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PhD Administrative Roadmap Doctoral School Computer Science (CSBME Faculty)

A step-by-step check list through the full doctoral administration process.

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Core regulations and references

Enrollment and Setup 0/3 complete

Complete the initial formal setup for your PhD study at TU Graz and establish supervision.

Guidance
  • For enrollment, submit the supervisory confirmation to study@tugraz.at. The head-of-institute signature is usually not required for this form.
  • In Computer Science, co-supervision is less common, but can be used if your supervisor recommends it.
  • A mentor is optional. Mentoring is intended as informal and confidential support on the doctoral programme and the academic environment, including topics beyond the thesis itself.
  • A suitable mentor should usually hold at least a doctorate and should be someone you can talk to independently of day-to-day supervision. The mentor can be from TU Graz or from outside, for example from another university, institute, or a cooperating company.
  • A practical way to find a mentor is to ask your supervisor, institute colleagues, doctoral-school contacts, or senior researchers in your broader field for suggestions, then choose someone you trust and who is willing to act as a confidential sparring partner.
Related resources
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Upload the signed supervision confirmation PDF in the mailer and send it from there. This step is marked automatically once the message is sent. Open mailer
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Optional. A mentor is a confidential contact in addition to your supervisor. The mentor should usually hold at least a doctorate and may also come from outside TU Graz, for example from another university or a cooperating company. You can find one by asking your supervisor, institute, doctoral-school contacts, or trusted senior researchers in your field. Open link
First Year and Expectations 0/8 complete

Use year 1 to build your research direction and align concrete expectations with your supervisor.

Guidance
  • Start into the PhD by building depth in your area, narrowing the thesis direction, and agreeing on concrete expectations with your supervisor.
  • Publication expectations vary by doctoral school, institute, and supervisor. Some expect a certain number of paper drafts or submissions within the first year already. Talk to your supervisor to find out the concrete expectations and align early on whether the focus should be on papers, strong drafts, experiments, or other milestones.
  • Course work is a very small fraction of the PhD. Do the Scientific Methods (Wissenschaftliches Arbeiten) seminar (2 ECTS) as early as possible. Dissertant*innenseminar (2 x 1 ECTS), and the Privatissimum (2 ECTS) are done over the years in your group. Many students teach in their PhD, which can be credited with 3 ECTS of Scientific Teaching if they gain enough experience from independently teaching a course. This totals to about 6-9 ECTS.
  • To get the 18 ECTS required by the curriculum, you will have to do further 9-12 ECTS of regular coursework remain which is about as much as two typical Master-level courses. Generally, it is recommended to take them early, e.g., in the first or second semester. There can still be good reasons to take them later, just discuss and plan this with your supervisor.
  • Prepare the course list together with your supervisor. The institute-specific expectation documents below are examples only. Always align with your own institute and advisor.
Related resources
If this applies, all proposal-related steps are treated as completed, including the proposal preparation and proposal outcome sections.
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Use the table below for the remaining curriculum planning. In many cases this ends up being about 9 ECTS of regular courses, plus up to 3 ECTS of Scientific Teaching if that applies in your case.
Please add the planned flexible courses first.
  • Flexible total planned: 0 / at least 12 ECTS
  • Scientific Methods / Communication planned here: 0 / max 3 ECTS
  • Subject-specific basic courses: 0 ECTS
  • Tracked separately elsewhere: Wissenschaftliches Arbeiten 2 ECTS, Dissertant*innenseminar 2 ECTS, Privatissimum 2 ECTS
Plan the remaining curricular coursework here together with your supervisor. You need at least 12 ECTS in this flexible block; anything beyond that can still be listed here as additional free coursework. In many cases this is about 9 ECTS of regular subject-specific coursework, plus up to 3 ECTS of Scientific Teaching if your teaching contribution is substantial enough to count.
Course title ECTS Type
This seminar is mandatory and should usually be taken as early as practical. Open link
This mandatory seminar runs across two 1-ECTS parts. Open link
This is the exclusive tutorial with the supervisor. Open link
This is about the group-specific expectations you personally agreed on, not just reviewing the general doctoral school statutes. This text is required before you can check this item. Write 2-5 sentences about the concrete milestones or success criteria you and your supervisor agreed on for the first months, for example scope alignment, early-phase success criteria, milestone dates, or publication expectations.
Proposal Preparation 0/5 complete

Prepare committee, proposal document, educational agreement draft, and registration.

When/Deadline: Towards the end of year 1

Guidance
  • Coordinate committee members and dates early. Calendar negotiation is often the biggest bottleneck.
  • Use the proposal registration workflow! This ensures your proposal is formally registered.
  • When you submit the proposal workflow, the uploaded proposal and draft educational agreement are emailed to your supervisor, co-supervisor if provided, all listed committee members, and the institute secretary if provided. You are CCed, and the Dean's Office plus the doctoral school contacts are CCed as well.
Related resources
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Use the proposal workflow to send the proposal package to the relevant recipients. Once that is done, this step is marked automatically. Open link
Proposal Defense and Outcome 0/4 complete

Defend your proposal and record the decision and follow-up actions.

When/Deadline: Before the end of year 1

Guidance
  • A positive proposal decision enables signing the educational agreement with your supervisor.
  • If the proposal result is not positive, contact the docschool committee for formal next steps.
PhD proposal was successful. system
Recorded outcome: Not Yet
This step is updated after the proposal outcome is recorded by the Dean's Office.
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Has to be submitted in the doctoral management tool.
Progress Through the Years 0/13 complete

This is the main multi-year phase of the PhD: complete courses, build publications, keep annual reports current, and periodically check readiness for the final stretch.

When/Deadline: Across multiple years

Guidance
  • This is typically the longest and most important middle block of the doctorate, spanning multiple years between proposal and final submission.
  • Annual progress reports are mandatory every year and can block graduation if missing.
  • The annual progress report must be uploaded in My doctorate project by the end of the first month of the following semester at the latest.
  • For the Doctoral School Computer Science, the school-wide minimum is three first-author peer-reviewed papers/articles that are published or accepted in international journals or conference proceedings. Depending on your research area, group, and thesis scope, the appropriate number for a strong dissertation may be considerably higher.
  • When nearing completion of coursework, ask the Dean's Office to verify that all curricular obligations are fulfilled.
  • If a dissertation submission within about 6 months is realistic, align a concrete submission/defense timeline with your supervisor.
Related resources
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Please enter completed courses and ECTS below. This is the early intervention step, before the later formal email. Open mailer Use this as the single shared curricular-status record. The later formal Dean's Office email should reuse this information instead of maintaining a second completed-course list.
Has to be submitted in the doctoral management tool based on the Progress Report Template.
Has to be submitted in the doctoral management tool based on the Progress Report Template.
Has to be submitted in the doctoral management tool based on the Progress Report Template.
This is the school-wide minimum, but not necessarily the level expected from a PhD graduate in your specific area or group. Discuss expectations with your supervisor. Open link
This captures group- or area-specific expectations beyond the Doctoral School minimum of three accepted first-author peer-reviewed papers.
Final Year 0/7 complete

Prepare the dissertation package and confirm formal/scientific readiness with your supervisor before external review.

Guidance
  • This stage is the quality gate before handing in: ensure your supervisor confirms both formal and group-specific criteria.
  • Use the official thesis templates.
  • If applicable, apply for an exclusion of use of the doctoral thesis via TUGRAZonline.
  • Publication practices during the doctoral programme are governed by the curriculum and the statutes of the relevant doctoral school.
  • For cumulative theses, include a contextualization chapter (recommended around 30 pages) that explains your work in state-of-the-art context.
  • Your contextualization should explain: what was state of the art before your work, how your work changed it, and how it influences follow-up research.
Related resources
For example, having 3 peer-reviewed accepted conference or journal papers. Doctoral School Statutes
At Least 8 Weeks Before Defense 0/6 complete

Start formal defense administration and preliminary evaluation process.

When/Deadline: At least 8 weeks before defense

Guidance
  • At this stage, you submit the preliminary thesis version to reviewers. Changes are still possible afterward.
  • Start the preliminary evaluation in My doctorate project, provide publication list, and enter agreed reviewers/examiners.
  • Complete UHStat2 and send the confirmation to the Dean's Office from the roadmap before you send the formal preliminary-evaluation email.
  • Directly after starting the preliminary evaluation, use the roadmap form mailer to send the formal Dean's Office update with your curricular status and desired defense date.
  • At least one assessor must be external to TU Graz, and the assessors may not all belong to the same institute.
  • The pre-selection of assessors should be settled at least 2 months before thesis submission so they can receive a preliminary dissertation version in time.
  • Confirm that thesis title is correct in My Theses, as this title is used on records and certificate.
Related resources
Open link Enter the agreed reviewer list here when you start the preliminary evaluation. The same list is then reused for the preliminary-thesis mailer, later defense coordination, and the official examiner invite.
Open the mailer to upload the draft thesis, send it to the reviewers, and copy the Dean's Office. You can also tick this manually if you already sent it another way. Open mailer
First complete the questionnaire on the UHStat2 site, then open the mailer here to upload the confirmation PDF and send it to the Dean's Office. This step is marked automatically once the confirmation is sent. Open mailer
This is the later formal step. Reuse the curricular-status information you documented earlier instead of maintaining a second completed-course list. The mailer only becomes sendable once UHStat2 is marked completed on the roadmap. Open mailer
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Arranging the Defense 0/3 complete

Coordinate the defense date, examiner travel, and room booking after the initial administration has started.

Guidance
  • This block covers the coordination work that typically happens once the formal process is underway but before the fixed 4-week submission window starts.
  • Coordinate closely with the Dean's Office, your supervisor(s), the examiner(s), and your institute secretary so date, room, and travel details stay aligned.
Related resources
Email
Document the concrete defense logistics here so they can be reused for official notifications. These logistics are reused for the Dean's Office notification and the later official examiner invite.
Until 4 Weeks Before Defense 0/4 complete

Finish logistics, submit final thesis version, and close all 4-week obligations.

When/Deadline: Until 4 weeks before defense

Guidance
  • Last practical chance for thesis updates is typically 4 weeks before defense.
  • Around 4 weeks before defense, print the thesis (do not start printing too late), as printing can take multiple weeks.
  • Final thesis upload must be in My Theses, not in My doctorate project.
  • The thesis template repository includes thesiscomposer.php, cover1.tex.php, and cover2.tex.php to compose the thesis and generate alternative covers.
Related resources
This step is marked automatically once you send the final defense logistics to the Dean's Office from the mailer.
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See the Production notes for practical printing experience and the thesis template repository for supporting files. Open link
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At Least 2 Weeks Before Defense 0/4 complete

Complete final compliance checks required for the defense to take place.

When/Deadline: At least 2 weeks before defense

Guidance
  • Before anything is sent to the Dean's Office, ask your institute secretary or your supervisor to carry out the plagiarism check and complete the signed confirmation form.
  • Plagiarism confirmation and all reviewer reports must be at the Dean's Office in time, otherwise defense cannot proceed.
Related resources
Open the mailer to send the thesis PDF together with the plagiarism-form link to your supervisor and institute secretary. This step is marked automatically once the request is sent. Open mailer
This is confirmed by staff after the plagiarism check itself is completed and okay.
Open the mailer to upload and send the completed confirmation form to the Dean's Office, or confirm there that it was already sent another way. Open mailer
Defense 0/5 complete

Prepare your presentation, defend your work in discussion, and complete the formal defense.

When/Deadline: Defense day

Guidance
  • Prepare a focused defense presentation. Around 25 to 30 minutes is fine; 30 minutes is the hard limit.
  • Present your thesis and defend it in the Q&A discussion with the committee and audience.
  • The defense procedure includes identity check, presentation, examination on the dissertation, non-public grading deliberation, and public grade announcement.
  • If the defense is held via video conference, ensure all participants agree, audio/video works for the full examination, and the public nature of the exam is preserved.
  • Take time to celebrate the successful defense.
Related resources
After Defense 0/3 complete

Collect documents and finalize graduation-related steps.

When/Deadline: After defense

Guidance
  • After successfully completing the oral exam, the Dean's Office typically prepares the remaining graduation documents within about one month.
  • The Dean's Office typically notifies you by email when the remaining documents are ready for pickup.
  • The official notification of degree conferral is normally collected in person, but pickup by another person with notarized power of attorney is possible. Degree certificate and graduation certificate can also be sent by registered letter.
  • The degree becomes valid upon receipt of the official notification after defense.
  • You may use the doctoral title upon receipt of the official notification.
  • Promotion participation is optional and requires separate registration in advance.
Related resources
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