Guide for First Year Doctoral Students

Guide for First Year Doctoral Students

Guide for first-year doctoral students

Dear First Year Student,

Welcome to the ELTE PPK Doctoral School of Education! You will find comprehensive information on the training structure, academic progress, and administrative tasks below.

Doctoral students can contact the following offices with questions

  • Educational Management Office: in academic affairs and  in connection with the procedure of obtaining a doctoral degree
  • International Office: about mobility of students, regarding Stipendium Hungaricum scholarship
  • the staff of the Secretariat of the Doctoral Schools in other matters

Contact information: https://www.ppk.elte.hu/en/eduscience/administration

The link above also contains a detailed description of which office can help you in which cases.


Regulations

In relation to doctoral training within the University, it is worthwhile to read the following regulations:

  • Doctoral Regulations,
  • and its Annex 6/4: Doctoral Regulations of the Faculty of Education and Psychology
  • For further information about the functioning of the NDI, please read Educational Operational Regulations

Please note the year in which you started your studies (before 2016 or in 2016 or after 2016).

The regulations are available here.


Structure of training

During the entire training, the student must complete 252 credits, of which are

  • 84 course credits
  • 112 research credits
  • 44 education credits
  • 12 credits available for preparing for the complex exam.

The training can be divided into two phases, separated by the complex exam.

  1. Training and research phase: the student must complete 84 course credits and min. 24 research credits to be able to take the complex exam. By passing the complex exam, the student can enter the second phase of the training.
  2. Research and dissertation phase: it is necessary to complete the remaining research and teaching credits until graduation.

The students must complete the training in a maximum of eight active semesters and submit their dissertation within three years of the complex exam (you can find more detailed information on this under the menu item For First Year Students --> Obtainment Procedure).


Completion of courses

All students must complete three modules (subject groups). The student can find out about the modules to be completed in their admission decision.

The Theoretical and Research Methodology modules are compulsory for all students at the Doctoral School of Education. The third module is the student’s program module.

To complete the modules, the student must complete three subjects from each module and one optional subject, so a total of min. 12 courses. In addition to the three compulsory module subjects, all subjects from the modules prescribed for the student and, in addition, any other subject of the Doctoral School of Education and Psychology is considered freely optional.

IMPORTANT! Only subjects included in the student’s curriculum are considered mandatory subjects for the student! The current curriculum is here: https://www.ppk.elte.hu/en/eduscience/curriculum-and-system-of-credits under: Curriculum of the Doctoral School of Education Sciences


The complex exam

The aim of the complex exam is to assess the theoretical preparedness and the scientific progress of the candidate.

Detailed information about the process and topics of the complex exam is available on the website: https://www.ppk.elte.hu/en/eduscience/complex-exam


Completion of research and teaching credits

The guidance of the Doctoral School of Education on the settlement of research and teaching credits is available on the website: https://www.ppk.elte.hu/dstore/document/1044/NDI_creditsheet_2022.pdf

The student reports on his research and teaching activities by submitting the credit application form. Students submit the credit application form via Neptun as a request.

The students must submit the credit application form once at the end of the semester: about the activities carried out. The doctoral school administration recommends that students consult with their supervisors at the beginning of the semester to plan and schedule the activities to be completed during the semester. These activities will be recognized upon submission of the credit application form at the end of the semester.

The Registrar’s Office records the credits completed by the student in Neptun based on the credit application form.

Submitting the credit application form ALWAYS requires the supervisor’s approval (if there is one, the co-supervisor) and the program leader’s! Without it, the credit application form is not acceptable.

The credit application form is also not acceptable at the end of the semester if the “to be completed at the end of the semester” column is not filled in!

The Registrar’s Office publishes information about the deadline for submitting the credit application form and other rules on the faculty website in the form of news every semester before the submissions: https://www.ppk.elte.hu/en/student_administration

IMPORTANT: If the student has an active student status for the semester but he/she fails to submit the credit application form before the deadline set by the Doctoral School, or the submission is incomplete and sent without the obligatory approvals, the student must pay a late fee for missing an administrative deadline.

If the Doctoral School finds the credit application form incorrect or incomplete, it will be returned to Neptun for correction.


Workshop

Every doctoral program holds workshops for its students every semester. Participation in the workshops is strongly recommended. For participation, the student can claim research credit instead of course credit if he/she indicates this on his/her credit application form. Three credits per semester can be registered for the workshop.

The dates and locations of the workshops will be published on the website under the Students --> Courses.


Training plan

The training plan aims for the student to prepare for the first four semesters, i.e. the training and research phase plan your studies. (Since it is a plan, it is possible to deviate from it in later semesters.)

All first-year students must submit the study plan to the Secretariat of the Doctoral Schools at the e-mail address ndi@ppk.elte.hu by the last day of the academic training period, with the approval of the supervisor and the program manager.

The list of courses planned to be announced by the doctoral programmes in the next two academic years is available on the website of the doctoral school. The document is available under the menu Courses.

A template for the Training Plan is available under the Documents menu item.


Progress report

According to the NDI Operating Regulations, based on Section 19 of the PPK KDSZ (which stands for Kari Doktori Szabályzat, meaning it is the Faculty’s Regulation on its Doctoral Schools and students), students must report on the progress of their doctoral research every semester:

  • on the completion of the training plan in the first, second and third semesters,
  • on completing the research plan in each semester starting from the fifth semester.

Therefore, students in their fourth active semester and taking a complex exam do not have to submit a progress report.

To write the progress report, the activities on the credit application form, the training plan, or the research plan can be helpful.

The report format can be a PowerPoint or a 2-3 page Word document.

The students must send the document to the supervisor and the program leader and a copy to the Secretariat at the e-mail address ndi@ppk.elte.hu.


Grants, other faculty assistance programs

Assistance for professional trips and conference participation: Applications may be submitted continuously and are evaluated every 2-3 months. Further information here.

Tenders, grants announced by ELTE can be found here.

For assistance for publication costs, apply at palyazat@ppk.elte.hu.

Proof reading, editing services: The faculty has phased out this form of support, for more information, please click here: Support of English language revision of publications (elte.hu)

Cost of Open Access publications in case of journals rated Q1, maybe Q2 with an impact factor (so called predator journals are not supported, these periodicals and publishers are to be avoided). The evaluation is continuous depending on available funds.


Mailing list

In addition to its website, the doctoral school maintains contact with students through a mailing list.

The Doctoral School offers a subscription to the mailing list to all first-year students. Signing up is strongly recommended because although many invitations are also available on the website, students can quickly find out about information, deadlines, etc., without searching through the mailing list.

If you have not yet signed up and would like to do so or would like to unsubscribe, please notify the Secretariat of the Doctoral Schools of your intention to the e-mail address ndi@ppk.elte.hu.