a guide for the doctoral student in brittany - Université de Rennes 1

4.7 Doctoral training4.8 Duration of the thesisThe thesis charter sets the maximum period for thesispreparation and submission at 3 years. However, an extrayear can be granted by special dispensation in exceptionalcircumstances upon receipt of a reasoned request fromthe candidate and the opinion of the thesis director. Thesespecial dispensations particularly concern those doctoralstudents who are in regular employment, and who mustprovide an attestation from their employer, or those whosework for their thesis has been interrupted because ofsickness because they have taken significant scientificrisks during their research work. Students who have a childduring their doctorate benefit from a special dispensationperiod of one year.Reregistration in the 4th(and even the 5th) year of thesis preparationAll candidates wishing to be registered beyond the 3rd yearmust provide reasons as to why they are requesting reregistration.This request is certified by the thesis director andthe director, or one of his deputies, of the doctoral school.RegistrationThe registration of a student in an academic year gives thema certain number of ‘rights’ until 31 December of the yearunder consideration. This enables the UEB to authorise thesisdefences / oral examinations until December without the needfor reregistration. A thesis defence from January onwards isconsidered by the APOGEE system as beinga thesis defence of the current academic year; hencethe need for reregistration. The limit of ‘flexibility in timemanagement’ that the doctoral school can allow itself tomake in accordance with the regulations is thus 31 December.Financial resources of the doctoral studentAn extension of funding for the student (funded only for the3 years of thesis preparation work) must be sought by theirhost laboratory. We remind you that under no circumstancesmust ASSEDIC (the organisation that pays unemploymentbenefit) be used as a source of funding.Unemployment is incompatible with work in a laboratory.We must emphasise the need to be perfectly clear about theregulations (especially as regards accidents at work) andthe commitments made (Thesis Charter). If these are notrespected, the laboratories concerned may not in future beentitled to benefit from government research grants.Doctoral training coursesWe also remind you that to obtain authorisation for thesisdefence, the doctoral student must have attended a certainnumber of doctoral training courses accumulated as creditsor hours of courses.The doctorate: a unique professional experienceTraining through research of the future managersof a society of knowledge and innovation.The doctorate is a unique professional experience whichprepares its students for research-related jobs as wellas for many careers as senior managers in a great manysocio-economic sectors.The real bonus of research experience arises from itsspecial quality. The completion in three years of an originalresearch project results in the acquisition of sound scientificexpertise as well as professional and personal skills whichare transferable to other jobs and other economic sectors.A doctoral student thus learns to:> Face the unknown> Solve complex problems> Find, extract, and synthesise knowledge> Formulate innovative solutions by combininga variety of original strategies> Build up networks> Work in a team> Manage time and resources> Manage setbacks and recover from themAt the UEB, this experience is accompanied by the provisionof vocational training courses. The doctoral student,knowing about the whole range of jobs to which they haveaccess, can develop a realistic professional project and,from among the varied range of training courses on offerto him, choose additional courses which relate to theirtastes and which reinforce the coherence of their professionalproject.24Contact your doctoral schoolsfor further information p.6-1125