Doctoral Agreement
Doctoral Agreements serve to create transparency and commitment, provide orientation and facilitate the planning of a doctorate.
A Doctoral Agreement must be concluded between a doctoral candidate and his/her supervisors at the latest six months after admission to the doctoral program. This applies to all doctoral candidates irrespective of whether or not they are employed at the University of Bern.
The Doctoral Agreement form is available below, in the section “Documents”.
Content
The Doctoral Agreement sets out the general conditions of the doctorate in a transparent and binding manner. This includes, inter alia, information about the topic, duration and funding of the doctorate, about the form and planning of the doctoral thesis project, as well as about research-integrated coursework achievements and supervision modalities.
Distinction from the employee appraisal
- All doctoral candidates of the University of Bern (with or without employment at the University of Bern) must fill in the Doctoral Agreement with their supervisors.
- Doctoral candidates who are employed at the University of Bern also have annual employee appraisals. The form is available uni-internally (internal link).
- There is a separate form for the annual status review of doctoral candidates who are not employed at the University of Bern. This form is available below, in the section “Documents”.
Storage and Responsibilities
- The Doctoral Agreement is kept by the main supervisor (original) and the doctoral candidate (copy). The same applies to the form for the Status Review and the form for the Career Discussion.
- For main supervisors: Doctoral Agreements are recorded by the faculties. If you have any questions about the recording process, please contact the dean's office of the respective faculty.