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Regulation on Doctoral Studies
Dissertation and its defense procedure
FAQ
General matters
  • Doctoral studies start from 1st October (except in rare exceptional cases). Doctoral studies are full-time (8-hour working day) and last 4 (four) years.
  • Documents regulating doctoral studies and other relevant documents during the study period, sample applications, etc. are provided on the FTMC website (www.ftmc.lt), in the section Studies/Documents (https://www.ftmc.lt/dokumentai-3).
  • A doctoral student admitted to doctoral studies at FTMC must create and use an official e-mail address name.surname@ftmc.lt (for that please contact FTMC IT specialist Kestutis Senuta (kestutis.senuta@ftmc.lt) and the account of the document management system “Kontora” (DVS) (contact the administrators of Document Management Service, room D409, Saulėtekio al. 3, Vilnius).
  • Doctoral students are paid scholarship (tax free) in the amount determined by the state:

Study years

From 2021.01.01

From 01.01.2022

From 2022.06.01

From 2023.01.01

For doctoral students of the I year of study

€760.00

€798.00

€847.00

€931.00

For doctoral students of the II - IV year of study

€880.00

€924.00

€1012.00

€1078.00
    • The scholarship for the current month will be paid on the 10th day of the following month, i.e. the scholarship for October will be paid on November 10th.
    • The bank account number (only Lithuanian bank account numbers are suitable) must to be provided to the FTMC Finance Department through the self-service system of the document management system "Kontora" (DVS) (https://dvs2.ftmc.lt/#/Login), by filling out a request in the prescribed form (“DRR-6 - Prašymas dėl stipendijos mokėjimo”).
  • The Lithuanian student card (LSP) is issued after registering and ordering it at https://lsp.lt/lt
  • FTMC pass cards, which unlock corridors/laboratory doors, are taken care of by the representatives of doctoral student's scientific departments: the responsible person has to send an e-mail (milda.tamosiunaite@ftmc.lt , room A420) providing information on which rooms can be unlocked with the pass cards. As pass cards also can be programmed Lithuanian student cards (every Tuesday at the security post).
Study plans
  • Consultants can only be appointed when the doctoral topic is interdisciplinary and the consultant is from another scientific department/institution.
  • The study documents (descriptions) of the studied subjects are available on the FTMC website https://www.ftmc.lt/dokumentai-3 . Depending on the field of study, doctoral students choose subjects from the list of compulsory and optional subjects:
  • The scope of doctoral studies amounts to at least 30 credits (ECTS): 25 – 27 ECTS for studied subjects and 3 – 5 ECTS for activities that strengthen general abilities.
  • A doctoral student studies at least 3 subjects (depends on the field of study and the number of credits assigned to the selected study subjects). The exams must be passed during the first two years of study.
  • The studies of each subject are completed with an exam. Passed exams are recorded in the examination protocol (the template (“Egzaminų laikymo protokolas”) is available on the FTMC website https://www.ftmc.lt/dokumentai-3 ).
  • Requests for the formation of the examination committee are submitted through DVS Self-service (https://dvs2.ftmc.lt/#/Login, “DRR-20 - Prašymas dėl egzamino komisijos sudarymo”), orders are prepared by Rasa Kromkutė (room D417, rasa.kromkute@ftmc.lt )
  • After passing all the exams, the examination protocol has to be submitted to the FTMC Scientific Information and Doctorate Department (room D412/D409).
  • A doctoral student must receive from 3 to 5 ECTS credits for the development of general skills (i.e. preparation of project applications, scientific writing, academic ethics, intellectual property, entrepreneurship, communication skills, etc.)
  • The decision concerning endorsement of additional credits shall be taken by the Committee upon submission of an application, a certificate confirming the credits received or participation in an internship and a completed table of activities that strengthen General abilities in the prescribed form (templates of the application and table are available on the FTMC website https://www.ftmc.lt/dokumentai -3, “Bendruosius gebėjimus stiprinančios veiklos lentelė”).
  • When preparing the study plan, it is necessary to plan to present the obtained research results at at least 2 international scientific conferences (Article 67.3 of the Regulation).
  • Depending on the field of study, you should plan to publish the main results of your research in at least two (Physics field - three) articles in peer reviewed international research journals with a citation index in the Clarivate Analytics Web of Science (CA WoS) database.
Participation in conferences/internships
  • Travel expenses can be financed from funds allocated for doctoral studies or from other sources. The costs of the trip can also be covered by projects or programs administered by the Lithuanian Research Council, the host institution and other sources.
  • Requests for secondments (internships) has to be submitted through the DVS Self-Service system (https://dvs2.ftmc.lt/#/Login, “DRR-3 - Komandiruotės prašymas”) before starting the purchases related to the secondment (conference fee, travel tickets, accommodation, etc.).
  • A secondment request must also be submitted if the conference will be attended remotely, but the conference fee must be paid.
  • Upon returning from the secondment (internship), an advance statement (can be downloaded from the FTMC Intranet, https://intranet.ftmc.lt/?page_id=2070) with supporting documents (invoices, bank statements, tickets, etc.) and a business trip report (free form) has to be provided to the Finance Department (Virgyna Siliukienė, room D407).
  • Business trip (secondment) memo: https://www.ftmc.lt/komandiruociu-atmintine
Publications
  • Published scientific publications (with pages) must be registered by filling out and submitting a request template in the DVS Self-Service system (https://dvs2.ftmc.lt/#/Login, “DRR-2 - Prašymas dėl publikacijų registravimo”).
  • Each scientific department sets its own procedure, who in the department is responsible for registration of scientific publications (e.g. appointed responsible person or first/corresponding author).
Attestation of doctoral students
  • At the end of each year of doctoral studies, the attestation of doctoral students is being carried out for the implementation of the doctoral student's work plan according to the procedure established by the Doctoral Committees (the lists of the Committees are available on the FTMC website https://www.ftmc.lt/dokumentai-3).
  • Attestation of doctoral students takes place once a year (at the end of October), doctoral students of the LMT competitive doctoral program – twice a year. Doctoral students are informed about the specific dates of attestation and submission of documents by official FTMC e-mail (name.surname@ftmc.lt).
  • During the attestation, doctoral students must submit a report in the prescribed form (provided on the FTMC website https://www.ftmc.lt/dokumentai-3), the supervisor's feedback and a protocol of student consideration at the meeting of scientific department. All documents must be signed. Documents must be submitted by e-mail doktorantura@ftmc.lt or delivered to room D409. (document case for "Scientific Secretary").
  • Attestation differences depends on the field of study:
    • Doctoral students in Physics and Materials engineering fields do not need to submit a protocol of student consideration at the meeting of scientific department.
    • Doctoral students in the field of Chemistry must also submit all the listed documents in WORD format (by e-mail doktorantura@ftmc.lt )
    • During the meeting of the Doctoral Commission, doctoral students in the field of Materials engineering must make short reports:
      • 1st year (newly admitted) doctoral students present the prepared study plans. Presentation duration - up to 2 minutes.
      • Attestation of doctoral students who have started II - IV years. Doctoral students present the activities carried out during the last study year (up to 5 slides, 5 minutes for presentation).
  • Doctoral students of the last study year who have not yet applied to the Committee with a request to defend their thesis, until the end of September must submit electronic manusripts of dissertation and their summaries to the Department of Scientific Information and Doctoral Studies (doctoral students are informed about the specific dates of submission annually via official FTMC e-mail addresses).
Doctoral leave
  • In July and/or August of each study year, doctoral students are granted a continuous vacation of at least one month ( the total duration of the vacation is not more than 2 months ). Leave can be granted at other times, if the supervisor of the doctoral student agrees (p. 52 of the Doctoral Studies Regulation).
  • For important reasons (childbirth, childcare leave, illness of the doctoral student, etc.), a doctoral student may take an academic leave.
  • Once during the period of study, the doctoral student, upon agreement with the supervisor of the doctoral student, has the right to take an academic leave of no longer than one year of study (12 months) for personal reasons.
  • A doctoral student who wishes to take an academic leave must submit a request, endorsed by the doctoral student's supervisor, to the Department of Scientific Information and Doctoral Studies at FTMC (room D412/D409, doktorantura@ftmc.lt or kristina.pauskaite@ftmc.lt). An example of a request to issue an academic leave is provided in the webpage of FTMC, section: Studies/Documents/Other documents (https://www.ftmc.lt/dokumentai-3). The text of the request can be filled in English.
  • The beginning of the academic leave always coincides with the first day of a certain month, and the end - with the last day of the corresponding month, therefore this should be taken into account when specifying the start and end dates of the academic leave in the request.
  • The time when the doctoral student is on academic leave is not included in the duration of the studies. The payment of the scholarship is suspended during the academic leave.
Funds for doctoral studies
  • According to the order of the FTMC director No. A-28 (2021.03.17) approved Procedure for the use of funds for the price of doctoral studies (hereinafter – Procedure, available in the DVS system), 1,500 EUR is allocated for the needs of doctoral studies of doctoral students of the I – III years of study per one year of study (from October 1 to September 30). In the IV year of studies, this amount is allocated to the defense of the dissertation.
  • Funds for doctoral needs can be used for: purchasing goods, materials, services, a computer with software, mobility (for a conference/internship), publication of an article, other basic tools necessary for studies.
  • In order to purchase tools for the doctoral needs, the public procurement procedure approved by the Center must be followed. The planned purchase must be coordinated in advance with the public procurement organizer assigned to the department where the doctoral student is studying (Order No. A-26 of 03/09/2021, available in the DVS system).
  • When purchasing a computer (with/without software), the purchase must also be coordinated with the Centre's IT specialist Kęstutis Senuta (kestutis.senuta@ftmc.lt). When purchasing the software separately from the computer, the inventory number of the computer on which the software will be installed must be indicated on the Invoice.
  • The acquisition of fixed assets, including intangible fixed assets (software), is not possible due to applicable restrictions of governmental funding usage.
  • The price of 1 unit of tools necessary for doctoral studies cannot exceed EUR 500.00 including VAT. Advance invoices in which the price of the instrument to be purchased exceeds EUR 500.00 including VAT are not paid.
  • The documents for the purchase of tools for doctoral purposes (advance invoices, invoices, etc.) must be approved by the doctoral student's scientific supervisor, indicating the name and surname of doctoral student of whose funds it should be paid.
  • Public procurement of goods for doctoral purposes cannot be carried out in December and January.
  • Doctoral students who are not employed in the current study year, except for the IV study year, may be additionally reimbursed the expenses of one conference/internship during one study year (Paragraph 8 of the Procedure).
  • In accordance to the Paragraph 5.2 of the Procedure, in order to prompt doctoral students, they can be employed from the funds of the doctoral studies price. On the recommendation of the doctoral student supervisor, the head of the relevant scientific department coordinates the possible recruitment position and workload with the director. If the doctoral student meets the department's needs and requirements, then the request to conclude an employment contract can be submitted to the director of FTMC.