 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Doctoral school" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(December 2013) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
InFrance, adoctoral school (école doctorale) is an educational structure similar in focus to agraduate school but restricted toPhD level. The concept was created in 2000. Doctoral schools have the responsibility of providing students with structured doctoral training in a disciplinary field. Each university will have different doctoral schools, relative to their main fields of research. A doctoral school can be shared between two or more universities. Some universities have also regrouped their Doctoral schools into a Doctoral college.
Admission to a doctoral program requires amaster's degree, both research-oriented and disciplinary focused. High marks are required (typically a "très bien honour", similar to acum laude), but the acceptance is linked to a decision of the School Academical Board.
A large share of the funding offered to junior researchers is channeled through the école doctorale, mainly in the shape of three-year "doctoral fellowships" (contrats doctoraux). These fellowships are awarded after submitting a biographical information, undergraduate and graduate transcripts where applicable, letters of recommendation, and research proposal, then an oral examination by an Academical Committee.