Education programme for UT PhD candidates

The PhD programme is a nominal 4-year programme. The programme consists of writing a dissertation and completing 30 ECs in doctoral education.

The doctoral education programme at the University of Twente enables candidates to develop basic and advanced research skills, acquire disciplinary knowledge and transition effectively into their future careers. The programme, described in detail in the Doctoral Education Guidelines, applies to all PhD candidates regardless of their PhD category. It requires a minimum of 30 European Credits (ECs) that must be documented in the Training and Supervision Plan (T&SP). Both courses and hands-on learning activities count towards ECs:

• 7 ECs are allocated to mandatory generic courses (academic integrity, academic publishing, academic presentations, data management and scientific information)
• 23 EC educational programmes are tailored to the PhD candidate’s needs in consultation with the promotor.

The programme offers flexibility in multiple ways. For example, the programme can consist of courses and hands-on activities. Also, there are self-paced options available for all mandatory courses.

Doctoral Education Guidelines

The Doctoral Education Guidelines describe the 30 EC doctoral education programme in detail. Please read them carefully. The educational guidelines are regularly updated based on feedback from course evaluations and consultations with PhD candidates and supervisors. The current guidelines consist of:

• Two course modality options for all mandatory courses (except Data Management) that allow for discipline-specific teaching and assessment (i.e. ‘Option A and Option B’, see the forms for option B in the Download section for more information, and the Course section about generic courses below),
• Flexible, self-paced online learning via the educational platform of Nature Journal’s Masterclasses,
• Post-master disciplinary learning opportunities through, e.g. Capita Selectas (i.e. supervised self-study) and master courses with an ‘upgrade’ assignment (see the Disciplinary master courses in the Course list) for more information),
• Clear exemption procedure requirements for acknowledging prior achieved competencies and,
• A checklist to ensure a seamless portfolio approval process after completing all training activities described in the Training and Supervision Plan (T&SP).

Training and Supervision Plan (T&SP)

The Training and Supervision Plan (T&SP) specifies the roles of the supervisors, who may be appointed as promotor(s) and co-promotor(s) after the qualifier, the amount and format of personal supervision (e.g., frequency and mode of meetings) the PhD candidate is entitled to, and any involvement in teaching or student supervision. It also lists the PhD candidate's individual 30 EC doctoral education programme with the courses or alternative ways to acquire the necessary competencies. Amendments to the T&SP are allowed. The T&SP must be submitted within three months after the start of the programme; timely submission ensures that the candidate gets feedback and, if necessary, can act on it.

For each completed doctoral education activity, the PhD candidate must upload completion evidence as required by the Doctoral Education Guidelines. The activity details provided by the candidates serve as input for the TGS Certificate, which is analogous to a transcript of records. The information provided must be accurate for auditing purposes and because some PhD candidates need to submit the TGS Certificate to the national diploma validation body when they return to their home country.

Courses

Generic courses

Below is a list of the UT mandatory and selected UT-provided elective courses, including links for registration. This list includes links to recommended Nature Journal’s Masterclasses as well as Coursera courses. The Nature Masterclasses are designed for a general audience of early career researchers, are not discipline-specific, and are open to all PhD candidates.

For the mandatory courses (except Data Management), there are two modalities:

• Option A: the PhD candidate enrols in the mandatory course through the Coursefinder and completes the course with the expert trainer or,
• Option B: the PhD candidate engages in self-study (via Canvas or the Nature Masterclasses, depending on the course) and then applies the knowledge in practice/training within the research group under the supervision of the promotor or the co-promotor. The (co-)promotor assesses whether the learning objectives have been met and records this in the applicable 'Option B' (Co)promotor assessment forms. 

For the Nature Masterclasses, the institutional login option and UT credentials are required to login. The Nature Masterclasses issues course certificates for every completed course. The UT Coursefinder platform lists additional courses which might be relevant. PhDs can follow most of them and claim ECs, too.

List of all generic courses:

Disciplinary master courses

The Doctoral Education Guidelines allow to follow UT master's courses if no post-master level disciplinary courses are available. 

Downloads

Additional resources