PhD Degree Studies – Information for Current PhD Students
PhD Dissertation and Defense
Degree Awarded
Tuition Fees and Scholarships
Rules and Organization of PhD Studies
PhD Individual Study Plan and Progress Review
PhD Study Agreement
Doctoral Allowance
Applying for a Doctoral Degree
A complete doctoral programme lasts for 4 years and requires a volume of 160 national credits, equivalent to 240 ECTS. The requirements include the completion of a dissertation and its defense.
The dissertation is defined as a scientific research paper with original outstanding results, which have been published in respected journals, and articles of which the candidate is the leading author.
The dissertation may consist of a bound cycle of publications, a published monograph or, as an exception, an outstanding textbook for high school or university students.
The Doctorate Boards will make a decision as to whether the dissertation corresponds to the university's requirements and will appoint two opponents. For detailed information on requirements of doctoral thesis please check Statutes of Research Degrees
After a successful defense, the candidate will be awarded a Doctor's Degree of Philosophy (PhD). The procedure for publishing theses ofresearch degreesare descibed in the documentnamed Procedure fo Publishing Theses
There are no tuition fees for PhD students, including international PhD students. In addition, scholarships have been established for students of some fields. For more information on scholarships, please see PhD scholarships
Regulations and Organization of PhD Studies
The rules that govern the organisation of doctoral studies at UT are set out in the Study Regulations
PhD Individual Study Plan
By September 30thof the first academic year of studies, a doctoral student and his/ her supervisor should draw up an individual study plan covering the entire period of one's PhDstudies. Second, third and fourth year students should, together with their supervisor(s), draw up a detailed study and research plan for the beginning ofthat acadmicyear. The student should upload his/ her individual study plan and all relatedannexes to theelectronicsystem - Study Information System, and take a paper copy to their institute or faculty.
PhD Student`s Individual Study Plan
AllPhDstudents are required to sign aPhDstudy agreement and the agreement must be entered into within four weeks from the beginning of studies (for those enroled from September, the agreement must be ready by the end of September). The agreeementmust be executed by the Dean of the respective faculty, the PhD student and his or her supervisor(s). The agreement must be executed in as many copies as there are parties to the agreement. Each party will keep one copy of the agreement.
The agreement will be registered and kept at the Dean's officeof the faculty. When completing the agreement, please make sure that all fields are filled out. In the case of a field with several options, please keep the one that applies and delete the rest.
Clauses 5.2. and 5.3. should only be filled out if the relevant funding has been obtained. If the doctoral student’s research topic will not be funded from research allocations (targeted funding, grants, international R&D agreements, etc.) or other allocations emanating from outside the university, the clauses should be deleted.
After completion of the first study year, each PhD student must submit the following attestation review to the relevant commission.
PhD Student's Attestation Review
Doctoral students whose studies are funded by the Estonian government are entitled to request a doctoral student allowance. This does not apply to the students of DoRa programme, where allowance is granted automatically.
The doctoral allowance can be sought by doctoral students who are citizens of the Republic of Estonia or who reside in Estonia on the basis of a residence right or a permanent or temporary residence permit, study on a state-funded study place and are full time students.
The amount of the doctoral allowance is approximately 6000 kroons, 384 EUR, per month.
The request should be made for the entire standard period of studies and does not need to be repeated in the following years. The requestmust and can only be made in the Study Information System in the established format during the period from 1 September to 30 September.
Applying for a Doctoral Degree
Applying for a Doctoral degree.pdf