PhD for International Students at Polytech

The number of students who would like to get their PhD increases year by year. At Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University nowadays there are 87 PhD students, which is twice as much as in 2014.

SPbPU offers 25 postgraduate programs in different fields of studies. The degree programs are in Russian, so all of the international students have to pass the exam in Russian language. Ph.D. defense is in Russian, too.

There is the detailed information about the Admissions procedure:

• On official website of SPbPU the students should visit the section 'Postgraduate'. Here you can find information about PhD programs in Russian, the list of documents and exams. For those students who do not speak Russian there are English and Chinese versions of the website.
• The first thing the student should do is to fill an application form, where it is necessary to answer all the questions. Then an admission manager processes an application and sends the link with PhD Degree Programs in Russian.
• The student who has chosen the PhD program should send documents, confirming his or her previous education along with Russian or English authorized translation via e-mail. An admission manager negotiates a document with the Institute of SPbPU which provides education according to the program chosen. A science tutor is also chosen according to the field of study and the documents of a student.
• For the countries where visa is necessary the university makes an invitation letter (the purpose of travel is postgraduate study). The invitation is prepared within 6 weeks.
• It is important to note that on arrival to Russia a student should submit original documents and their notarized translation into Russian. The first page of the passport should also be translated into Russian. The students are accommodated in the dormitories on the day of their arrival.
• On arrival to SPbPU a student has an interview with a prospective science tutor. Then he or she should pass two exams: Russian language (the result no less than B1) and an interdisciplinary exam.
• The dates of exams are defined individually after an interview with a possible science tutor. The decision based in the results of exams is made by Admission Board on the same day. The results are defined according to the number of correct answers.
• If a student passes exams successfully, he or she should attend the Admission Office for international students which is located at the address: Grazhdansky Prospekt 28, room 228, and sign a Cooperation Agreement.

Apart from PhD programs in Russian Polytech provides an opportunity to get international joint PhD Programs. In this case a student should speak both Russian and English. The list of partner-universities you can see on the relevant section on official website of SPbPU. Among them there are Technical University of Berlin (Germany), Lappeenranta University of Technology (Finland), Brandenburg University of Technology in Cottbus (Germany), etc. In the case of joint PhD Program the student should find a science tutor at the partner-university abroad himself (or with the help of the University). After this a student is enrolled at a partner-university. This can be done with a particular Cooperation Agreement or an Attachment to the Agreement. According to these documents a student may study for two semesters at a partner-university, or study mainly at SPbPU and take just some subject courses at a partner-university (it depends on agreement).

At the end of the course there are two variants of Thesis defense:

• at SPbPU (in this case a science tutor from a partner-university takes part in this procedure, and after this a student gets a joint PhD degree certificate)
• both at SPbPU and at a partner-university

Nowadays SPbPU has experience in Double Degree PhD Programs with Lappeenranta University of Technology (Finland), Leibnitz University of Hannover and Brandenburg University of Technology in Cottbus (Germany).