Overview of general guidelines for Swiss TPH PhD studies

Overview of general guidelines for Swiss TPH PhD studies

The University of Basel offers PhDs1 in many subject areas or disciplines/subjects, called “Promotionsfächer”. Formal responsibilities for those are rooted in the respective Faculties, thus, depending on the chosen subject, rules may partly differ.

Swiss TPH’s academic faculty supervises PhD studies in various faculties, though most frequently in the Faculty of Science followed by those enrolling in a Faculty of Medicine discipline.

PhD subjects offered by the Faculty of Science (of relevance at Swiss TPH): • Cell Biology • Epidemiology • Microbiology • Zoology

PhD subjects offered by the Faculty of Medicine: • Biomedical Engineering; • Clinical Research (incl MD / PhD) • Public Health / Epidemiology, including Insurance Medicine (incl MD / PhD) • Medicines Development (incl MD / PhD) • Biomedical Ethics • Nursing Sciences • Sports Science

According to the current regulation, the Medical Faculty awards the title Dr. sc. med. (Doctor scientiarum medicarum / PhD in English). For details, see the Faculty of Medicine website. The Faculty of Science awards the title Dr. phil. (PhD).

PhDs offered by the Faculty of Economics Students with a master’s degree in economics can also earn a PhD in economics under the supervision of Prof. Günther Fink. Students will have to apply to the economics department, and will then be enrolled in the Basel Graduate School of Economics. Course work typically entails 18 ECTS, and should focus mostly on economics courses. Find out more: https://wwz.unibas.ch/de/graduateschool/

General rules and requirements A completed Master degree, comprising at least 90 ECTS2 credit points3, is a prerequisite for doctoral studies at University of Basel. A Master of Advanced Studies (e.g. MPH) or any other MSc with only 60 ECTS credit points do NOT qualify for doctoral studies at the University of Basel.

The general rules for PhD candidates are outlined in the PhD rules and regulations (“Promotionsordnung”), which can be downloaded from the faculty websites, e.g. the Faculty of Science’s: https:// philnat.unibas.ch/de/forschung/promotionphd/immatrikulation-ab-hs-2016-registered-fall-semes-

1 PhD: Doctor of Philosophy; latin: philosophiae doctor 2 European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) was developed by the European Commission in order to provide general and accepted procedures for the recognition of study qualifications gained by students on courses outside their home country. 3 One ECTS credit point is equivalent to 25–30 student working hours.