A Doctorate at D-BAUG (2022)
Applicable to doctoral students matriculated after 1 January 2022.
Doctoral students matriculated before 1 January 2022: See other website.
Familiar with the chronolgical sequence in the graph?
Second Advisor
Overview
- academically qualified person (one compulsory member; more members possible, also for non-academic support)
- to assist you academically
- to be appointed early in the process of writing doctoral plan
- will not automatically assume additional role of co-examiner (see separate chapter on exam prep page)
- nomination via Central Dr-Admin
To Do
- well before your Aptitude Colloquium (AC)
- use this Download form (PDF, 223 KB)
- send to: doktorat
- in case of further advisor (non-academically also possible): send email
Legal Basis
Art. 28, ETH Zurich Ordinance on the Doctorate
Art. 8, Rector's Implementation Provisions
D-BAUG Detailed Stipulations: Art. 7, Second Advisor
The following persons may act as second advisors:
a. University professors
b. Senior Scientists
c. Persons who are scientifically qualified in the respective field (with the exception of
post-docs)
d. Proven experts in the respective field (e.g., from industry)
Important!
Make sure to take your Aptitude Colloquium within 12 months after your provisional admission date.
- Deadline in myStudies or on your admission letter
- Deadline very strict! If not met: Dematriculation!
- Further details to follow in separate section
Please note:
At D-BAUG, there are no Aptitude Colloquia during the Summer Break:
14 July – 15 August 2025
Doctoral Plan (DP)
Overview
Comprises information on at least the following points:
- research objectives
- teaching tasks
- any other duties, such as monitoring of equipment or organisational tasks for the research group
- timeline for extended doctoral studies, if applicable
Four weeks before Aptitude Colloquium (AC), doctoral plan must be submitted to:
- thesis supervisor
- second advisor
- chairperson and any additional members of the AC
(Note: Dr-Admin D-BAUG is not involved in timing of AC.)
To Do
- use this Download template (PDF, 602 KB) as a guideline in terms of structure and content but create your own pdf
- strictly follow both the sequence and the captions of the chapters
- maximum length of doctoral plan: 8 pages (excluding cover page, signatures and bibliography)
- layout: margins 2 cm, font size 11, line spacing 1
- time schedule: in a figure (years and where you stand now clearly marked)
- activities beyond doctoral thesis: in percentage of your total workload
- expected courses for 12 credits (doctoral studies): draft Learning Agreement (LAG, infos see separate chapter)
- expected type of thesis: monograph or cumulative doctoral thesis
Check out the tap "Cumulative Thesis/Paper Thesis" in the D-BAUG FAQs, very 1st section, Doctoral Plan and Aptitude Colloquim, and carefully study the requirements and the time they must be met.
Separately, also read through the respective chapter on the central Student portal. - If it fits timewise, the Central Doctoral Administration offers a workshop on "Writing a Successful Doctoral Plan".
- keep your doctoral plan until the end of your doctorate.
(No need to email a copy to D-BAUG Doctoral Administration.)
Legal Basis
Art. 11 Doctoral plan, Ordinance on the Doctorate at ETH Zurich
Art. 3, Doctoral plan, Rector's Implementation Provisions
Overview
As mentioned beforehand, your Aptitude Colloquium (AC)
- must take place within 12 months of your provisional admission date.
- has a very strict deadline in myStudies or on your admission letter.
Please note:
If the deadline is not met, you get dematriculated.
To Do
Observe the following steps in order to organize your Aptitude Colloquium (AC) in a smooth manner:
- Well ahead of time, approach your thesis supervisor for a discussion on
possible members for your Aptitude Colloquium, Art. 6.
You may have 4 additional experts (beyond the compulsory committee members) nominated for participation and evaluation of your doctoral plan.
Please include their names in the online form as sudden "pop-up" experts on the AC day will not be allowed to participate.
Important: The members of your AC committee may change their status by the time your doctoral examination takes place, i.e. they may publish with you in the meantime. Therefore, there are other rules for your doctoral examination committee; its final composition must be determined about 8-9 months prior to the doctoral examination.
- Two months before your AC deadline, please get the name of your chairperson from the .
Thereafter, please send an email to the chairperson and introduce yourself to him/her: your name, your professorship, title of your research project.
Note: Fixed time slots won't work for the chairperson, and such request will thus not be processed.
Important: The chairperson is there to guide through the AC and ensure that the exam is carried out professionally and in a fair manner. – Thus, her/his research area might be totally diffrent from yours.
- Two months before your deadline, send out a Nuudel to your entire Aptitude Committee, incl. the chairperson, in order to find a suitable date.
- Once the date is confirmed, send an Outlook invitation to all members of the Aptitude Committee.
- Fill in the online form, with all details of your Aptitude Colloquium.
Doctoral Administration D-BAUG will, in due course, send the result sheet to the chairperson of your AC, copying you and your thesis supervisor.
Duration of AC:
- about 1 ½ hours, as it consists of the DP presentation (max. 30’)
- followed by a round of questions posed by the Committee of minimum 30 minutes.
Exam character of AC:
- treated like BSc/MSc exams at ETH, consequently
- not public (decision by Doctoral Committee D-BAUG, 02.12.22)
Tasks of the AC Committee:
- focuses on the research objectives
- considers the suitability of candidate for conducting a research project independently and authoring a doctoral thesis
- evaluates applicant's performance as “passed” or “failed”
- gives its opinion on the further points in the doctoral plan (teaching tasks; other duties; extended doctoral studies, if applicable).
This "opinion part" does not affect the evaluation of the student's performance during the AC.
Upon completion of AC:
- The chairperson will inform the Doctoral Administration D-BAUG about the outcome
- D-BAUG Admin will then pass on the information to the Central Doctoral Administration for processing.
- You will receive confirmation of definitive admission to your doctorate at D-BAUG
What if I fail?:
- one repetition possible, provided thesis supervisor agrees
- repetition must take place within three months of the first definitive result
- thesis supervisor may only refuse repetition if AC committee unanimously assessed 1st attempt as "failed"
What if I cannot meet the AC deadline?:
On substantiated .
Legal Basis
Art. 12-17, Ordinance on the Doctorate at ETH Zurich
Art. 4, Rector's Implementation Provisions
Art. 6, Detailed Stipulation D-BAUG
Overview
12 credit points:
- to develop knowledge in the field of your doctoral thesis
- compulsory "Ethics and Scientific Integrity course"; one course offered by D-BAUG every semester; other courses available
- different categories that you need to take courses in, see Art. 10.3 for overview
- see courses under "D-BAUG subject specialisation, transferable skills etc." and regular course catalogue
- aside from conferences or summer/winter schools in your specific field, credits can also be collected through:
Continuing Education at ETH
Courses offered by the ETH Library
"Master Your Doctorate": write and publish
- credits will show in transcript, based on your final LAG version
Learning Agreement (LAG):
- produced in myStudies
- summarizes performance achievements for final transcript at end of doctorate
- serves as working/planning tool during doctorate
- allows for external courses, too (see To Do hereunder)
- final LAG (min. 12 credits achieved) to be approved by thesis supervisor
- finalized LAG to be sent to Dr-Admin D-BAUG (via button: "Request completion of doctoral studies")
Transcript:
- after submission of your deposit copies to Academic Services
- issued by Academic Services of ETH Zurich
To Do, in chronological order
within the first 12 months of your doctorate, i.e. before your AC:
- discuss collection of planned 12 credit points with thesis supervisor
- in myStudies, produce tentative LAG (only working tool, at this stage)
with regard to academic performances outside ETH, you have two options
- either via myStudies: under Performance Assessments, "Transfer of Approved Study Achievements from other Institutions" to get the exact course/event description on your transcript; upload of confirmation included
- or via our
latest 3 -4 months before your doctoral examination:
- to get 12 credit points confirmed, fill in upper part of Download registration form (PDF, 725 KB) for doctoral examination
- send registration form and make sure to finalize LAG for confirmation by
- refer to separate "Doctoral Examination" page for all further steps leading up to your examination (incl. registration of doctoral examination)
after your promotion request got approved at a Department Conference (DK):
- deliver deposit copies to Academic Services
- receive transcript of your academic record
Legal Basis
Implementation Provisions, Art. 10 onwards (German version is legally binding).
Annual Status Conversation with Progress Report
Overview
After definitive admission, a written progress report must be submitted to the doctoral thesis supervisor each year.
The progress report must describe the following:
- status and anticipated progress of research work
- any significant deviations from the research objectives set out in the doctoral plan
The individual annual status conversation must include the following:
- discussion and assessment of research progress (based on progress report)
- determination of next steps
- progress of doctoral studies
- working situation in the research group
- personal development possibilities and the corresponding measures if required
To Do
- The progress report and the report on the status conversation must be submitted to the second advisor (and possibly additional experts) for information purposes.
- The doctoral thesis supervisor and the doctoral student are both obliged to store progress reports and the respective status conversation reports until the time of dematriculation. -- If legal proceedings are pending the documents must be retained until a legal ruling has been issued.
NOTE: The status conversation comprises two separate parts:
1. Scientific progress
2. Evaluation of career and personal development
The first part of the discussion addresses the doctorate and the research project.
Involving the second advisor in the first part is recommended. Further experts in the field may also take part.
The second part of the discussion is conducted as a development interview which involves mutual feedback and addresses the further development of competences. This part concerns the doctoral thesis supervisor and the doctoral student only and is confidential.
Legal Basis
See separate website "Doctoral Examination", comprising comprehensive information for a smooth wrap-up of your doctorate.