their field of work. Attendance is mandatory.
* Up to 2 SWS of what are known as "soft skill courses" (presentation skills, rhetoric etc.) can be selected from the available catalogs of the different fields of study, provided that they have not already been taken in a previous study program.

Research seminar (2 SWS) compulsory during the course of the doctoral program, is
usually offered by the doctoral supervisor of the doctoral candidate.

The courses are graded, with the exception of the doctoral candidate seminar in which proof of successful participation is sufficient.

The courses of the curricular part are combined into an examination subject. An
examination subject is successfully completed if all of the course examinations that count towards the examination subject have been successfully completed. The positive mark of an examination subject is determined by the average of the individual marks of the course examinations weighted by the number of SWS of the courses. If the value after the decimal point is greater than 0.5, then it should be rounded up to the next whole number, and if not, then it should be rounded down.

Requirements

Admission to the doctoral programme is effected by the Rector and presupposes not only the general prerequisites but also the university studies law section of the statutes of TU Graz:

* The completion of a relevant engineering or natural sciences diploma or master´s degree at a university, or
* the completion of a different degree course at a recognised Austrian or foreign post-secondary educational establishment which is equivalent to the above-mentioned studies, or
* the completion of a degree course at a recognised Austrian or foreign post-secondary educational establishment together with supplementary curricular requirements.
* In the case that a submitted degree certificate does not fulfil the condition of "equivalence" under item 1 or item 2, admission to the doctoral programme can be combined with an obligation to complete specific or additional courses. Their amount and contents is laid down by the body responsible for studies law in agreement with the co-ordinators of the doctoral school in question.

In the case of admission according to items 1 or 2, the doctoral programme consists of one section of studies lasting three years (regular duration of studies).

In the case of admission according to item 3, the doctoral programme is extended by up to two semesters. In the case that the doctoral student completes the doctoral programme in a time shorter than the regular duration of studies, the body responsible for studies law must give his/ her permission.