CREDITS

We draw the students' attention to the fact that during the doctoral training, doctoral schools evaluate the academic performance of doctoral students in a credit system. According to paragraph (6) of Rules and Regulations of the Doctoral School, "the doctoral student is obliged to complete [minimum] 240 credit points during the training, which consists of study, research, dissertation and teaching elements". According to point 4.1 of the ÁJDI Training Plan "a total of 240 credit points is required to obtain the absolutorium (final certificate)". The schedule of acquisition of credit points is also of high importance. According to point 2.3. of the Training plan, a doctoral student participating in an organized training may be admitted to the doctoral complex examination on his/her request, if he/she has acquired 132 credit points obtainable in the training and research phase. (In a situation requiring special leniency, 20% of the 132 credit points may also be completed in the research and dissertation phase.) The description of credit points is included in the "Progress and measurement of professional performance of doctoral school students " section of the Training Plan.

THE COMPLEX EXAM

According to the established practice elements of the complex exam:

1. 1. presentation on scientific and knowledge theories, and research methodological knowledge (theoretical part/1)
   2. theoretical part adjusted to the research topic, related to the special subjects of the PhD student
   3. written essay of the PhD student related to his/her main research topic or its part that can be assessed independently, and its discussion. The minimum expected length of the essay: at least 2 but maximum 3 author’s sheet (from 80 000 to 120 000 characters) (dissertational part/1).
   4. the student’s description of the draft, guiding principles, and methodology of his/her research topic as a whole, which is evaluated by the examination board (dissertational part/2).

The complex exam:

• is taken in front of a three-member committee, at least one member of which is not in a legal relationship aimed at employment with István Széchenyi University. The chairman of the examination board is a university professor or an educator or researcher with the title of Professor Emeritus or MTA Doctorate. All members of the examination committee possess academic degrees. The examiner's supervisor (who may be present at the exam) cannot be a member of the examination board.

• the results of the exam will be announced by the committee on the day of the exam. The complex exam is considered successful if the majority of the committee members consider both examination parts as successful. In case of an unsuccessful theoretical part of the exam, the candidate can repeat the exam one more time in the given exam period from the failed subject(s). The dissertation part of the exam cannot be repeated in case of failure.

• the Doctoral School organizes these exams during the regular May-June exam period or immediately afterwards.

• is public (any regular member of the Doctoral School, lecturers and students, as well as the candidate's supervisor can participate).

• its place and date - after consultation with the members of the committee - is designated by the chairman of the examination committee. The secretary of the doctoral school informs the student about the place and date of the complex exam at least thirty days beforehand. In exceptionally justified cases, the doctoral complex exam may take place outside the official premises of Széchenyi István University.

• as a whole, it must prove the doctoral student's research aptitude, as well as the results already achieved.

ABSOLUTORIUM

The absolutorium (appr. final certificate) also certifies that the student has fulfilled his/her academic obligations, but his/her training has not yet been completed, as there are still certain exams to be passed and/or certain procedures to be conducted; typically, in the case of doctoral training, the process of conferring doctoral degree initiated, as part of which the student defends his/her dissertation.

The absolutorium is issued by the Scientific Doctoral Council (see here); and its issue has to be applied for.

The sample of the application for the issue of the absolutorium may be downloaded by clicking here.

RULES AND REGULATIONS

  Dissertation requirements

(1) The doctoral dissertation is a summary work presenting the objectives and new scientific results of the research (description of the professional work, knowledge of the literature, research or creative methods), which may be written in Hungarian or in a foreign language approved by the DC. The doctoral dissertation proves that the author is capable of independently solving a scientific task that meets the requirements of the doctoral degree. It is not possible to prepare a dissertation in co-authorship. At the time of submission, the author must declare that the dissertation is his/her own work.

(2) The name of the author, the title of the doctoral dissertation, the name of the doctoral school, the title of the doctoral topic, the name of the doctoral supervisor, as well as the place and date of preparation must be indicated on the title page of the doctoral dissertation. The doctoral dissertation consists of the doctoral supervisor's recommendation of no more than three pages, the table of contents, a summary of the dissertation in Hungarian and English of no more than two pages each, and a list of the bibliography. An annex and an appendix may be attached to the doctoral dissertation.

(3) The length of the doctoral dissertation is a minimum of 12, a maximum of 20 author’s sheets (480,000 - 600,000 n), the maximum number of characters can be deviated from with the permission of the DC in justified cases. It is not possible to deviate from the minimum length of 12 author’s sheet.

(4) When submitting the doctoral dissertation, the doctoral candidate declares in writing that he/she has not previously submitted the dissertation at another institution and that it has not been rejected.

(5) The doctoral dissertation must be submitted to the secretary of the doctoral school in three bound copies for the public debate. Along with the three bound copies, as many additional copies must be submitted which are sufficient for the dissertation to be published in the faculty library and sent to all members of the defence committee. These latter copies need not to be bound.

(6) Thirty copies of the theses of the dissertation in Hungarian and ten copies in English must be attached to the doctoral dissertation. The theses are prepared in A/5 format and bound together in a booklet format. The theses booklets must be submitted to the doctoral school in three copies for preliminary defence and delivered to the department according to the number of invitees. The theses of the doctoral dissertation include:

1. a) in Part I, a brief summary of the set research assignment,
2. b) in part II, the methods of material collection, the exploration of sources and their use,
3. c) the part III, a brief summary of the scientific results, their utilization, and the possibilities of utilization. Utilization may be the direct or indirect practical application of the results, or the promotion of the internal development of the discipline, or the enrichment of another discipline with new knowledge,
4. d) in part IV, a list of publications made in the scope of the dissertation.

(7) The entire doctoral dissertation, as well as its Hungarian and English theses, must be submitted electronically.

(8) The formal requirements determined by customs and university traditions - such as:

• the text and typography of the internal title page of the dissertation (beyond the above),
• the method of edition of the contents,
• appropriate division of the dissertation and chapter titles,
• the applicable reference system and its detailed rules,
• the data content and method of compilation of the literature / used / referenced literature,
• the necessity or lack of necessity of additional data (list of abbreviations, index, subject index),
• method of placement of figures, tables, diagrams, and possible pictures,
• numbering and method of printing of pages,
• the binding of the dissertation and the text of the outer cover of the bound thesis,

and so forth – are conveyed to the doctoral students by the supervisors. If requested, the officials of the Doctoral School - the head and the secretary - as well as the lecturers are readily provide information to the students.

Defence of the dissertation

The defence of the dissertation is the most important, professional, and most exciting part of the degree-acquiring process, and is also decisive moment for the candidate's future career. In many cases, a successful defence closes an era of the candidate's career and opens a new one, during which many leave their old professional community, and through which almost everyone enters a new professional community.

"Defence" as a term refers to the medieval and early modern origins of academic degrees, when the promotio was preceded by a public disputatio above the dissertatio, for which the principales of the time issued an invitatio, so it was public to a certain extent. Part of the disputatio was the debate of the theses expressed by the candidate, by the opponents, the formulation of pro and contra arguments, and the presentation, verification and refutation of the argumentis. Before completing their studies, doctoral candidates in the field of law had to complete three tasks:

• they had to take an examination to test their general legal knowledge in front of the appointed members of the doctoral college (tentamen),
• in an exam they had to analyze text passages (puncta) chosen at random beforehand, and
• they had to publicly defend their theses in a debate (disputatio pro gradu).

Since the theses now contain facts to a significant extent, the defence of the theses also covers the proof of the existence or absence of certain facts in addition to argumentis. In general: a lot has changed since medieval and early modern dissertation defences, but today's procedure preserves some elements of the old "good practices" in quite a few aspects.

Today, "dissertation defence" actually means two professional debates: a workshop debate (also known as a research site debate or preliminary professional debate), which by definition takes place at the candidate's research site, and a public debate which takes place within the framework of the Doctoral School, and which is part of the formal process of conferring a degree. The two debates take place with the invitation of two opponents each; although in the workshop discussion, in most doctoral programs, the opponents are called "invited commenters". The degree to which the person of the invited contributors and the opponents of the official public debate vary differs almost by doctoral schools; according to most regulations, one of the invited commenters of the workshop debate will be an opponent at the public debate.  There is also a large difference in the proportion of either opponents or committee members who can be employees of the institution (the university that maintains the doctoral school) (internal members), and in which proportion they must be invited from other universities and/or research institutes (external members)

The workshop debate is organized by the candidate's research site, typically the department, the public debate is organized by the Doctoral School with the active participation of the candidate's supervisor

In the following, we provide brief information on the defence's general and procedural, and in some respects, technical questions related to the degree acquisition process. We recommend that all our students ask their supervisors, the colleagues of the Doctoral School and their senior fellow students for further details not covered here. We also recommend that candidates check the details briefly indicated here in the regulations that apply to them (!) - since their detail and changes over time lead to so many variations that it is almost impossible to summarize the rules for all students in such a short summary. We refer to the most important regulations at the end of the description.

Workshop debate

The workshop discussion is a preliminary professional discussion of the planned doctoral dissertation, organized by the department to which the student is affiliated. It begins with the student submitting the draft of the dissertation (typically according to the most recent rules: one electronic and two hard copies) and theses (typically according to the most recent rules: one electronic and 10 hard copies) to the Doctoral School’s secretariat. After that, the candidate - (according to the regulations currently in force) on the basis of the proposal of the supervisor, through the mediation of the head of the Doctoral School (students admitted before 2019 should examine the regulations applicable to them in this regard) - requests the the Doctoral School Council (DIT) to appoint the chair of the professional debate and the person of the two pre-evaluators, and asks (orally or in writing) that the relevant department organize the debate at the research site for him/her. Already at this stage, the chairman of the discussion and the two pre-examiners must have at least a doctoral (PhD) degree. In addition to the leader of the discussion, the supervisor and the pre-reviewers, at least four persons with academic degrees must participate in the workshop discussion.

One of the two pre-reviewers must be "external" from the point of view of the employees of the institution (university). The pre-reviewers do not have to formally submit a written opinion towards the Doctoral School and the candidate, but they usually do so according to custom: they usually send their opinion to the Doctoral School one week before the date of the debate, which forwards it to the candidate. The preliminary written opinion is formally a non-binding professional material, but the reviewers - also usually - declare in it whether they recommend that the thesis be submitted for public debate, and if so, whether unchanged or after some modification(s). Protocols of the discussion are prepared according to the model recommended by the Doctoral School; the chairman takes care of the request of the recorder.

At the workshop debate, the candidate presents his/her theses in 15-20 minutes, then the supervisor has the opportunity to give a short evaluation of the candidate's work (although this is not a duty and there are supervisors who do not want to influence the debate). After that, the pre-reviewers present their evaluations, and the chairman - if necessary for reasons of length, abbreviated - reads out the written opinions received by the day of the debate. After that, those present who have at least a doctoral (PhD) degree in the candidate's discipline express their opinion. Those without such a degree can also participate in the debate session; it is even common for the candidate's classmates and coursemates to participate in the workshop debate as interested parties. The order of the workshop discussion (the order of questions and comments, the "collection" of answers to them or the provision of prompts, etc.) is established by the chairman. After the opinions and comments, the candidate gives a summary answer, which may be followed by further debate in certain cases.

Opinions and any subsequent comments must address the following questions:

(1) opinion on whether the thesis is suitable for public defence with or without modifications;

(2) in the case of modification proposals, a brief summary of them;

(3) which theses can be considered the candidate's independent academic work;

(4) which theses represent a new scientific result.

The above should be recorded in the protocol of the debate.

After the debate, the workshop debate committee can basically make three decisions: the thesis

(A) may be submitted to public debate as it is;

(B) may be submitted to public debate with minor revision according to the said comments

(C) cannot be submitted to public debate in its („current”) submitted form.

Based on the experiences of the workshop debate and the aspects raised there, the dissertation students in most cases rework and supplement their thesis to a greater or lesser extent. When they are done with it, the dissertation is submitted to the secretariat of the Doctoral School. At the same time, they apply for the doctoral degree proceedings, and if the application is accepted by the Doctoral School, they begin their legal relationship as a doctoral candidate. The person participating in the doctoral degree proceedings is the doctoral candidate. (One of the reasons for this separation of student and doctoral candidate status is that a doctoral candidate can also be someone who did not participate in the first two years of doctoral training and prepared individually for the degree, provided that he/she obtained a master's degree and fulfilled the requirements of the doctoral training, or - those starting their studies in the 2016/17 academic year or after - the complex exam.) In addition to submitting the dissertation, the applicant must submit the thesis booklet and a number of additional documents.

The doctoral dissertation must be submitted to the secretary of the doctoral school in 3 bound copies for the public debate. In addition to the 3 bound copies, so many copies should be submitted which are enough for the dissertation to be publically available in the faculty library and to be sent to all members of the reviewer committee. It is not necessary to bind these latter copies, but it is advisable to string them together. – The theses of the dissertation must be attached to the dissertation in 30 copies in Hungarian and 10 in English. The theses are prepared in A/5 format and bound together like a booklet. – The entire doctoral dissertation, as well as its Hungarian and English theses, must also be submitted electronically (digitally, on a pen drive, CD or other data carrier, as an MSWord document and preferably also in pdf format).

Along with the submission of the dissertation numerous additional documents and certificates should also be submitted, such as:

• protocol of the workshop debate,
• protocol of the doctoral complex exam,
• declaration of the supervisor: in case of training that began before 2016, the proposal for mid-term exam subjects and members of the mid-term exam committee
• declaration of the supervisor: proposal for the opponents and committee members
• a detailed academic biography (in an outline and a continuous text version; the latter, which will be presented during the debate, written in 3rd person singular)
• certificate of language exams (in case it has not been submitted before)
• authorized copy of the master degree or the original degree with a simple copy (in case of degree aquired abroad, the nostrification certificate)
• the absolutorium certificate aquired in the doctoral study
• possible request for the authorization of a procedure to be conducted in a foreign language (if necessary),
• publication and reference list (printed from MTMT)
• list of conference presentations,
• proof of payment of the procedure fee (Neptun payment) (the fee related to the defence of the dissertation is planned to be abolished for certain groups in the latest amendments to the Study and Examination Regulations),
• in case the applicant aquired his/her degree at SZIU LPS: proof of debt-free status towards the library, and in terms of study fees or in any other regards
• declaration of the candidant that he/she did not have an unsuccessful doctoral procedure (in the same discipline) within the last 2 years

Attention! All applicants must check the exact list of the above documents and certificates in the applicable regulations, and it is advisable to agree on the list in advance at the Doctoral School secretariat. In particular, we recommend paying attention to the differences between pre-2016 and post-2016 training.

Important! From the point of view of the planned day of the defence, the above documents must be submitted at such a time that, according to the regulations, the dissertation and its theses, as well as the invitation, must be published electronically through the Doctoral School secretariat at least 30 days before the day of the debate.

The public debate

The public defence of the doctoral dissertation (dissertation, thesis) takes place before the reviewer committee determined by the University’s Doctoral Council. The committee consists of a chair, a secretary, 2 reviewers, and 3 other members. At least 1/3 of the members of the committee cannot be in legal relationship aimed at employment with Széchenyi István University. All committee members must have at least a doctoral degree (PhD). The chair should be an instructor or researcher with a title of university professor, professor emeritus, or MTA doctor. The candidate's supervisor, close relative, and anyone who is not expected to judge the case objectively cannot be members of the committee.

The debate goes as follows. The public debate is opened by the chair, who then by announcing the name of the candidate and the title of the dissertation, indicates the purpose of the academic meeting, introduces the committee, and states that the candidate has fulfilled the prerequisites for the public defece. After that, the secretary - while sending around the attendance sheet - introduces the candidate's professional life on the basis of the CV. Then, the candidate's supervisor can make a statement about the candidate and briefly about his/her work; in many cases, however, the supervisors do not formally join the debate at this stage, and do not make a statement, or they only speak very briefly, for the sake of politeness, primarily about the nature of the candidate’s research.

For the public defence to be valid, at least one of the opponents must be present in person at the debate. The presence of an opponent giving a rejecting opinion is mandatory.

After the protocol part, the candidate presents his/her theses (in Hungarian) at the request of the chair, in no more than 20 minutes. This is followed by the presentation of the opponents' reviews, which, in the case of a public debate, the opponents usually sent to the Doctoral School one week before the debate. The secretary then presents the other opinions and comments received by letter or email. Depending on the chair's decision, those present who have learnt the dissertation before, may ask questions and express their opinions. The candidate responds to the opponents' remarks, questions and other comments. The chair asks the opponents (and, if there were any, the other speakers) whether they accept the candidate's answers.

It must be proven at the defence whether the results of the dissertation are authentic, and that they are the results of the candidate.

With the conclusion of the debate, the chair temporarily adjourns the meeting and announces that the committee will withdraw for a decision and a vote. (Depending on the circumstances, sometimes the committee stays in the room while the audience and the candidate wait outside). After the candidate and interested parties have returned to the announcement of the results, the chair presents the committee's decision: the result of the defence and a brief explanation of the decision. It is common for the secretary to present a longer explanation of the committee's decision. The decision is equals to the proposal for awarding the degree or, in the absence thereof, ending the procedure. The chair closes the meeting (the public defence), then the secretary prints the protocol which is signed by all (in case of online defence: all present) members of the committee.

The committee decides by secret ballot, each member votes with the 1-5 point value. A proposal for awarding the degree can be submitted to the University Doctoral Council of Széchenyi István University if at least 66.66% of the votes that can be cast supported it and no one voted for the dissertation with 1 point. The results can be:

– 100%–90% „summa cum laude”

– 89,99%–80% „cum laude”

– 79,99–66,66% „rite”.

After the public defence, the Doctoral School Council (DIT) decides whether the Head of the Doctoral School as the chair of DIT should make a proposal to the University Doctoral Council (EDT) for awarding the doctoral degree.