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Financing of doctoral researchTeaching assistantships
Research assistantships Scholarships Scholarships "Fellowships for development cooperation" Financing of research activities References The objective of the Doctoral School of Management is to provide a research environment at high international level leading to the training of highly skilled doctorates capable of producing original qualified, and relevant research output. As the future activities and employers for the doctoral candidates may be private and public organizations, academic institutions and non-governmental organizations, the financing of the doctoral studies (tuition and living expenses) is independent of the doctoral programme. Below we outline several possibilities open for candidates, with indication of what particular qualifications on behalf of the candidate that may be needed. Each university within the Académie caters a limited number of teaching assistantships per each department within LSM. The assistantship is a temporary (two-year, renewable twice) position within the university that carries a monthly salary (normally scale 8L, starting salary 31,337 EUR brut, 01/01/2009, indexed annually), normal vacation and social benefits etc. Teaching assistants work part-time with preparation of teaching material, grading exercises and projects, tutoring students individually or in groups, giving exercise sessions and other assisting tasks in their functional department. The teaching burden varies over time, but annually the service time is never higher than 50%. The rest of the time is devoted to research and the progress in the doctoral process is an important criterion for the renewal of an assistantship. Vacant teaching assistantships are opened for competitive recruitment in May each year using a web-based application system (cf. the links below). In addition to the criteria for admission to the doctoral programme (cf art 2.2) language requirements (French) may apply in certain cases.
Louvain-la-Neuve,UCL In addition to the TA, the universities also offer a variable number of temporary positions as Research Assistants within the departments and centers of excellence in LSM. These positions are normally limited to a shorter period (1-3 years, occasionally renewable once) and financed for specific research projects allocated to a supervisor, research team or department. The other service conditions are identical to the TAs and it is fairly common that RAs are awarded TA positions when their RA expires if the performance has been good. Research assistantships are advertised centrally, but also at the site pages for the departments within LSM and for the centers of excellence, at any time of the year. RA are expected to enrol in DSM on the project for which they are recruited, additional requirements may apply to qualify for specific RA depending on the project and department. The links under the previous paragraph may be used to access offers for RAs. Besides the assistantships that are employments within the universities, there are also a number of attractive fellow- and scholarships available for doctoral students in LSM. The list below is far from exhaustive, more information can be obtained from the central webpages at UCLas new opportunities arise, deadlines change etc. Scholarships "Fellowships for development cooperation" UCL awards a certain number of fellowships to doctoral students from developing countries (definitions and exact rules ICM Fellowship The Intercollegiate Center for Management Science (ICM or CIM) awards each year doctoral fellowships in Management Science. The award is granted annually for a period of three years full-time research. It involves a stay of one year in a foreign university with tuition covered by the fellowship. Applications are welcome from scholars of all nationalities graduated from a Belgian university admitted to one of the Doctoral Schools in the field of Management Science. The highly competitive ICM Fellowships require a meticulous preparation of the application and selection process that consists of three stages; the application file, the written exam and the oral exam. Note that the passing of the ICM test with results “A”, “B” and even “C” (provided average score is at least 12/20) qualifies for credit in the doctoral program. ICM application file The application file for ICM must be completed by March 1 and contain the following elements:
Written exam Admissible candidates will be invited to a written exam in early April (normally 9h-15h). The written test (corresponding to 25% of the points for the fellowship competition) will assess the mastery of management science methods and is based explicitly on the works:
At the oral exam in early May, the candidates will meet a national, interuniversitary and interdisciplinary jury to present their project proposal and plan for the fellowship. It is strongly recommended to give a well-rehearsed presentation (10 min) in English. ICM decision Based on the points obtained for the written exam, the CV of the candidate, the quality of the written proposal and the performance at the oral exam, the jury recommends a ranking of the candidates to the Council that decides upon the award of fellowships. Normally two or three ICM fellowships are awarded to the French-speaking universities, but note that fellowships are not awarded to candidates scoring below a certain level (class “C”) irrespective of the number of available slots. FNRS Doctoral fellowship The National Scientific Research Foundation (FNRS) finances scientists, research programmes and scientific network activities. In particular, the FNRS fellowship is a two-year financing (tax-free amount similar to that of a TA-RA above, including social and medical insurance), potentially renewed once. The application date is January 1 each year for the next academic year, the necessary forms are available from the FNRS webpage from about mid-October to mid-January. There will be a common call for the Académie from 2010. The FNRS fellowships are awarded by scientific commissions that put particular emphasis on the achievements of the candidates in their CV. Note that the renewal of a FNRS fellowship after two years should be coordinated with the Confirmation exam, meaning that in practice, the Confirmation should be passed 1.5 year into the programme. The FNRS offers a special doctoral scholarship for one year to eligible candidates that work full-time outside the universities, wishing to take a year off to finish their dissertation. The special scholarship covers their net salary for one year. The deadline is February 1 each year for next academic year, forms and regulations are provided on the webpage FNRS. It should be noted that this scholarship is rare, 54 of about 1,300 FRS-FNRS doctoral candidates were financed with special scholarships in French-speaking Belgium in 2007. FRIA fellowships The Research Foundation for Industry and Agriculture (FRIA) finances doctoral students with backgrounds in science, applied sciences (engineering), pharmaceutics, medicine, agronomy, engineering, veterinary science, dentistry and physiotherapy. Eligible candidates, have a degree from a Belgian university or equivalent. The scholarship (tax-free, 17,760-19,266 EUR annually 01/01/2008, indexed) is given in two tranches, the first for 27 months and the second for maximum 21 months. Application file Applications for the first scholarship may only be submitted between Sep 1 and 15 each year, applications for prolongation between Sep 1 and 5. The FRIA scholarship application file should contain the following elements (see webpage for details):
FRIA process Selected applicants will be invited to an interview where they will have the occasion to present the project proposal, their methodology and respond to general questions about their scientific and professional preparation. Letters of recommendation will be obtained from the supervisor and an additional professor for qualified candidates. In 2008, about 480 FRIA fellowships were awarded in French-speaking Belgium, likely to increase to 600 from 2009. FSR-UCL scholarship In addition to the FNRS fellowships above, the Special Research Fund (FSR) allocates a limited number of scholarships to the Research Councils of the Belgian universities. The budget (for UCL about 15 scholarships in total) is allocated both to doctoral candidates and post-doctoral fellows. To be eligible for a FRS-UCL scholarship, the candidate must submit an application for a FNRS Fellowship to FRS-FNRS as in Section 5.3.2 above. The Research Council reviews then the applications not awarded FNRS fellowships. Candidates who were ineligible for administrative reasons by Feb 1 and thus could not apply may apply directly to the Chairman of the UCL research council no later than April 15. The decision is announced in July. For details, contact UCL/ADRE. Note that these provisions are to be changed within the new structures from 2010/2011. First doctorate enterprise international FIRST-DEI scholarship http://formulaires.wallonie.be/p004414_152.jsp Prospective Research for Brussels http://www.iwoib.irisnet.be/prfb_fr.htm Candidates (max 30 years. eligible for a doctorate) that are proposing projects within the programme Prospective Research for Brussels (PRFB) may obtain a fully financed fellowship for 2 +1 year, including overhead expenses for the department and the university. The subjects 2009 are
The deadline is July 15, documents and forms are available from the webpage above. Since DGCD Mixed doctorate scholarships http://www.btcctb.org/showpage.asp?iPageID=991 The candidate must satisfy the following criteria:
Process The LSM Doctoral Bureau may indicate whether the intended area of research is present in LSM, the approval of a potential supervisor must be obtained prior to application. The application deadline is March 1, application should be sent to the Cooperation Attaché in the local Belgian representation (Embassy or Consulate). Some research activities incur direct costs for the doctoral candidates, such as fees for conferences and external seminars, travel and subsistence for attendance at such events, specialized literature, software and databases, etc. A number of options are open to fully or partially cover such costs, some of which are listed below. Although there are exceptions, note that in general a doctoral candidate cannot rely on funding from the university, faculty or the department for individual activities, since most research funds are allocated to a center of excellence and/or a supervisor. The LSM Doctoral Research Incentive Programme The publication and international presentation of LSM research is promoted through the LSM Doctoral Research Incentive Programme that provides incentives (not full cost coverage) for doctoral candidates in two stages:
FNRS international travel support Researchers presenting work at international scientific conferences may apply for travel support from FNRS. The reimbursement is at most the cost for the airfare from Belgium to the destination. Application at a specific form (see webpage or contact secr.gen@frs-fnrs.be) at least 2 months prior to the date of the event in Europe, 3 months outside of Europe. In addition, FNRS offers also financing for scientific stays (1-3 months) abroad for doctoral (and post-doctoral) researchers. Deadline for application: 2 months before the visit. For details and conditions, see the webpage. A good review of financing for research mobility is found at the UCL webpage. Not to burden the document, we simply list some of the opportunities found in 2009;
Contacts Table 11 Administrative coordinator DSM/ILSM
Administrative contact for the CODAL is Mrs Michèle Fontaine, michele.fontaine@uclouvain.be.
For members of permanent commissions (CDD, Bureau of the Research Institute LSM (ILSM), LSM Doctoral Bureau, etc) see respective list under Section 2.
Webpages Doctoral regulations for Académie Louvain, including templates for joint supervision, équivalence of degrees and other documents: Sites for the doctoral programme information at each LSM site :
● FUSL: http://www.fusl.ac.be/fr/94.html
EIASM (EDEN programme of courses): http://www.eiasm.org/
CEMS (doctoral courses): http://www.cems.org/general/phd/workshops.php
FRS-FNRS (research funding) : http://www.frs-fnrs.be/
ICM (fellowships) : http://users.belgacombusiness.net/cim.icm/
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3/02/2011
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