PhD Administrative phases

Confirmation Stage

1. Ask your Supervisor(s) to write à mail to Professor David de la Croix, Doctoral Program Director (email : mailto:delacroix@ires.ucl.ac.be) copying Mrs Pascale Schicks (email : doctoralschool@econ.ucl.ac.be) informing the Doctoral Commission that they have been foreboded as supervisor(s). In this letter they should indicate the subject of the thesis and propose a Supervisory Committee including two other members regardless of whether there is one or two supervisors.

2. If this proposal is accepted by the Council, the PhD student enters in the Confirmation Stage.

3. During this stage :

3.1. the student writes his thesis project (Enclosure I : first page model) which has to be completed and approved by the Commission within two years in order to enter de Thesis Stage.

3.2. the student presents his work during the doctoral seminar organized twice a year by the Doctoral program Director.

4. The student must also be registered to the Graduate School. He must follow, during the first two years, four graduate courses to be chosen within the inter-university program. He will be able to follow courses at UCL, ULB (Brussels) or FUNDP (Namur). His program must be signed by both David de la Croix and the student’s supervisor and transmitted to Mrs Schicks at the beginning of the academic year.

Thesis Stage

 The student may enter this stage only if (s)he has finished the 4 courses of the graduate school.

 1. The student provides Mrs Pascale Schicks with his/her thesis project in electronic format.

 2. Mrs Schicks transmits the thesis project to the supervisor(s) and supervisory committee asking to report to the next Department Council.

 3. The supervisor(s) may already make a jury proposition to the Commission. It must be composed of 5 persons (1 supervisor + 4 members or 2 supervisor(s) + 3 members), with at the minimum 1 member chosen outside UCL.

 4. If the report is positive, the PhD Student enters in the Thesis Stage and the jury may be accepted by the Commission.

 Pre-defence

 1. Provide Mrs Schicks with a paper copy of your thesis 1 month prior to your pre-defense.

 2. Pay full tuition at the Student registration office and provide the receipt of this payment to Mrs Schicks who will make sure the jury is accepted by the Rector.

 3. The PhD student sets the date with his jury. (S)he provides a copy of his thesis to the jury members. (Mrs Schicks will send an official invitation to the jury members confirming the pre-defense.)

4. After the pre-defense, the thesis supervisor will provide the Director of the Doctoral Program a report on the results.

Defence

1. The PhD student must provide Mrs Schicks with the date and time of his/her defense 1 month in advance in order to make the official announcement.

2. The student must publish at least the bibliogrphical information concerning the thesis in the university electronic library. (S)He may also publish the entirety of the thesis.

3. The student must publish his/her thesis. This may be done at the "Presses Universitaires de Louvain" The student should print his or her thesis within the collection of the ESPO faculty. Information about printing can be received by contacting Ciaco.

4. One month prior the defence the student must provide 2 abstracts, 1 in French, 1 in English to Mrs Schicks and provide 3 key-words to be included in the announcement 

5. A few days prior, provide Mrs. Schicks with 2 copies of your thesis and provide a copy to each jury member.

6. During the public defense, the student must present his/her thesis during a maximum of 30 minutes, after which the jury and public will be granted a question time. A beamer may be reserved with Jean-Pierre Lemaître. It is the student’s responsibility to book the material necessary for the presentation (beamer, slide show).

After the defence 
1. Provide 1 copy of the thesis to Mrs. Silve Jacques de Dixmude, ESPO Secrétary (4 Place Montesquieu)

2. Provide 1 copy to the ESPO library (Juliane Massaux (bureau 1))

3. The student may request a subsidy from the faculty for the thesis publication 

4. The PhD student may benefit from a PhD grant (€500) if (s)he is member of the UCL staff (temporary or definite assistantship) having defended publicly a thesis and having obtained the title of Doctor after September 1, 1992.  

NB  The Student has to provide proof of study or research abroad (those having an undergraduate or graduate degree in Economics from a foreign country are exempted, see point 3 of the PhD regulations)