To determine whether you meet the requirements for admission to doctoral studies at our university :

• hold a Master’s degree or equivalent.
• be eligible for a doctorate in the country where you obtained your university degree.

To determine whether you meet the conditions below :

• search for a professor working in the research field of your thesis on the website of the Faculty institute concerned.
• send him/her a complete dossier by e-mail: a cover letter + a curriculum vitae + copies of your qualifications + a transcript of your grades + if possible 1 or 2 letters of recommendation (all in a single PDF file, please).

See all the institutes’ websites

Please take a look at these two documents, which outline the administrative steps you need to take from registration to obtaining your doctorate :

• Walkthrough
• Summary

Several administrative formalities are required to start your thesis. You will need the following documents :

• Confirmation of thesis supervision
• Pre-notification of title recognition
• Charter

Before completing your thesis, you will need this document :

• Request for jury composition

Since they are in French, if you have any further questions regarding these documents, please do not hesitate to contact the Faculty’s thesis coordinator.

A cotutelle thesis project is a formalized collaboration between two universities (Swiss and foreign). Above all, this means: preparation of the thesis under the joint supervision of two thesis directors, a single examination by both universities, and award of a joint diploma or two doctoral diplomas, each specifying that it is a cotutelle doctoral diploma with the partner institution.

Cotutelle agreements are managed by the mobility office. As far as possible, the procedure (see tab above) should also be followed for doctoral theses carried out under a cotutelle arrangement.

Go to mobility’s website

Be careful not to confuse cotutelle with codirection.

In case of a cotutelle, a thesis is co-supervised by two supervisors: one internal to UniNE, the other external and affiliated to a foreign institution. The thesis is defended only once, but two diplomas are awarded, one from the home university and the other from the partner institution (with mention of the cotutelle status on each diploma). It is the subject of an agreement between the two universities.

Codirection involves two thesis directors: one from the home university and the other from another Swiss university or another faculty of the same university. The doctoral student is supervised by these two professors/doctors, but only the home university/faculty issues the final degree.

All students who write a substantial piece of work, such as a master’s thesis or doctoral dissertation, must complete and sign the Declaration of Honor form in the link below. This form must accompany each piece of work when it is handed in to the supervisor. For work written in German, English or Italian, the declaration of honour must also be signed in the language in which the work was written.

• Pledge of Honour in English
• Déclaration sur l’honneur en français
• Ehrenwörtliche Erklärung auf Deutsch
• Dichiarazione d’onore in italiano

You can find all the information you need about submitting your thesis on the library website.

Once registration has been approved, the doctoral student has 6 years (12 semesters) to submit their manuscript.

The date of the defense is set jointly by the thesis director, the members of the jury and the doctoral student. The public presentation will take place at least 2 weeks after the defense, but no more than 6 months after it.

The thesis must be deposited in the library no later than one year after the public presentation.