Roth Gyula Doctoral School
PhD | 4 + 4 semesters
Education and research at the doctoral school are pursued in the basic and applied sciences, related to forests, wildlife and nature. It is the only doctoral school in Hungary, where all the personnel and material conditions are provided for an independent doctoral school in these areas of science. The students have a well-equipped infrastructure, laboratories, research stations that support fieldwork, rich collections, and institutional and central libraries. The University library is also the National Forestry Library in Hungary.
The duration of the doctoral programme is 4 years, which is divided into 2 + 2 years.
Doctoral School educates in seven doctoral programmes:
- Ecology of Forest Ecosystems and Biological Foundations of Forest Management
Research on the composition, structure and inter-actions of forest ecosystems is part of the programme. Geographical conditions vital for forest management and the requirements for maintaining sustainable management and preserving the stability of ecosystems are identified. The main areas of research are: site conditions of forest stands, hydrology, climatic conditions, and the diversity of forest ecosystems, such as soil microbiology, physiology, botany and dendrology, species composition, structure, dynamics and inter-relations of ecosystems, and the evolutionary and genetic processes of woody plants. The doctoral programme also teaches sylviculture, production of seed material, wildlife management, forest protection (including pathology and zoology), adopting the latest experimental and research findings, related both to plantation forestry and to nature-oriented management. - Forest Resource Management
The subject is concerned with the analyses of the stock type characteristics of forests and forestry processes in natural and financial terms, as well as the harmonisation of the legal and economic regulations with forestry interests.
Disciplines of the forest assets management programme are: forest management planning, computer science applied to forestry, forest and hunting rights, forestry history, hunting law, economics for forest and wildlife management (forestry accounting and finance, forest and damage assessment, and sales and marketing policy). - Forest Technical Knowledge
This PhD sub–programme provides a comprehensive, scientific approach to the technical implementation of forestry policies (mechanisation, energetics, forest utilisation, opening-up and water management) based on measurements and experiments. It deals with the improvement of mechanisation in reproductive material production, sylviculture, forest and timber utilisation, and with the development of mechanisation in energy tree plantations, the connection between mechanisation and environment protection, wood for energy production, planning, organisation and technology of forest utilisation, topics of opening-up and water management as well as with forest road construction and maintenance. - Wildlife Management
In the doctoral programme, students deal with the forest, field and water ecosystems and their species and communities of species. The research topics embrace all the areas of open field game conservation and management and all the fields of hunting, as well as all the related sciences such as the kennel, gun ballistics, trophy assessment, wildlife health, game management in closure, wildlife forage ground and game feeding, economics and history of the science. - Nature Conservation
The Nature Conservation course aims at the implementation of a scientific programme that monitors international strategies addressing natural challenges of global issues and their effective application to Hungary. The programme encourages nature-conscious development and experiments in the national conservation practice, while strengthening scientific grounds of professional and political efforts. It will involve a talented new generation in the innovative research. It aims to educate experts who are not only professionals, receptive to theory, but experts with positive values of life and healthy ecosystems. - Geoinformatics
The rapid development of GIS, the expansion of satellite monitoring and positioning methods led to the initiation of a separate Geoinformatics programme at the Doctoral School. It offers courses and research opportunities in the field of land management, surveying and geoinformatics, mainly related to agricultural management and land use, including the application of the modern technical tools of thematic modelling, remote sensing and mapping. - Forest and Environmental Pedagogy
Environmental pedagogy is a multidisciplinary field of study, which prepares students with a comprehensive background in natural and social sciences to teach environment consciousness and to develop related activities. The aim of study and research is to develop educational methodology and practice at every level of public education, from kindergarten to higher education, and thus enhance environment consciousness through methods fitting the age of pupils and students.
The core members are from the Faculty of Forestry and the Forest Research Institute (ERTI), but a number of subjects are taught by other faculties of the University: (the Faculty of Wood Engineering and Creative Industries), the Geodetic and Geophysical Research Institute, the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (HAS), the Hungarian Museum of Agriculture and national parks.
Academic calendar
General structure of the semester
| Registration | 1st week |
| Study period | 2nd — 15th week |
| Exam period | 6 weeks |
| Usually, study period is scheduled for the 1st week of September in the fall semester and for the 1st week of February in the spring semester. | |
Grading system in Hungary
| Grade | Definition | |
| 5 | Excellent, Very good | Outstanding with minor errors |
| 4 | Good | Generally sound work with a number of notable errors |
| 3 | Satisfactory, Acceptable | Fair but with significant shortcomings |
| 2 | Pass | Performance meets the minimum criteria |
| 1 | Fail |
Further work is required |
Doctoral study plan
The study points system (credit system) for higher education institutions, which is regulated according to Government Decree 200/2000 (XI. 29.) regarding self-financed and state schol-arship-sponsored PhD students who started their doctoral programs in September 2016, con-sists of two phases.
The first is the study and research phase that encompasses the first two years. This is followed by a research and dissertation phase which comprises the third and fourth years following the completion of a successful complex exam. The fulfilment of academic and research obligations for doctoral students is measured in credits. A doctoral student must earn at least 240 credits during their studies and training.
The most important components of the doctoral program are the research activity topics that the doctoral school announces. Research activities are evaluated in two ways, both with corresponding credit values. The first is the fulfilment of individual scientific research; the second is through publication.
Students take complex exams at the end of Year 2.
To be eligible to take the complex exam, doctoral students must first obtain 90 credits in the “training and research stages” of the doctoral program (the first 4 semesters) AS WELL AS complete the required courses and earn all the credits as stated in their study and research plan.
The doctoral supervisor shall certify a doctoral student’s completion of independent scholarly research each semester in the student’s registration book.
The minimum and maximum limits of obtainable credit points are listed in the table below:
| Points | Subject | Instruction | Research | Publication |
| Minimum | 40 | 0 | 140 | 32 |
| Recommended | 40 | 20 | 140 | 40 |
| Maximum | 52 | 20 | 140 | 48 |
The basic principles of a doctoral training curriculum are the following:
| Phase | Study and research | Research and dissertation | Total | ||||||
| Semester | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | |
| Subjects | 10 | 14 | 8 | 8 | 40 | ||||
| compulsory min. 2 subjects completed | 10 | ||||||||
| min. 1 foreign language course is compulsory | 6 | ||||||||
| optional (electives) 4 credits | 8 | 8 | 8 | ||||||
| Doctoral seminar | × | × | × | × | signature criterion | ||||
| Instruction | 20 | ||||||||
| Independent Scholarly Research | 15 | 15 | 15 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 140 |
| Publications | 40 | ||||||||
| Total | 240 | ||||||||
- During the study and research phase, students must complete 2 subjects with a credit weight of 5-5 from among the compulsory subjects. The completion of a 6 credit foreign language subject is a requirement; this requirement can be fulfilled at other graduate schools.
- Attending 2-2 presentations in the first 4 semesters within the framework of a doctoral seminar is a mandatory criteria condition. Of these, one must be a seminar organized by the University of Sopron; the other must be an equivalent or higher level seminar. The doctoral supervisor verifies the completion of this in the student’s registration book each semester; no credits are awarded for this.
- A doctoral student may attain credits (5 credits/semester) by undertaking teaching tasks, as well as participating in practicums, presentations, and co-tutoring activities (TDK, dissertation, thesis planning.)
- By the end of the first semester, doctoral students must prepare an academic bibliog-raphy for their research topic, which is reviewed by the director of the graduate school and doctoral supervisor.
With the assistance of the doctoral supervisor, students prepare a work plan by the end of year 1. The head of the graduate school, the program head, and the doctoral super-visor review the work plan. In the case of correspondence students, the director or the workplace shall review the plan. The work plan shall specify the subjects the student wishes to take each semester, as well as a detailed research plan and budget plan.
The most important activity of a doctoral student is scholarly research. The student shall receive assistance and guidance from their doctoral supervisor, but research is completed individually. Students present their results at appropriate academic conferences and, with increasing autonomy, publish in relevant, high-quality journals. Stu-dents submit a semester report containing details of their work at the end of every se-mester. Doctoral students must give an oral report about their research and work at least once a year (usually in the spring semester.) The forum for the report can be a DI forum, the research centre, the professional community of the institute, an academic or other professional forum (any domestic or international conference if it is approved by the disciplinary doctoral board.) The report is public.
The credits awarded for the appearance of research results in publications are given in the ta-ble below:
| Shoraly | Credit | See | |
| Journal article | with impact factor | 16 | http://goo.gl/HmhokF → |
| without impact factor, but Q1-Q4 | 14 | http://www.scimagojr.com/ → | |
| academic journal listing – foreign language | 10 | e.g. IV. Agronomy science: http://goo.gl/P9B9KX → | |
| academic journal listing – Hungarian language | 8 | ||
| other peer-reviewed – foreign language | 8 | https://www.mtmt.hu/egyszeru-kereso | |
| other peer-reviewed – Hungarian language | 6 | ||
| Book chapter – peer reviewed | foreign language | 10 | |
| Hungarian language | 8 | ||
| Conference paper – complete text, peer-reviewed | foreign language | 10 | |
| Hungarian language | 8 | ||
| Other – complete text, not peer-reviewed | foreign language | 4 | |
| Hungarian language | 2 | ||
| All others (educational, public interest, etc.) | foreign language | 2 | |
| Hungarian language | 1 | ||
Publications are made available to the public by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (https://www.mtmt.hu/ →) from where the full text can be uploaded to the University of Sopron’s Publication Repository (http://publicatio.nyme.hu/ →).
The minimum publishing requirements are as follows: at least two lead author, foreign language articles, which must have an impact factor of at least Q1-Q3, published in peer-reviewed journals published by the end of the Semester 8.
The credits listed in the credit table will be divided by the number of co-authors; the doctoral supervisor shall not be counted as a co-author. Credits will be doubled for PhD students if they are lead author of the publication.
Complex Examination
Requirements to apply for the complex examination
- The fulfilment of the foreign language requirements needed for a doctoral degree ac-cording to point B of (ld. Nftv. 53.§ (5) “As defined in PhD regulations, the necessity to verify scientific and academic knowledge within the study area in two foreign lan-guages is necessary”);
- Obtain at least 90 credits during the training and research phase (first four semesters) of the doctoral program AND obtain all the “training credits” outlined in the doctoral school study plan.
The complex examination is public, and is taken before a board. The examination board must consist of at least three members; at least one-third of the board members must not be affiliat-ed or have any employment relationship with the institution of the doctoral school. The chair-person of the examination board shall be a professor emeritus or an instructor or researcher holding the title of DSc. All members of the exam board shall possess a scholarly degree. The candidate’s doctoral supervisor cannot be a member of the examination board.
The complex exam consists of two components: one to assess a candidate's academic preparedness (“theoretical part”) and the other to allow the candidate to give an account of their scientific/artistic progress (“dissertation part”).
In the theoretical part of the complex examination, the candidate is assessed in at least two subjects/topics. The theory test can contain a written component as well.
In the second part of the complex exam, the candidate will present their knowledge of the research literature, report their research results, outline the second phase of their doctoral re-search training plan, and describe the timing of their dissertation and their timeline and preparations for publication. The doctoral supervisor must inform the candidate in advance as to whether the candidate will be evaluated in writing or in the examination.
The examination board evaluates the theoretical part of the exam and dissertation sepa-rately. A written evaluation and examination protocol for the exam are completed. Exam re-sults will be published on the day of the oral exam. The complex exam is deemed successful if a majority of the committee members declares the two parts of the examination successful. If the theoretical exam is unsuccessful, a candidate will be provided the opportunity to retake the failed portion/subject(s) of the exam within the given exam period. A failed dissertation exam component cannot be retaken during the given exam period.
Ph.D dergree process
Conditions of attaining Ph.D. degree:
- master degree;
- completing the academic commitments according to the university’s doctoral regulation;
- successful doctoral comprehensive exam;
- presentation of academic activity through written publications (published in volumes or accepted for edition) in approved magazines accepted by the Doctoral School. (The conditions of academic activity are determined by the doctoral programmes in the appendix and it is introduced to the applicants before enrolment.)
- knowledge of two foreign languages necessary to the chosen field of science;
- preparation and the submission of dissertation and theses of the dissertation prepared with the methods of academic work and also the defence of the dissertation on public disputation in front of the committee;
- clean record.
The process of attaining Ph.D. degree:
- comprehensive exam
- first disputation
- public disputation
Doctoral rigorosum
The doctoral comprehensive exam is an over viewing exam showing the PhD candidate’s acquired knowledge on the chosen field of sciences.
The doctoral comprehensive exam – at the longest of two years after handling in the PhD degree attaining request – must be completed in front of the committee and public.
The doctoral comprehensive exam includes the written elaboration of an academic problem and its verbal presentation. The academic problem authorized according to the proposal made by the programme leader and accepted by the Doctoral School Committee. The PhD candidate has to be informed in writing about the accepted academic problem and the date of the comprehensive exam. The doctoral comprehensive exam has to be taken before the disputation.
Absolution from the doctoral comprehensive exam can not be given.
First disputation
To help the candidate the dissertation – before it is completed – has to be presented at the professionally competent educational and organisational unit. The first disputation of the doctoral dissertation is before the public disputation.
In the course of this disputation the candidates has to perform their own work, the used foreign results, the processed literature, the applied methods, the right of the conclusions and the applicability of the final result.
One month after the first disputation the dissertation can be handed into the public disputation.
The public disputation
The main results of the doctoral dissertation have to be summarised in some thesis. These have to be prepared in printed and electronic form.
The doctoral dissertation in five similar bounded copies has to be submitted together with the followings:
the report and the attendance register made on the first disputation;
thesis in written form;
the dissertation and the text;
- the short, maximum 8-10 rows long abstract;
- the maximum one page long curriculum vitae written in third person singular;
- the list of publications connected to the dissertation’s subject – including the off-prints of publications or together with the for the edition accepted declaration;
- the written declaration of the programme leader about the publication activity;
- declaration in which the joint-authors agree to use the results edited in the common publication to the doctoral dissertation;
- the certified copy of foreign language certificates;
- cheque which justifies the cash in of the procedure’s fee.
The public disputation of the dissertation
The public disputation is after a successful doctoral comprehensive exam and first disputation.
At the public disputation the candidates introduce shortly (the maximum of 20 minutes long) the main results of their PhD work and the thesis. Subsequently the reviewers judge their opinion. After all the candidates answer the questions and comments asked and told by the reviewers and the participants of the public disputation.
After ending the public disputation the reviewer committee decides about the result of the disputation in ballot. The opponents also take part in the score. The dissertation can be accepted if the points altogether reach the 66,6% of the total attainable points.
After the termination the chairman introduces the result of the disputation.
If the disputation is unsuccessful, it can not be repeated. The candidate can handle in a dissertation in a similar topic only 2 years later (the earliest).
The evaluation of PhD degree is calculated
The evaluation of the PhD degree is calculated by the Council of the Doctoral School by taking the average of the % result of the successful PhD comprehensive exam and the % result given by the reviewer committee. If it is above 91% the evaluation is ‘summa cum laude’ (excellent), if it is under 91% but above 81% then ‘cum laude’ (good). Has to be got ‘rite’ (passed) 66,6% has to be scored.
