Doctoral Programme
Contents
- Practical information
(also available as Powerpoint 
) - Introduction
- At the beginning of the PhD
- In the course of the PhD
- Check accepted applications (staff only)
- At the end of the PhD
- Ombuds
Introduction
On this website you can find some information on the doctoral programme, from the start of the Ph.D. up to its conclusion. The information focuses on those elements that have to be handled through the department of Electrical Engineering (ESAT).
The primary source of information obviously remains the Faculty of Engineering. We refer to this source as much as possible such that only these aspects specific to the department of Electrical Engineering (ESAT) are considered in this website.
At the faculty's website you can also find the lists with courses approved for the doctoral programme, all forms required during the doctoral program, e.g. for the application to the doctoral program, for changing the doctoral committee, for the doctoral diary,...
At the beginning of the PhD
The administrative procedure to start a Ph.D. consists of two phases. The first phase is the registration as a Ph.D. student. The second phase is the selection of the advisors. For dates and deadlines, see the ESAT calendar.
Phase 1: Pre-doc and registration as a PhD-student
After you have been selected by a promotor, in a first step you will receive an email from the faculty / department that explains you what to do. Follow the instructions. One of the forms to fill is the Request for Admission for the doctoral programme. Complete the form. It will electronically arrive at the faculty and the department and will be signed by your promotor and the head of the department, but not yet by any advisors. The Faculty Doctoral Commission (FDC) will decide whether you have to do a so-called pre-doc. In case you have to do a pre-doc, after the pre-doc, you have to register again, but now as a Ph.D. student. In case you do not have to do a pre-doc, the first phase is finished. This first step does NOT have to pass through Guy Vandenbosch, only through the secretary of the department (Lut Vander Bracht).
Phase 2: Selection of the advisory committee
In a second phase, the Request for Admission is completed. ALWAYS first consult your promotor to complete this form. It is then sent to the secreatry of the department (Lut Vander Bracht), who passes it to the ESAT representative at the FDC (Guy Vandenbosch), who starts the internal ESAT procedure. After this internal procedure, the Request for Admission is finally submitted to the FDC. After their approval, the starting procedure is finished. In the first year of your PhD you have to register as a PhD-student (BAP have to do this every year for reasons of insurance). In the following you can find more details on the second phase of the handling of the Request for Admission for the doctoral programme'.
- Goals and procedure second phase
In the course of the PhD
Doctoral training
During the PhD, you keep track of the informations regarding your activities in the framework of the doctoral programme. For this purpose, you use the doctoral training program form that has to be approved at the end of the PhD.
- A list of courses accepted for the A.1 categorie is found here.
- The advisory committee can recognise that a course or course cycle from another university is equivalent to A.1! (FDC 2003-10-10)
- Language courses are not accepted except for Academic English or when there is a very specific reason (e.g., an architect studying Italian architecture). (FDC 2003-10-10)
Changing the advisory committee
If the committee is adapted in the course of the PhD, the specific form of the faculty has to be used. When the change is made for reasons of a change in the PhD subject, the same procedure is followed as for a new application. If the change is of a purely administrative nature (e.g., assessor no longer available), the adjustment is simply announced on the website.
At the end of the PhD
Just before the final phase of the PhD, more specific before the examination board is composed, the doctoral training program has to be approved by the faculty PhD commission. The approval is a condition for being allowed to enter the final phase.
In practice the filled in doctoral training program form is handed-in to the departmental secretary (Lut Vander Bracht) who passes it to the representative of the department in the faculty PhD commission (Guy Vandenbosch). He has to visa the form and then passes it on to the faculty.
You are invited to announce the date of your public defence on the KU Leuven website. If you have gone through the different steps, then one can read your extended announcement on the public website of the KU Leuven and you have a short announcement in the KU Leuven-agenda.
Ombuds
ESAT has an ombuds service for PhD students: a PhD student together with the departmental secretary (Lut Vander Bracht), to address the first needs of doctoral students.
