Graduating around the globe
LIEVEN VERSCHAFFEL & JAN ELEN
Belgium
Doing a PhD in in Belgium takes four years for PhD students with a full-time research assignment (allowing them to work almost all of the time on their PhD project) or six years for those appointed to an assistant position (where they provide teaching assistance for 1/3 of their time and can work for 2/3 of their time on their own PhD project). These two groups of PhD students get a salary that is relatively high—actually, it is comparable to what a starting full-time upper secondary school teacher would get. There are also a number of self-supporting PhD students. They do not receive
a scholarship or salary and can work on their PhD at their own pace using the facilities of the research centres to which they belong. Some PhD students can only start after a pre-doctoral period where they have to improve their theoretical and methodological skills. At Belgian universities, PhD students pay a relatively small course fee (of about €500) at their first enrolment and a similar fee in the academic year during which their public defense takes place.
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