Negative assessment procedure

On the occasion of the admission of doctoral students to the third year or to the final exam in the case of completion of all credits and negative assessment of the advisor, the following procedure will be applied.

The PhD student must make a 30-minute presentation of all the scientific results achieved during the current doctoral year, followed by questions from a committee appointed by the Executive Committee. The examination committee consists of three members of the Doctoral School Committee. The presentation can be supported by the use of digital tools.

The doctoral student must send a list stating the documents presented among those listed below and a copy of the documents within a few days before his/her presentation. If any of the documents is not available, the PhD student must send a declaration in this regard.

1. copy of the papers published since the PhD student started the Doctoral programme;
2. copy of the submitted papers, specification of the journal and / or conference and relative reply letter from the reviewers (if at least they have passed the first revision or letter / email from the journal / conference confirming receipt of the first submission);
3. copy of posters if accepted at conferences with evidence of the conference program from which they were presented;
4. for works produced in collaboration, a short declaration on the contribution of all authors signed by the student. The committee reserves the right to request confirmation from the other authors.

The doctoral programme Secretariat will communicate to the student the conditions and terms for submitting the documentation as well as the date and instructions regarding the exam no later than 15 days before the exam date.
The committee has access to the advisor's assessment, to the documentation presented by the student and to the judgments relating to exams taken during the current year (e.g. Qualifying exam for the second year). 

The advisor may present any additional information he/she considers appropriate on the performance of his/her student during the current year to the committee.

The committee will assess whether or not the work carried out during the year by the student is sufficient and will produce a single judgment that must also contain a suggestion concerning admission to the following year. The committee must draw up a report containing a description of the exam performance and a final judgment.

The Secretariat will send the doctoral student the minutes with the judgment of the committee and, in the case of negative judgment, will invite the doctoral student to submit observations and documentation useful for the decision by the Executive Committee within a few days before the Committee meeting. This documentation will be brought to the attention of the Executive Committee.

Taking into account the regulations in force, the judgment of the examination committee, the previous judgment of the advisor, any further documentation presented by the PhD student and the previous resolutions of the PhD programme bodies, the Executive Committee, will decide on the admission of the student to the following year.

If the doctoral student is admitted to the following year by the Executive Committee, he/she will continue with the doctoral programme.

The Executive Committee will not admit the PhD student to the following year if it does not identify the elements and conditions suitable for his / her admission. Consequently, the doctoral student will be excluded from the doctoral programme.