Revised Regulation Governing the attainment of doctoral degrees, valid as of January 1st 2014

The Regulation governing the attainment of doctoral degreeshas been revised. The major changes concern:

  • Supervision
  • Plagiarism check
  • Code of conduct
  • Assessment committee
  • Valorisation addendum

Other changesand additions concern among others: joint and double doctorates, academic freedom, arbitration, and the Cum Laude designation.

The revised Regulation is valid as of January 1st2014, except for the valorisation addendum, which should be included in each thesis that will be defended from September 1st2014 onwards.

Two general information meetings for UM employees will be organised about the changed Regulation by Academic Affairs (MUO):

- February5thfrom 9.00-10.30 in the Aula of the Minderbroedersberg, and

- February 19thfrom 9.00-10.30 in Randwijck, UNS 50, room 0.406.

For the full Regulation in Dutch and English, please visit:

Contact person for questions:

Hannerieke van der Boom, Policy Advisor FHML andPhD co-ordinator CAPHRI: orGerda Baltis, MUO Academic Affairs: .

Some important changes that need to be addressed at the beginning of the PhD trajectory, in particular about the number of supervisors and the renewed Training & Supervision Plan, are further elaborated upon below.

Supervision

A PhD candidate should have two or three supervisors. Only one, or more than three supervisors are not allowed according to the Regulation, unless the Board of Deans decides otherwise or in case of a joint or double degree. In the exceptional case of just one supervisor, or more than three, the supervisor (first promoter) shall take initiative to inform the Dean of the Faculty, Prof. A. Scherpbier, in the form of a written request, motivating the role of each of the supervisors within the project. This should be done early in the course of the project. The Dean shall submit this reasoned request to the Board of Deans. Requests that are submitted in the final phase of the PhD project,or in which the particular role of each of the supervisorscannot be motivated convincingly, or when too many internal supervisors (Maastricht UMC+) are involved, are unlikely to be granted.

Chapter 3, art. 11 states that no later than twelve weeks after the PhD candidate has been appointed,a Training and Supervision Plan should have been drawn up by the PhD candidate(internal PhD candidates who are employed by UM or have a grant) and their supervisors. A copy should be sent to the Dean,who has delegated this to the School director.Thus, PhD candidates can send their Plan to the School Office.

The PhD Committee of the 6 FHML Schools and FPN have revised the Training & Supervision Plan (TSP) form in agreement with HR of both Faculties, and devised a Personal Research Plan(PRP). Both forms should be sent to the School Office or PhD co-ordinator within 12 weeks after the start of the research project and will be made available on the website of the School that the PhD candidate is registered withor can be requested from the respective PhD co-ordinator or HR advisor.

Plagiarism check

In co-operation with the University Library, the manuscriptwill be checked for plagiarism before it is submitted to the Assessment Committee (Chapter 3, art. 12-4). Results will only be communicated to the Dean and first supervisor. Instructions on the procedure will follow.

Code of conduct

At the start of the research project, the doctoral candidate shall submit a written statement, stating that s/he is familiar with and will commit to the 2004 Netherlands Code of Conduct for Scientific Practice of the VSNU. The research should also be carried out in keeping with the code of conduct applying to professional activities in the relevant academic field as well as the standards in the Memorandum on Academic Integrity of the KNAW, NWO and VSNU. A declaration is being prepared that will soon be added to the model letters of the Regulation.

Assessment Committee

The guidelines for the composition of the Assessment Committee have been changed. Please check chapter 5 of the Regulation for the details.

Valorisation

Each dissertation should contain an addendum about valorisation of approximately five pages (see Appendix 4, art. 23 for instructions on what it should contain). This part, similar to the propositions, is not to be assessed by the Assessment Committee as these are not part of the dissertation as such. The addendum should be included in each thesis that is defended as of September 1st2014.

The full information regarding all aspects of PhD trajectories, the obtainment of the doctoral degree, and model letters can be found in the Regulation. Don’t hesitate to approach the Faculty or Maastricht University Office contact persons for clarifications.