The educational programme of the FANTOM PhD students is fixed at 30-36 ECTS credit points*. A small fraction of the FANTOM educational programme is compulsory: at least two (KVI PhD students four) general FANTOM study weeks must be attended over the entire duration of the PhD, at which at least one presentation must be given (see below). KVI PhD students who have started in 2010 or later are obliged to do also the following activities:
- the introductory course Mastering Your PhD (for RUG PhD students) or Taking charge of your PhD project (for FOM PhD students),
- writing an Introductory Essay (6 ECTS),
- FANTOM Presentation Training (1.5 ECTS),
- training Publishing in English (3 ECTS)
The remaining part of the programme can be filled in individually, in consultation with the supervisor(s). When a PhD student has taken his or her PhD examination and has met the requirements of the FANTOM educational programme, he or she is entitled to receive the
FANTOM certificate
.
The PhD students may compose (the free part of) their educational programmes from the following activities:
-
General FANTOM study weeks
Twice a year, a general FANTOM study week is organized. These weeks are aimed at providing a broad education in the full scope of research fields within FANTOM. All FANTOM PhD students are expected to participate in at least two of these weeks (KVI PhD students in at least four). The location of the weeks is rotated between the different partner institutes and countries.
In the general FANTOM study weeks, one topic is selected from each of the FANTOM fields of research. Generally, four or five lecturers give two or three hours of lectures each on their field of research. During the weeks, there will be project sessions related to the topic of the week. At the end of the week, the participants will present the results of their project assignments. Traditionally, there is an evening lecture on a topic of general interest, outside the scope of the week. The participants have the opportunity to - and are encouraged to - present their own research during these general study weeks. For FANTOM PhD students it is mandatory to give such a presentation at least once.
-
Specialized FANTOM study weeks
In addition to the general study weeks, more specialized weeks are organized on an irregular basis for smaller groups of PhD students, for example on topics such as instrumentation or data acquisition.
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Courses organized by the Groningen Graduate School of Science
See for a list: http://www.rug.nl/gradschoolscience/informatievoor/currentphdstudents/phdcourses/index
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Courses from the curricula for (advanced) undergraduate students
These courses are selected from the curriculum at the participating faculties. Usually these courses will link up with the research topic of the PhD student, but they may also be courses that supplement the knowledge of a PhD student in a more general way, as long as they are profitable to the (performance of the) PhD research (e.g. a course in publishing or presentation in English) or the future career (e.g. a management course).
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Workshops, international schools and conferences
PhD students select these from the existing international offering. A presentation of their research results is required.
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Work placement
Within FANTOM it is considered important that its PhD students gain international experience during their period of research and that they can look beyond the frontiers of their own PhD project. Therefore it is stipulated for the PhD students to do a foreign work placement, in a field that is outside the direct topic of the PhD research. The duration of the work placement can not exceed eight weeks; for each week 1.5 credit points are earned.
KVI PhD students who have started in 2010 or later, participate in the
Groningen Graduate School of Science (GGSS)
and will generally follow the rules of this school (in some aspects, KVI rules deviate from the GGSS rules, e.g. KVI PhD students do not have their own Individual Training Budget). At the start of their project, these students should, together with their principal supervisor (the ‘promotor’), complete a
Training & Support Plan (TSP)
which includes guidelines on the educational programme. The TSP forms an integral part of project planning discussions and serves as a basis for judging the PhD candidate's progress.
* The
ECTS system (European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System) is the current standard European credit system. 60 ECTS points measure the workload of a full-time student during one academic year. The student workload of a full-time study programme in Europe amounts, in most cases, to around 1500-1800 hours per year and hence one ECTS point stands for around 25 to 30 working hours.
