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PhD Studies

Section 1
Selection of Ph.D. Candidates

  1. M.D. and B.Sc. graduates of Health Sciences or other relevant Faculties of Greek Universities and certified Institutions outside of the Country, as well as graduates of relevant departments of Technological Educational Institutions, are admitted. Graduates of non Greek Institutions must certify their degrees through the Hellenic National Academic Recognition Information Center.
  2. Ph.D. candidates must be M.Sc. holders. However, in exceptional cases and after approval given by the General Assembly of the Department (special composition), a student may become a Ph.D. candidate without completing a M.Sc. degree.
  3. Selection of Ph.D. candidates is approved by the General Assembly of the Department (special composition), which takes into account all aspects of the candidate’s qualifications as described below.
  4. These qualifications include:
    • Application obtained from the Departmental secretariat, in which the subject of the proposed Ph.D. thesis must be described.
    • Certified copy of the B.Sc. degree.
    • Certified copy of the M.Sc. degree (as described in section 5. 2nd paragraph of the present Chapter).
    • English Language Certificate.
    • Certificate of attendance of a Health & Safety Seminar (as described in Section 5, 3rd paragraph of the present chapter).

Section 2
Registration

  1. The Ph.D. candidate who has been accepted must register in the Ph.D. candidate registry of the Department of Pharmacy. Up-to-date registration must be done at the beginning of each semester at the time defined by the Department Registrar.
  2. Start time of the Ph.D. studies is considered the time at which the selection of the three-member advisory committee is approved by the General Assembly of the Department (special composition).

Section 3
Selection of Advisor-Advisory Committee-Examination Committee

  1. The selection of advisor for every Ph.D. candidate is normally done within a month after registration. Every faculty member may supervise up to five Ph.D. candidates.
  2. The selection of the three-member advisory committee for every Ph.D. candidate of the Pharmacy Department should be done within 3 months after registration. The advisor is one member of the three-member advisory committee, which may also include two other faculty members of any University, either within or out of the country. Members of the advisory committee may also be researchers of distinguished research institutions either domestic or abroad. The members of the committee must have the same or similar scientific specialization within which the Ph.D. candidate will be working on his/her thesis.
  3. The Ph.D. candidate may switch advisor and therefore change his/her advisory committee only under extraordinary circumstances and after approval of the General Assembly of the Department (special composition).
  4. The subject of the Ph.D. thesis is determined within one semester from registration. Change or modification is possible after approval of the General Assembly of the Department (special composition).
  5. When the advisory committee judges that the candidate has completed all the preliminary stages for preparing his/her thesis, it suggests, in a written form, the selection of the seven-member examining committee to the General Assembly of the Department (special composition). At least four of the members of this committee must be faculty members and at least two of them must be members of the Pharmacy Department. The rest of the members of this committee may be faculty members of any University, either within or out of the country. Members of the examining committee may become researchers of distinguished research institutions either domestic or abroad. All the members of the examining committee must have the same or similar scientific specialization within which the Ph.D. candidate will be working on his/her thesis.

Section 4
Duration of Study

  1. In case the Ph.D. candidate possesses a M.Sc., the minimum time frame for completion of studies is three calendar years from the selection time of the advisory committee.
  2. In case the Ph.D. candidate does not possess a M.Sc. degree, the minimum time frame for completion of studies is four calendar years from the selection time of the advisory committee.

Section 5
Obligations of the Ph.D. Candidate-Completion of the Dissertation

  1. Graduation of the Ph.D. candidate is accomplished when all the obligations, as defined in the next paragraphs of this Section, are fulfilled.
  2. Ph.D. candidates, who do not possess a M.Sc. degree, are obliged to complete certain graduate courses defined by the General Assembly of the Department (special composition). The time necessary for completion of these mandatory courses counts toward the minimum time frame for completion of studies (see paragraph 2 of Section 4).
  3. The Ph.D. candidate, who does not possess a M.Sc. degree and therefore has not attended a “Health and Safety” seminar, is obligated to attend successfully such a Seminar organized by a special committee appointed by the Senate of the University of Patras, at no specified dates.
  4. At the end of each academic year, the Ph.D. candidate must present his/her research results in an open seminar to the Department and must submit a progress report that is evaluated by the advisory committee and the special composition of the General Assembly of the Department (special composition).
  5. The Ph.D. candidate must attend at least 8 seminars including invited lectures, Ph.D. defense seminars, Departmental Colloquium seminars, and M.Sc. defense seminars. The student will be credited these seminars although they won’t count toward his/her final grade.
  6. After approval of the advisory committee, the Ph.D. candidate must present his/her thesis in an open seminar and the presence of the seven-member examining committee. The duration of this seminar may be approximately 45 minutes. After the Seminar, the examining committee may test the candidate on the work included in the thesis, as well as on the general subject of the thesis. After the testing period, the examining committee decides with an open vote whether the Ph.D. degree will be granted or not. A positive decision is taken with at least five positive votes. A positive decision is taken according to: a. The Originality and Quality level of the thesis. Evidence of Quality consists of publications in High Impact Factor Journals. b. The extent of the candidate’s knowledge on the thesis subject, as well as on the general discipline covering it. After the decision making, the Chairman of the examining committee announces the result of the Examination to the candidate. A positive decision may include recommendations regarding corrections/improvements of the thesis, which are taken care of under the auspices of the advisory committee.
  7. The doctoral studies are judged complete after the successful public defense of the Dissertation as noted above, the exam transcript submission by the examining committee to the Department Secretariat, as well as the thesis deposit by the candidate to the Department Secretariat.
  8. A requirement for becoming a Doctor of Philosophy, having to do with paragraph 6a above, is that part of his/her thesis has been published or accepted for publication in a refereed international Journal included in the Science Citation Index. The name of the candidate must be written first on the list of authors in this manuscript.

Section 6
Miscellaneous

  1. The Ph.D. candidate must provide teaching assistantship (TA) in the laboratories or recitations, including proctoring exams at the undergraduate level. A stipend for this TA is provided only if it is dictated by Law and afforded by the University.
  2. After a period of 6 years from registration, the candidate is not taken into account in the Departmental Budget any longer.
  3. For problems that cannot be solved by cooperation of the candidate with the research advisor, the candidate must ask the Director of Graduate Studies for help. In case that the latter happens to be the advisor of this candidate, the problem is delegated to the Department Head.
  4. For all other problems which may occur from application of all of the above regulations, the candidate must bring the problem to the General Assembly of the Department (special composition).

 

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