The conditions for enrolment in a doctoral thesis in terms of degree are defined by the order of the Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation of 25 May 2016 establishing the national doctoral education framework and the procedures leading to the award of the national doctoral diploma :
To be enrolled in a doctorate, the candidate must hold a national master's degree or another degree conferring the diploma of master, after completion of a training or professional experience course establishing his/her aptitude for research.
If you do not meet the diploma requirement, the head of the institution may, by derogation and on the proposal of the board of the Doctoral School (DS) to which the host unit or research team is affiliated, enrol in doctoral training persons who have completed studies of an equivalent level or who benefit from the validation of prior experience (VAE) as provided for in Article L. 613-5 of the Education Code.
In addition to these prerequisites for the diploma, there are the requirements of the DS of enrolment, which are indicated on its website and in its bylaw, in particular the conditions of scientific, material and financial resources of the doctoral candidate during the duration of the thesis. Any candidate for a thesis enrolment must first have a thesis project, determined by agreement with his/her future thesis director(s). The application file (cf. thesis registration procedures on the DS website of the thesis director), must be submitted to the DS director, which validates the pedagogical registration of the candidate on the basis of his/her acceptance in a host research unit or team affiliated to the DS, to carry out a specific research project there, under the direction of a director/co-director identified as scientific supervisor(s).
STEP 1: PEDAGOGICAL REGISTRATION
You must register with the doctoral school to which you belong.
- create your personal space on the web interface https://www.adum.fr
- read the documents, fill them in and have them signed by the persons concerned.
Some doctoral schools require a printed version. Please contact the doctoral school in which you wish to enroll for further information.
STEP 2: ADMINISTRATIVE REGISTRATION
To register you administratively for the preparation of a thesis leading to a doctorate, the university needs the following documents:
- List of documents required for administrative registration in a doctoral program
- Doctoral registration form
These documents must be submitted to the Registrar's Office: for contact details, ask your doctoral school.
Registration is carried out each year; re-registration is subject to the opinion of the individual monitoring committee.
In the 5th year, when the thesis is full-time, registration is referred to as "dérogatoire", and requires the approval of the doctoral school council and the vice-president in charge of doctoral training.
As a general rule, doctoral studies at the doctoral school take three years of full-time equivalent research time. In other cases, the maximum duration of doctoral studies is six years. A 4th year is possible, but the request must be justified by the doctoral student and his/her thesis supervisor, or co-supervisor(s) if applicable. Some doctoral schools require publications and progress reports.