The PhD candidate and the Dissertation Committee agree on the courses to be taken in accordance with the curriculum. During the doctoral program, the following degree courses are to be successfully completed:

Fundamentals for graduates in medicine and dental medicine  

Graduates with a degree in Medicine or Dental Medicine must complete courses on the fundamentals of empirical work in medical research and the life sciences (total - 3 semester-hours), including an introduction to the respective field of their thematic program.  

Fundamentals for graduates in science and engineering  

Graduates of a degree program in science or engineering must complete courses on the fundamentals of medicine (total - 3 semester-hours), including an introduction to the respective field of their thematic program.  

Fundamentals of scientific research and general skills  

The students must completeelective courses (total - 4 semester-hours) in the fields of scientific theory, ethics, use of statistical methods, methods for planning, documentation, evaluation, and (meta) analysis of medical research studies and experiments, writing of scientific papers, presentation skills, university didactics, scientific English, management of scientific projects, etc.  

If students have not completed a corresponding course in their preceding study program, a course on the basics of biostatistics with a scope of 2 semester-hours shall be completed as part of the doctoral degree program.  

Dissertation seminar  

The students shall complete seminars and workshops (total - 8 semester-hours) in the field of the dissertation topic or in a sub-discipline.  

Literature clubs, project presentations and guest lectures  

During these seminars (total - 10 semester-hours) the scientific literature relevant to the field of the dissertations and the project reports are critically presented and discussed. The confirmation of participation in literature clubs, project presentations and guest lectures is to be forwarded to the Dean of Doctoral Studies.  

Presentation of dissertation topic and work plan before the Dissertation Committee  

The dissertation topic and the work plan shall be presented to the Dissertation Committee (total - 0.5 semester-hours) in the first semester.The presentation and a written assessment by the Dissertation Committee is to be forwarded to the Office for Doctoral Studies.

Interim report to the Dissertation Committee  

In the third and fifth semester, written interim reports shall be prepared and presented to the Dissertation Committee (total - 0.5 semester-hours each). The interim report and a written assessment by the Dissertation Committee is to be forwarded to the Office for Doctoral Studies.

Public presentations (e.g. at the Doctoral Day)  

During the course of the program, three public presentations shall be prepared and held at appropriate scientific conferences, including the Doctoral Day of the Medical University of Graz, (total - 0.5 semester-hours).

Electives:

Courses (Dissertation Seminars; Literature Clubs, Project Presentations and Guest Lectures; Fundamentals of scientific research and general skills) may be completed as electives, taking into consideration the thematic connection with the doctoral thesis and a scientific depth appropriate to the doctoral degree program, and shall be approved by the Rector of Studies in a recognition procedure after a positive statement has been obtained from the spokesperson of the Doctoral School. In total, a maximum of 4 semester week hours may be completed as electives.

Please note that...

• The courses are conducted in English.

• At least 50% of the courses shall be completed at the Medical University of Graz. The interim reports must be made at the Medical University of Graz.

• The successful completion of the courses is determined by the completion of course examinations and courses with continuous performance assessment with a passing grade. The sum of all course examinations represents the first part of the oral dissertation examination.