Doctoral studies are the third cycle studies. The persons who hold a master’s or equivalent qualification degree are admitted to these studies. The doctoral studies prepare the scientists who can independently perform research and experimental development works, solve scientific problems, work in an academic and non-academic environment.
Doctoral studies are the third-cycle study programmes that aim to develop the knowledge and skills required for carrying out independent research.
The Doctoral degree is awarded to a doctoral student who completes the doctoral programme and defend their doctoral dissertation (art project). The Doctor of Science (Doctor of Art) degree allows access to the world of scientific research, not limited to the academic world, but also in independent research centres and production facilities.
The University admits to doctoral studies in 16 science/artistic fields coordinated by the University and 5 science/artistic fields not coordinated by the University.
Doctoral studies at KTU provide the following opportunities:
The Regulations of admission to the Third Cycle Studies of Kaunas University of Technology (hereinafter – Regulations) establish a procedure under which applicants are admitted to the full-time third cycle (hereinafter – doctoral studies) study programmes of science fields coordinated by Kaunas University of Technology (hereinafter – University). The Regulations of admission 2025 will be announced in February.
Participation in the competition for admission to doctoral studies is allowed after the submission of the application and other required documents. Submission and registration of the documents is performed under the procedure and within the terms indicated in the Regulations.
1. The applicants are admitted to doctoral studies of the science field under the procedure of competition on the grounds of their compliance with the requirements for the science field and on the basis of their competition score;
2. The admission requirements and the minimum competition scores for admission to statefunded and state non-funded doctoral studies are provided in Appendix 2 to the Regulations;
3. All the applicants are required to comply with the main and additional admission requirements;
4. The applicants can apply to state-funded and state non-funded positions of studies. The rights and obligations of all the applicants are equal (except for the amounts of fees). The applicants who have already completed or are currently students of doctoral studies are not eligible for a statefunded position if more than half of the duration of their doctoral studies was state-funded by the Republic of Lithuania.
where EPj – j competition component (VS, Mm, Mr and Md) mark in the ten-point grading system; EKj – weighting
coefficient of j competition component; m – number of the competition components forming the competition score.
A research proposal is prepared on the selected topic if the applicant applies to the science fields of Physics, Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Civil Engineering, Informatics Engineering, Measurement Engineering or Management.
If no research works by the applicant are presented, the applicant is required to present a research paper whose topic is consistent with the dissertation topic indicated in the applicant’s application (if the applicant applies to two thematic areas, two individual (i.e., different) research papers are required to be submitted).
Exeption: If the applicant is applying to the science field of Informatics Engineering, he/she is required to have published at least one scientific publication (or to present a publication which has been accepted for publication, and, in this case, submit a copy thereof), i.e., in the science field of Informatics Engineering, a research paper is not acceptable.
Applicants to the full-time doctoral study programmes of the science/artistic fields which are not coordinated by the University are admitted under the admission regulations approved by the institutions coordinating the relevant science/artistic fields.
Participation in the competition for admission to doctoral studies is allowed after the submission of the application and other required documents. Submission and registration of the documents is performed under the procedure and within the terms indicated in the Regulations.
Student Info Center
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email phd@ktu.lt
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The applicants to doctoral studies are required to submit the following documents:
The application fee is non-refundable after the registration of the application for permission to participate in the competition for admission to doctoral studies.
The applicants to the positions of joint doctoral studies pay the application fee to the bank account of the institution to which they have submitted the admission application.
Note: The individuals specified in Paragraph 44 of the 2024 Regulations of Admission to the Third Cycle Studies at Kaunas University of Technology are exempted from the payment of the application fee.
Concluding a learning agreement with KTU
Concluding a learning agreement remotely
Concluding a learning agreement in person
If education documents of the applicant have been issued at a foreign institution, the academic acknowledgement of the qualification, the identification of the equivalent subjects and their transfer into the Lithuanian evaluation system are required.
Academic recognition refers to determining the academic value of a qualification, i.e. it determines whether the foreign qualification meets the general academic requirements for a similar qualification in Lithuania.
Authorities responsible for the recognition of academic qualifications
Procedure for submitting documents for academic recognition:
*For the submission of the admission documents to doctoral studies only the final documents (diplomas) certifying the qualification and the supplements thereof shall be submitted. A temporary (provisional) degree certificates are not accepted.
Duration of academic recognition
The procedure is free of charge. The University will not cover any costs related to the submission of the required documentation.
Automatic recognition
The following qualifications are recognised automatically without any additional procedures:
More information is available here: KTU Academic Recognition
Students admitted to state-funded positions are exempted of tuition fee.
Self-funded doctoral students pay the tuition fee:
Science Area | Annual tuition fee, EUR |
---|---|
Technological Sciences | 11 837 € |
Natural Sciences | 11 837 € |
Social Sciences | 11 837 € |
Humanities | 11 837 € |
Visual Arts | 11 837 € |
The applicants to the positions of joint doctoral studies pay the application fee to the bank account of the institution to which they have submitted the admission application.
Note: The individuals specified in Paragraph 44 of the 2024 Regulations of Admission to the Third Cycle Studies at Kaunas University of Technology are exempted from the payment of the application fee.
The data specified in the section of the payer code – The applicant’s/student’s personal identification number. It is required to specify the name and surname of the applicant/student in the description of the payment.
Recipient – Kaunas University of Technology
Swedbank: LT54 7300 0100 0251 0317, SWIFT XABALT 22
SEB bankas: LT75 7044 0600 0310 4494, SWIFT CBVILT 2X
Luminor bankas: LT70 4010 0425 0240 0369, SWIFT AGBLLT 2X
The students of the state-funded doctoral studies are provided with financial support (scholarship) in the amount set out by the Government of the Republic of Lithuania during their studies. From 1 January 2024 the size of the doctoral scholarship is:
Doctoral students may expect additional funding.
The University offers a variety of financial support and promotion opportunities for students in both state-funded and non-state-funded study places:
Doctoral students can apply regarding the additional support provided by the institutions and external foundations:
Diploma recognition is the alignment of Lithuanian and foreign education. In order for you to be accepted for study in Lithuania, your previous education needs to be evaluated against the Lithuanian degree structure.
The acknowledgement of the applicant’s education documents is performed by the University under the procedure set out by the University. More information is available at academic-recognition.
You will be informed by email about the results of recognition within ~1 month.
When we receive documents required for the recognition of qualification, the process of your foreign degree documents evaluation and recognition will be started.
More information about important dates here: Dates and deadlines
For the admission process you have to submit your final degree diploma, a temporary (provisional) degree certificate is not accepted.
A temporary (provisional) degree certificate is a document issued by an institution to a student who has been awarded or conferred an academic degree. The temporary (provisional) degree certificate is issued as a replacement for the actual degree certificate e.g. in case the actual degree certificate cannot be given to the student immediately after the studies have been completed due to technical or administrative reasons. As far as all foreign degree diplomas must be evaluated and recognized, only final certificates are processed, and therefore any temporary / provisional diplomas will be considered as insufficient for final evaluation and recognition.
If your Master’s diploma was issued outside Lithuania, then according to the regulations it must be evaluated and recognized. For diploma recognition process both Bachelor and Master diplomas and their supplements are mandatory.
More information is available on KTU Academic Recognition
All Master’s degree documents issued in languages other than English or Lithuanian should be supplemented with an official translation.
All documents (original language and translation) necessary for the evaluation must be officially certified!
Usually, a translation contains, in addition to the translation, a copy of the certificate in original language. However, translators are only allowed to certify the document issued by themselves. Take both the translation and the original certificate with you to the certifying authority. By this you can ensure that both documents (translation and document in original language) can be certified.
It is required that you list all post-secondary institutions you have attended: you need to list details about your both Bachelor’s and Master’s studies (and PhD, if applicable). If you are currently pursuing your PhD research, you must also indicate that information.
Yes, in such cases is required to provide a notarized name change certificate.
Provided that your studies are in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and if the Graduation Ceremony is later than the application deadline, you should contact the your Faculty/Academic Office with the request to issue:
– a document certifying the fact that you have completed certain Master programme, and the date of diploma awarding must be indicated;
– an academic transcript of all study semesters in that Master programme, including credits and evaluations, as well as the results of Master thesis defence.
The recommendations have to be issued in the same calendar year when the candidate’s application is submitted. Therefore, if you are applying in 2024, the recommendation is considered valid if issued in 2024.
A recommendation must explicitly specify the institution and the doctoral programme to which the candidate is being recommended. That means, that the refereee should clearly indicate that he/she recommends you for PhD studies in, for example, Informatics Engineering, at Kaunas University of Technology.
In such case, for those programmes where it is mandatory to provide a recommendation by the supervisor of the topic, your application will be considered as incomplete and will be withdrawn from the competition.
According to the Admission Regulations recommendations by two scientists representing the relevant science field (a recommendation of the supervisor of the topic to which the applicant is applying is required in the science fields specified in Appendix 2 to the Regulations; if the applicant is applying to the positions of doctoral studies funded under the invitation to doctoral studies under the competition of the Research Council of Lithuania, a recommendation of the supervisor of the topic to which the applicant is applying is required). The recommendations have to be prepared in the same calendar year when the applicant’s application is submitted. A recommendation has to clearly specify the institution and the science field to which the applicant is being recommended.
A consent of the supervisor of the topic to which the candidate is applying to Informatics Engineering is required to confirm that the supervisor agrees to supervise the candidate if he/she is invited to studies.
That means that a candidate has to communicate with that researcher (future supervisor) well before the application deadline.
A list of the research works has to be submitted with the unabridged bibliographic description. You may search the internet on “bibliographical references on a list of references” to see what it looks like.
No, only PDF format is acceptable.
Failure to follow the requirements may result in rejection of application.
No, research proposal ≠ research paper.
Note! 2 topics = 2 research proposals, that means if you choose two different topics in the programme that requires research proposal, you will have to write two different proposals, for each of your chosen topic.
How to write a research proposal: Admission regulations Annex 5
Yes, you are eligible apply to all programmes offered by KTU except to Informatics Engineering: for this programme at least one publication is mandatory.
In this case you will have to write a research paper on the topic that you are applying to. If you choose two different topics, you will have to write two different research papers for each of your chosen topic.
How to write a research paper: Admission regulations Annex 4
If there is no English level indicated in your MSc or BSc diploma supplement, register for a test and obtain your certificate at:
– KTU Centre of Foreign Languages
– any institution, certified to provide this service
It now possible to document your English through the TOEFL IBT Special Home Edition Test. The test is a possibility for students to take their test at home rather than at a test center.
Unfortunately no late documents or test results are accepted.
No, all mandatory documents (including copy of application fee transfer) must be submitted by the application deadline.
Yes, as far as another admission process starts, you have to pay application fee again.
Yes, you can if you meet the requirements for both programmes. However, consider:
-the mandatory recommendations of supervisors
-your scientific experience in both science fields
-participation in interviews with each committee
-your motivation
You are eligible (provided that you have certain background and scientific experience in Mechanical Engineering, Technological Sciences).
After admission: possible necessity to take additional courses in the field of science (fee-paying).
No, the minimum required score does not guarantee you a position.
A certain number of state-funded positions can be less than the number of candidates with >min.competition score.
If you believe that the admission decision is incorrect, you may lodge an appeal. Follow the instructions included in the Admission Regulations.