The doctoral thesis agreement „online“
The doctoral thesis agreement is an agreement between a doctoral student and his/her mentors/supervisors.
The doctoral thesis agreement contains courses that the student will have to attend (courses for the module generic skills e.g.) the thesis' title, scope and form and defines the rules to assure state of the art quality standards in the respective field. It also defines the steps and time range to complete the thesis. (Statute of the University of Innsbruck)
„(…) The crucial role of supervision and assessment: in respect of individual doctoral candidates, arrangements for supervision and assessment should be based on a transparent contractual framework of shared responsibilities between doctoral candidates, supervisors and the institution (…)“ Conclusions and Recommendations from the Bologna Seminar on „Doctoral Programmes for the European Knowledge Society“, set of ten basic principles (Salzburg, February 2005)
„(…) As stressed in the fifth Salzburg Principle, supervision plays a crucial role. Supervision must be a collective effort with clearly defined and written responsibilities of the main supervisor, supervisory team, doctoral candidate, doctoral school, research group and the institution, leaving room for the individual development of the doctoral candidate. Providing professional development to supervisors is an institutional responsibility, whether organised though formal training or informal sharing of experience among staff. Developing a common supervision culture shared by supervisors, doctoral school leaders and doctoral candidates must be a priority for doctoral schools. Supervisors must be active researchers (…)“ European Universities‘ Achievements Since 2005 in Implementing the Salzburg Principles, 2.3. Supervision (Berlin, June 2010)
General Informations
>> Function of the doctoral thesis agreement „online“
>> What does the workflow look like in general?
Function of the doctoral thesis agreement „online“
As an „online-tool“ it is designed
- to support mentors/supervisors at their tasks
- to remind mentors/supervisors and students when a deadline has been missed
- enables to keep track of all steps oft he process (log-file)
- enables a flexible reaction (and its documentation) to research results and/or changing conditions
- the doctoral thesis agreement is a quality management instrument
What is ist not?
- it is not a complete compensation for personal dialouge/contact
- it is not a „(E-)Portfolio“
- it is not a „control instrument“
What does the workflow look like in general?
Start
The online agreement is generated as soon as the student officially acknowledges the start of his / her thesis in the Examinations Office.
Editing
Some elements (meeting, courses, synopsis and schedule) have been created automatically and must be filled with data within four weeks.
The student uses the student portal LFU:online to create elements and to define his / her tasks.
Mentors/Supervisors use VIS:online
Students and supervisors are notified by email as soon as a new element has been created.
End
The online agreement is completed as soon as the thesis grade is available in the system. (Supervisors need not take any further action).
Elements and Preferences
Elements
You can edit an element only if you have created it.
- Comments (can be created and modified by mentors/supervisors and student)
- Courses (can be created and modified by mentors/supervisors)
- Meetings (can be created and modified by mentors/supervisors)
- Schedule (can be created and modified by student)
- Synopsis (can be created and modified by student)
- Sytem info (reminder etc., the element is created by VIS:online)
Preferences
- change language
- change email preferences
- substitution
Instruction Manual
An instruction manual for supervisors can be downloaded here (access restricted).
LFU:online (the student portal hosted by the University of Innsbruck) provides an instruction manual under "my papers" >> "my agreements". Among other helping files the manual can also be downloaded here.
For further details regarding the doctoral thesis agreement please contact the Examinations Office or Christina Raab (Christina.Raab@uibk.ac.at).
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