Modified Doctorate Regulations 2024

In 2021, Radboud University's Doctorate Regulations were radically changed. Evaluation of these changes has led to new, slightly modified Doctorate Regulations (English/ Dutch) that will come into effect from 1 January 2024.

What's new?

The most important changes are shown below, accompanied by a reference to the article number in the new Doctorate Regulations.

Supervisory team

• In line with the four-eyes principle, the entire supervisory team plays a role in approving the training and supervision plan (Article 28) and the manuscript (Article 31).
• The roles in the supervisory team have been clarified. One of the members is appointed Daily Supervisor and all of the team members have a PhD (Article 26).
• At the request of the PhD candidate or the supervisor, the dean may change the composition of the supervisory team (Article 26).
• The dean is responsible for appointing the supervisory team. The dean appoints the supervisory team on the recommendation of the supervisor (Article 25).
• The supervisor and co-supervisor are appointed at the beginning of the PhD trajectory. The status of ‘prospective supervisor or co-supervisor’ up until the defence will therefore be removed (Article 27).

Training and supervision regulations

• Further rules from within the Graduate Schools can be finalised in the training and supervision regulations (Article 90).
  Note: At present, Radboudumc is working on revision of the current Radboudumc Training Regulations. The new regulations will come into effect in Spring 2024.

Termination and evaluation

• The grounds on which a PhD trajectory may be terminated have been clarified (Article 24).
• If the Manuscript Committee has decided that proof of competence cannot be provided, the Manuscript Committee will provide concrete arguments for this decision with respect to the shortcomings. The committee will set a reasonable period of time within which the PhD candidate can remedy these shortcomings. (Article 38).
• Following the national discussions, a resit of the defence has been included in the event of the situation (albeit highly exceptional) in which the Doctoral Examination Board draws a negative conclusion during the deliberations following the defence (Article 61).

Granting ius promovendi

• The criteria for granting the ius promovendi have been simplified (Article 13-15).
• The national agreements on the mutual recognition of the ius promovendi have been included in the regulations: the ius promovendi of Dutch universities is mutually recognized when participating in the supervisory team or Doctoral Examination Board of another institution. When transferring to another Dutch university, the receiving university reserves the right to test whether the ius promovendi still holds (Article 14+15).
• In several articles in the Doctorate Regulations where previously only the professor was listed, associate professors with the ius promovendi have been added (e.g. in the composition of the Manuscript Committee and the Doctoral Examination Board), because they may also fulfill the role of supervisor.

Manuscript and Cum Laude Committees

• The evaluation forms from the Manuscript and Cum Laude Committees now serves as a guideline (Article 36+37+44). The committee members use the criteria as a basis to form the overall assessment (whether proof of competence has/has not been provided) and provide an explanation for all of the criteria. The evaluation criteria for the manuscript have also been modified so that they reflect the practice more effectively. In addition to this, subject-specific criteria may be added (Appendix 3).
• When setting up a Cum Laude Committee, the dean requests information from the supervisor about the PhD trajectory and the PhD candidate’s role in it. (Article 40).
• Members of the Cum Laude Committee may serve on the Doctoral Examination Board (Article 42. 1.e).

Transitional arrangement

A transitional arrangement applies to the new Doctorate Regulations. With regard to PhD trajectories that started between 1 September 2021 and 1 January 2024: any decisions made during this period on the basis of the 2021 Doctorate Regulations remain in force. The new Doctorate Regulations apply in all other respects.

Questions

If you have any questions about the new Doctorate Regulations, please contact the faculty PhD coordinator (horafinita@radboudumc.nl) or the registrar (pedel@co.ru.nl).