What it is

The Research Doctorate (PhD) course represents a higher level of university training and may be undertaken after a specialist/master's (first-level) degree. It lasts three years and admission is by a public selection procedure effected on the basis of qualifications and examination. Admission is restricted to a limited number of participants. A Research Doctorate is awarded.

The curriculum
In order to be admitted to a doctoral course, the student must be in possession of a specialized/master's (first-level) degree or a foreign educational qualification recognized for this purpose. The doctoral qualification is awarded upon completion of a three-year curriculum of study and research, aimed at training, research and the acquisition of further research methods in a specific sector; it is concluded with the preparation of a final (doctoral) thesis. Every university regulates the setting up of doctoral courses with its own set of rules, together with the criteria for admission and the awarding of the final qualification, the educational goals, syllabus, duration, and how and how often the title may be awarded. The doctoral courses may be initiated jointly with other university locations. Conventions may also be stipulated with public and/or private bodies for the funding of additional doctoral grants.

Where it leads
The aim of the doctoral course is to prepare for scientific research and to provide the knowledge and skills of a scientific nature required in the context of a university career or in centres of advanced research, public or private.

• Public law, comparative and international (four programmes):

1. EU Environmental Governance
2. Economic Public Law
3. International Conventions and Human Rights
4. Theory of the State and Comparative Political Institutions

• Political studies (PhD School Mediatrends. History, Politics and Society) (two programmes):

1. History of Political Doctrines and Institutions
2. Theory of Socio-cultural Processes, Political and International Cooperation

NOTE

• As from academic year 2017/18 the European History PhD is run by the Department of History, Anthropology, Religions, Art, Spectacle