The doctoral training is organised with the collaborative work of several colleagues and administrative units. Issues emerging may include educational, financial, etc. questions, which belong to different offices. The list of examples and e-mails below concern the most frequent and typical issues only. Specific issues may appear in detail in the present document, too. 

If you have atypical or more complex issues, please write to doktori@tatk.elte.hu.

TTDT is the Doctoral Council of the Field of Social Sciences. It is usually referred to with its Hungarian abbreviation, even in English. Most of its members are elected from among the professors of ELTE, but a fixed number of members must come from other institutions, and there is always a student representative, too. They make decisions in several kinds of issues, for example admission results, propounding someone for a doctoral degree, the committees of comprehensive exams or public defences, or student issues in general (e.g. changing a supervisor or a topic, asking for a postponement, etc.). 

Please find the dates and deadlines here: https://tatk.elte.hu/en/studies/phd/info  

Please find the forms here: https://tatk.elte.hu/en/content/forms.t.8902?m=513. Please note that you must first obtain support from both your supervisor and the head of the programme.

At the end of each semester, you are notified about the beginning of the next one and the deadlines. You can set your status to active or passive at the beginning of the semester, during the registration period.

In extreme cases (illness, etc.) it is also possible to request passivation later in the semester. 

It is possible to passivate two semesters in the first phase of doctoral training and two semesters again in the second phase. It is not possible to passivate more than two in a row. 

No. Scholarships and grants are suspended for passive semesters.

At the end of each semester, you are notified of the beginning of the following semester and the deadlines, including that of the registration. Before the registration period, you receive the timetable of every programme, containing mandatory and elective courses, which you will be able to register for in Neptun. 

The only exception is tutorial consultation. Every student is registered for their tutorial consultation by the Academic Registrar’s Office. 

Tutorial consultation means consulting with your supervisor regularly, at times fixed by the supervisor. It is for the student to report on their research and for the supervisor to advise the student on how to prepare for and write the thesis. Only the supervisor will grade that. At every programme, you are expected to consult your supervisor at least once a month.

Tutorial consultation is mandatory every semester and cannot be repeated if not completed. If your tutorial consultation is not graded (which can only happen if you fail to appear at consultations, or you do not have a supervisor by the exam period of your first semester), your training terminates without a result.

Tutorial consultation is the only subject which students do not register for themselves. The Academic Registrar’s Office does the registration for each student respectively. For every other subject, you register yourself. 

Yes, it is possible to register for the courses of other doctoral programmes. In your programme, they will count as electives, even if they are mandatory in their own programme.

If you have failed to register for a course during the registration period, you can register for it at the Academic Registrar’s Office, but you have to pay for that. The only exception is tutorial consultation, because you cannot register for that yourself.

Consultations can have many methods, the Doctoral School only require it to be regular and documented in a Teams folder designated for that. Employees and students of the Doctoral School can all have Teams access as well, and each student and their supervisor(s) is granted access to a Teams folder respectively. Students are expected to upload their study plans and short memoranda of their tutorial consultations into this folder. Apart from the student and the supervisor(s), only the programme director, the programme secretary, and the administrator have access to the folder. 

Doctoral students prepare their study plans at the beginning of every academic year until October 15. The study plan comprises the detailed plan of the student's course work, research and teaching activities, including publications and conference participations.

Yes. If you have been admitted as a self-funded student, it is not possible to change your status in the same semester, but it is possible to change it later. 

For Hungarians, other EU citizens or people with a permanent residence permit in Hungary:

If at least one other student with a state grant gives up their studies, and your results (approved by your supervisor) justify a state grant position for you, you can change your status. All students are notified about empty positions and have to submit their requests by a fixed date, for TTDT (Doctoral Council of the Field of Social Studies) to approve. Please mind that there are always several other students applying. 

Please keep in mind that if your scholarship application is successful, you will be awarded with the scholarship for your remaining semesters, but you will not be compensated for the semesters spent as a self-funded student. 

For non-EU citizens (self-financed applicants who wish to continue their studies with Stipendium Hungaricum): 

First, please check whether you are eligible for the programme through the scholarship from your sending country: https://stipendiumhungaricum.hu/partners. Kindly also read the call for applications carefully: https://stipendiumhungaricum.hu/apply/. For the details, please contact the International Office of the Faculty of Social Sciences. 

Apart from the general requirements, self-funded students applying for the scholarship need to be recommended by their Hungarian host universities where they are studying at the time of application. If eligible, please ensure that you upload all the other required documents to your application by the relevant deadlines. 

Once the application period opens and you have uploaded all other required documents, please contact the International Office again and they will contact your programme director regarding the required recommendation letter. If they support your application, they will upload the recommendation letter to your application. Please note that the recommendation is not the same as the nomination. Applicants are nominated by their sending country, and the university is not involved in this process. If you have further questions about the nomination process, we recommend contacting your sending partner directly.

Please keep in mind that if your scholarship application is successful, you will be awarded with the scholarship for your remaining semesters, but you will not be compensated for the semesters spent as a self-funded student.

Yes, your scholarship status is valid until the last day of your 8th semester (either 31 January or 31 August). After qualifying for your absolutorium, the document is issued with a January or August date even if you have fulfilled the requirements months before.

You can obtain credits e.g. by completing courses, participating in conferences, publishing scientific papers, making presentations, or teaching. The credit curriculum of your programme provides a detailed breakdown of achievements awarded by credits.

You should obtain at least 240 credits until the end of your 8th active semester, with at least 15 credits obtained during each active semester. 

• At the end of the Study and research phase, you need at least 120 credits, with a minimum in both study and research modules.

• At the end of the Research and thesis writing phase, you need at least 120 credits, too, including tutorial seminars, as well as research and teaching modules. The research and teaching modules may also be completed in the Study and research phase (e.g. by publications and teaching activities during the first four semesters). 

Please find the details of credit requirements in your credit curriculum on the Faculty website, among Regulations: https://tatk.elte.hu/en/about/regulations 

Please find the credit curriculum which was valid in the year of admission to your present training. Please also note that each doctoral programme has its own credit curriculum, so you will have to find your own.

You can check your credits for each module (study, research, and teaching) in Neptun. The administrators of the Doctoral School can also see your credits and will notify you about the present state of your credits at the beginning of your 4th and 8th active semester. If you are uncertain, please write to doktori@tatk.elte.hu.

If you do not obtain all necessary credits by the end of your training, your training terminates without a result. You cannot have more than 8 active semesters.

You can request credits for scientific work, popularising science, conference participation, publications, and teaching, if you submit a credit request for each activity in Neptun, “Requests.” You will also need the support of your supervisor, which supervisors with a Neptun access can do within Neptun, too. Supervisors from other institutions can use a form: https://tatk.elte.hu/en/content/forms.t.8902?m=513. 

If you have completed a part of your doctoral training at another university or college in Hungary or abroad, you may obtain credits for the courses completed there as well, but you also need to submit a request for that. 

Please fill in the credit request form in Neptun, found in "Requests".

Credit requests are “open” only for a few weeks before the deadline. Students will always be notified when they are open, so they cannot miss the deadline. If you cannot see them in Neptun, they are not yet “open,” so you will have to wait.

First, the programme secretary checks that the number of credits requested for each student's detailed achievements is in accordance with the relevant credit curriculum. The secretary may propose a different number of credits for approval by the head of the doctoral school, who can either confirm or change the number of credits, as the final decision lies with the head of the doctoral school.

Students are advised to submit requests for credits for as many relevant activities as possible, especially if they need a fixed number of credits by a fixed date (e.g. if they are in their last active semester). So, if any of the requests should fail, there will hopefully still be enough credits awarded.

As there are several people checking the credit requests, it may take several months until the final decision is made, and the credits are either added to your Neptun account, or you are notified of the rejection. Therefore, it is advisable to submit them as soon as you can. 

Please find the deadlines here: https://tatk.elte.hu/en/studies/phd/info. 

If you are at the end of your 4th or 8th semester and you need the credits to be allowed to do your comprehensive exam or obtain your absolutorium, you may receive publication credits even if the text has not been printed yet. (Publishing houses may need a long time, sometimes even a year to issue a volume.) In this case you need a certificate from the publishing house, confirming that your essay has been accepted and edited, and the physical copies are being prepared at the moment.

In any other case, there is no need to hurry. You can wait until you have your publication published and then submit your credit request. 

No. At the submitting of the final version of your thesis, you need to have your scientific publications already published and uploaded into MTMT. Therefore, please make sure that you have your publications prepared in time. Please note that publishing houses and journals may need a long time, sometimes even a year to issue a volume.

The Hungarian Science Bibliography (operated by the Library and Information Centre of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences) is the national database of publications, where researchers can upload the data of their academic work. It is usually referred to with its Hungarian abbreviation (MTMT), even in English. It is open and public to everyone. Doctoral candidates may submit the final version of their thesis only if they have at least two scientific publications, both uploaded into MTMT, with the proper affiliation. If you need help with that, please consult the Faculty librarians: kutatastamogatas@tatk.elte.hu.

Academic publications are: 

• Any scientific essay published in a scientific journal. (Usually a journal ranking at least Q1-4 according to Scimago index, or A-D on the list of the 9th class of HAS: https://mta.hu/doktori-tanacs/a-ix-osztaly-doktori-kovetelmenyrendszere-105380. Apart from these, journals selected by the doctoral programme may also count, but please consult your supervisor and / or the programme secretary before publication.)

• Any chapter published in volumes edited scientifically, including conference volumes. 

• Any essay published in the Faculty’s own academic series (Hyphens).

The affiliation added to the data of your publication refers to your being a doctoral student at the Doctoral School of Sociology, Faculty of Social Studies, Eötvös University. If you need help with that, please consult the Faculty librarians: kutatastamogatas@tatk.elte.hu.

Depending on the financial possibilities of the Faculty, the Doctoral School will regularly call for applications for a travel grant. PhD students can apply if they wish to participate in a conference in Hungary or abroad, or a summer/winter school (or other professional events equivalent to them) which will aid their professional development and the writing of their thesis. The travel grant covers their costs partly or fully, provided that the participation is active, that is, the student gives a presentation. 
The costs may include

• the registration fee,

• travel costs,

• accommodation.

(Meals are not paid for.)

The costs are covered subsequently, usually after the event. Details are found on the Faculty website, and students will regularly be informed about new calls by the administration.

State recognised language exams in Hungary: Államilag elismert nyelvvizsgák nyelvek szerint (gov.hu)

Foreign language exams that can be nationalised: Honosítható nyelvvizsgák táblázata (gov.hu)

Both lists are in Hungarian, but the language exams are identifiable even so.

The language exams you need depend on the year you were admitted. 

Those enrolled in 2021 or later are required to have a language exam in English (B2 minimum) at admission. When submitting the final version of their thesis, they need another language exam, too, in any living language (B2 minimum) OR one English language exam (level C1).

Those enrolled in 2020 are required to have a language exam in English, but level A2 will also suffice. When submitting the final version of their thesis, they need two language exams (B2 at least), OR one English language exam (level C1), OR one level C1 language exam in any living language and an English language exam (level A2). 

Those enrolled between 2016 and 2020 are not required to have a language exam in English. They need two language exams (B2 at least) or a level C1 and a level A2 language exam in any living language.

All language exams must be state recognised, except if you have a foreign language exam that can be nationalised.

State recognised language exams in Hungary: Államilag elismert nyelvvizsgák nyelvek szerint (gov.hu)

Foreign language exams that can be nationalised: Honosítható nyelvvizsgák táblázata (gov.hu)

Both lists are in Hungarian, but the language exams are identifiable even so.

If you have a diploma of secondary or tertiary education conducted in any living language (except Hungarian), it corresponds to a language exam (level C1). It is also possible to have a specific exam designed for PhD-students in any language (except English and Hungarian), organised by the Faculty of Arts at Eötvös University, which proves your skills in reading and interpreting academic essays.