General
At the HTDI Doctoral School of the University of Debrecen, within the Psychology Program, the PhD degree is obtained in accordance with the doctoral regulations of the University of Debrecen. In general, the following applies:
At least 240 credits must be obtained during the entire PhD program, which consists of study, research, teaching, publication, etc. activities. Students register for courses in the Neptun system after consulting their supervisor.
Every semester, students prepare a report on their activities during the semester, which ultimately aims at obtaining a degree. These reports are sent to the institute's administrative expert managing PhD cases with the signature of their supervisors, as well as a course completion sheet printed from Neptun, on which the completed courses are listed with the Neptun code, credit value, instructor signature and grade.
The period leading up to the complex exam is called the
“Study and research” phase (the first four semesters). The complex exam is an exam to be taken during the doctoral training, in the fourth semester, as the conclusion of the training-research phase and as a condition for starting the research and dissertation phase, which measures and evaluates the student's progress in the field of study and research.
In order for someone to be able to apply for the complex exam during the 4th semester, which is at the end of the 4th semester, they must have collected at least 90 credits in the previous 3 semesters. These include both training (study) credits and research credits. A total of…. of training credits is required, of which 4 credits can come from courses advertised by partner programs and available to students of the psychology program, but such partner program courses are not mandatory. According to the regulations of the University of Debrecen, before the complex exam, all training credits that the doctoral student is required to take by the given doctoral school (e.g. mandatory courses) must also be completed. One such course is the research methodology course. In the psychology doctoral program, we admit students to the complex exam who have a publication related to their dissertation, which was written during the training period. Based on individual consideration a student can take the complex exam without fulfilling this requirement.
The complex exam
You must apply for the complex exam by filling out the application form, Application deadline: March 31st. Before the complex exam, the supervisor evaluates the doctoral student's performance and states whether he/she recommends starting the complex exam procedure.
The complex exam consists of two main parts: in one part, the candidate's theoretical preparation is assessed ("theoretical part"), while in the other part, the candidate must report on his/her progress in the research field ("dissertation part").
In the theoretical part of the complex exam, the candidate must take an exam in two subjects/topics. There are main subjects and minor subjects. Students must select their main and minor subjects in advance, and apply for the complex exam by indicating these. Consult your supervisor about which exam subject to take. The literature for the exam is determined by mutual agreement between the candidate and the examination board at least 2 months before the exam.
In the dissertation part of the complex exam, the candidate must give a presentation (supported by a power point presentation) on their knowledge of the relevant literature, report on their research results, present their research plan for the second part of the doctoral program, and the proposed schedule for completing the dissertation and publishing the results.
The doctoral student may repeat the failed complex exam once. Repeated exams must be held in the same exam period, until August 31 in the 2nd semester.
From the complex exam to getting “Absolutorium”
A doctoral student may only enrol in the fifth semester of the doctoral program after successfully completing the complex exam and obtaining a total of 120 credits at the end of the 4th semester. The remaining credits after the complex exam are to be obtained after the complex exam. These typically consist of the following: research and dissertation activity credits, publication, teaching or conference credits.
Students are recommended to participate in the annual PhD conference from the 5th to the 7th semester with a presentation.
The so-called “Absolutorium” (the final academic recognition) is awarded to the doctoral student if he/she has passed the complex exam and has completed at least 240 credits. There is one compulsory subject in the research and dissertation phase, the Dissertation Chapter Defense.
Dissertation defense
The doctoral student must submit the final version of the doctoral dissertation (revised after the preliminary defense) within three years of the complex exam. In justified cases, a one-year postponement may be requested.
The condition for submitting the (final) doctoral dissertation submitted for public defense is obtaining the absolutórium and also the preliminary (home) defense. For the home defense, we usually ask the opponents of the final defense to review it. This means that before the home defense, we have the defense committee voted on by the BDT (Doctoral Council of the Humanities, a faculty-level body).
Before the home defense the head of the doctoral program declares that the doctoral student has fulfilled the publication requirements (5 peer-reviewed publications, one of which may be in an edited volume, the others in peer-reviewed journals, details under the publication requirements tab). Before the preliminary defense, the National Library of the University of Debrecen checks the textual overlaps. The plagiarism check is initiated by the institute's PhD expert. After the analysis, students must provide a written statement about the background of the overlaps.
Based on the feedback received at the home defense, the candidate revises the dissertation submitted for the home defense, which is then subjected to another plagiarism check before being submitted for the public defense.
Along with the final thesis, the candidate also prepares a thesis booklet (in English and Hungarian) and submits an abstract in English and Hungarian to the BDT secretary (Dr. Ákos Szendrei).
The opponents are given 2 months for the review. The reviews must be answered in writing, and after the answers have been sent to the secretariat, the defense can be organized. The supervisor helps in organizing the defense, in terms of inviting committee members and arranging the time. The defense must be announced 1 month before the defense, and the announcement on the official platforms is handled by the BDT secretariat.