Education programme for UT PhD candidates

All mandatory courses consist of two parts. The first part covers the essential principles and concepts. This first part is delivered live or through online courses such as the Nature Masterclasses on publishing or presentations. In the second part, candidates can choose between two modalities to apply and demonstrate their knowledge:

• A) Apply and demonstrate their knowledge through, e.g. an assignment assessed by the course lecturer.
• B) Apply and demonstrate their knowledge under the supervision of the (co)promotor within the research group. For example, as part of the Academic Integrity course, candidates might play the Erasmus University Integrity Dilemma Game with their group under the supervision of the (co)promotor. The (co)promotor will then assess whether the intended learning outcomes are met and document the confirmation in the PhD monitoring system.

The details of Option A) and Option B) for each mandatory course and the assessment forms are available in the download section below. PhD candidates who wish to choose option B) should ask their (co-)promotor whether their research group can offer this option. If so, the supervising (co)promotor will determine the specific tasks needed to apply and demonstrate the required knowledge and skills. Upon completion, the (co)promotor will use the applicable option b) form to assess whether the learning goals were met. 

Exemptions based on prior (before starting the PhD) acquired competencies are possible for the following mandatory courses:

• Presentations skills,
• Academic publishing, and
• Scientific information. 

Email the applicable evidence (list of publications, course certificates, transcript of records or list of conference presentations) to exemptions-tgs@utwente.nl

(courses can also be followed elsewhere too)

Exemptions based on prior (before starting the PhD) acquired competencies are possible for the Taste of Teaching course.  Email the applicable evidence (course certificate, diploma or statement) to exemptions-tgs@utwente.nl.  

• 5 ECs in master courses for broadening purposes (i.e. when the PhD candidate has no prior background in the subject and needs to build the knowledge from ‘scratch’), and/or
• An unlimited amount of ECs in master courses, provided these courses are ‘upgraded’ to post-master level with an upgrade assignment, but only if the lecturer agrees to the requests to provide and assess an upgrade assignment.

Master courses are listed in the Osiris platform, where the search engine can be used to access course descriptions. However, PhD candidates who wish to take a master course need to contact the course coordinator to request permission to take the course and be given access to the learning environment i.e. Canvas.

If the master course needs to be ‘upgraded’ to post-master level, the PhD candidate should ask the course coordinator whether they agree to provide a post-master level final assignment. The coordinator should also issue an (email) statement that lists the learning goals of the upgrade assignment, explains why it qualifies as post-master level and confirms that the master course including the upgrade assignment was successfully completed.

• The Writing Centre can help you identify a suitable writing style based on aspects such as document type (e.g. PhD manuscript, journal/conference/magazine article, grant proposal, project deliverable) and target audience. Please contact Dr. ir. Aline Valster at a.h.valster@utwente.nl for more information. Note: this is not a correction service.
• The Methodology Shop offers free advice on research methodology and statistical analysis.
• The mentoring programme offers you the opportunity to reflect on your career in sessions with a senior staff member for 1 year. 
• Information on research methodology by Sage is available here.
• Eligibility to follow courses from the 4TU Federation Universities (see the courses section above)
• MyCareer: development options offered by the UT Human Resources department
• Besides the Data Management Bootcamp, which is a mandatory PhD course, there are several extra research data management courses and activities listed on this page.

• Online resources to help you through your PhD track (incl. stress-related resources)
• What to do with problems affecting your PhD research and/or personal effectiveness
• A beginner's guide to Dutch Academia (a guide for foreign researchers who would like to work in the Netherlands) 

The 4TU universities (TU Delft, TU/e in Eindhoven, WUR in Wageningen and the University of Twente) have opened up their Doctoral Education training programmes to each other’s doctoral candidates (pilot). You can also enrol in their Doctoral Education courses. 

All partner universities have excellent Doctoral Education training programmes:

• TUDelft: The general overview of the TUDelft programme on transferable skills can be found here. (For the list of courses of TUDelft, please email: graduateschool@tudelft.nl).
• TUe: For the list of courses of TUe, please email hrm.ld-support@tue.nl.
• WUR: The WUR programme can be found here.

Please take travel time into account when signing up for courses. No additional fees will be charged for courses you may take within the 4TU consortium.