Admissions

Admission process to the Doctoral School of Bialystok University of Technology (DSBUT) is conducted according to the following rules:

§1

GENERAL PROVISIONS

1. The admission procedure is conducted through an open competition.
2. Admissions procedures are performed by Admissions Committees, hereinafter referred to as ‘Committees’. The committees are appointed for a period of 1 year by the Rector on request of the Heads of Disciplines, with the opinion of the Director of the DSBUT, independently for each discipline in which education is provided in the DSBUT.
3. The Committee in a given discipline shall consist of: Head of Discipline; at least two employees of the University representing the discipline, holding the academic title of Professor or the academic degree of DSc (with positive periodic evaluation of the employee) and a representative of the Council of Doctoral Students’ Self-government (as an observer). Authors of research topics (in an advisory capacity) selected by the candidates and experts from the disciplines (in an advisory capacity) may be invited to participate in the work. The Chair of the Committee shall be the Head of Discipline.
4. Where one of the members of the Committee is the author or supervisor of the topic they shall not participate in the assessment of the candidate recruited for that research topic.
5. The DSBUT admissions process shall be supervised by the DSBUT Director.

§2

ADMISSIONS PROCEDURE

1. Admissions to the DSBUT shall be according to the calendar announced by the Director of the DSBUT not later than by 31 May in a given admissions year.
2. A person authorized to promote doctoral students submits to the appropriate Discipline Council the topics and scopes of doctoral theses (in Polish or in Polish and English) in the disciplines managed by the DSBUT together with the consent of a direct supervisor for access to laboratory infrastructure for the period of working on a doctoral thesis if the candidate is admitted to the DSBUT (Appendix 1).
3. The Head of Discipline shall forward the theses topics and scopes, positively approved by the Discipline Council, to the Director of the DSBUT. Topics and scopes of doctoral theses are announced on the DSBUT website.
4. A person may be admitted to the DSBUT if he/she holds a second-cycle degree (MA, MSc or equivalent) or is a person referred to in Article 186 (2) of the Act of 20 July 2018 Law on Higher Education and Science (Journal of Laws of 2023, 742, as amended) hereinafter referred to as “the Act”.
5. Candidates applying for admission to the DSBUT are required to submit the documents listed in Appendix 2 to the Regulations for the DSBUT according to the admissions calendar.
6. In the case of a candidate applying for admission to the DSBU, as referred to in art. 186 (2) of the Act, a list and results of high-level and advanced scientific and research works and projects carried out by the candidate are required, confirmed by two references issued by researchers holding at least the degree of doktor habilitowany (postdoctoral degree), or at least the degree of doctor in the case of a foreign candidate.
7. A person may apply for admission to the DSBUT if their diploma of graduation shows a grade of good or higher, or an equivalent grade.
8. In exceptional cases justified by the highest quality
   of scientific achievements, persons reffered to in art. 186 (2) of the Act. may apply for admission to the DSBUT.
   If a candidate applying for admission to the DSBUT is a graduate of the first-cycle studies, the grade from the diploma of those studies shall be used for the above scoring. If a candidate applying for admission to the DSBUT is a student who has completed the third year of a long-term master’s degree, the above score shall be calculated on the basis of the average of the grades obtained in the completed years of study.
9. A person may apply for admission to the DSBUT if they submit a document confirming their knowledge of English at a minimum level of B1 (e.g. a certificate, diploma supplement). In the case of a person whose native language is English, the above requirement does not apply.
10. A candidate for the DSBUT in a given academic year may apply for one topic from among the submitted topics referred to in section 3.
11. The documents required from the candidate for the admissions process, as listed in Appendix 2 to the DSBUT Regulations, shall be submitted through the IRK system (Online Recruitment System).
12. The mode of conducting interviews with candidates (on-site, remote or hybrid) is determined by the Chair of the Committee and announced on the DSBUT website.
13. The interview of the candidate shall include verification of the candidate’s knowledge of the discipline.
14. The candidate’s presentation on the research topic should include:

• presentation of the current state of research, sources, literature (bibliographic list);
• indication of the research methods planned for the topic;
• anticipated scientific results.

§3

RANKING LIST

1. The committee shall evaluate applicants in four categories during the interview process:

• interview – score: from 0 points to 5 points;
• grade from the graduation diploma which is converted into points according to the following rule: excellent – 5 points, very good – 4 points, good plus – 3 points, good – 2 points;
• research achievements (publications, participation in conferences, implementation of research projects, patents) and others – score: from 0 points to 5 points;;
• presentation of a research project on the topic of the planned doctoral thesis – score: from 0 points to 5 points.

2. A minimum of 4.0 points (P), calculated according to the formula, is required for admission to the DSBUT:

P = 0.35 x interview + 0.2 x diploma grade +
+ 0.2 x achievements + 0.25 x presentation.

3. In the case of topics to which more than one candidate has applied, only the candidate with the highest score shall be included in the ranking list.
4. Based on the scores received, a ranking list of candidates is compiled independently for each scientific discipline.
5. If several candidates ranked last in the ranking list obtain the same number of points, which entitles them to be admitted to the DSBUT, the candidate with the highest number of points from an interview calculated according to the formula in subsection 2 shall be admitted. If candidates have the same scores, the following order of ranking applies: diploma grade, achievement, presentation. If the scores are the same in all categories, all these candidates shall be admitted. Before admitting these candidates, the Director shall request the Rector’s consent to exceed the admission limit. In the absence of consent, none of these candidates shall be admitted.

§4

ADMISSION OF RESEARCH PROJECT BENEFICIARIES

1. A person may be admitted to the DSBUT beyond the set number of places referred to
   in § 2 (10) of the Regulations, if he/she is a beneficiary of a project, programme or competition announced by NAWA, NCBiR, NCN or an international competition for the realization of a research project or realises a research project financed from the funds coming from the budget of the European Union or by another entity awarding a grant and for this reason is granted financing of a doctoral scholarship in the amount not lower than that stipulated in Art. 209 (4) of the Act, together with the coverage of social security contributions (ZUS).
2. The implementation of the project, programme, competition or other research project referred to in subsection 1 shall form part of the individual research plan of the candidate for the DSBUT.
3. The period of funding referred to in subsection 1 should be provided for a minimum of 24 months.
4. During the recruitment process, the candidate referred to in subsection 1 shall submit certificates from the financing entity confirming fulfilment of the conditions referred to in subsections 1 – 3.
5. In order to be admitted to the SDBUT, a candidate referred to in subsection 1 must fulfil the requirements laid down in the regulations or agreements governing a given project, programme or competition on which the financing of a doctoral scholarship depends, and successfully complete the recruitment process to the DSBUT.
6. The provisions of §3 (1) (3)-(5) do not apply to the candidates referred to in subsection 1.

§5

RESULTS OF THE ADMISSIONS PROCEDURE

1. The decision on the admission of candidates to the DSBUT shall be taken by the competent Committee.
2. The admission to the DSBUT shall be effected by entry on the list of doctoral students.
3. The refusal of admission to the DSBUT shall be effected by an administrative decision of the Rector. The administrative decision of the Rector on refusal may be signed by authorised Chairs of a Committee.
4. The candidate may, within 14 days from the date of notification of the decision, apply for reconsideration of the case by the Rector. An application for reconsideration by the Rector shall be submitted through the Committee, which shall issue an opinion on the case. The decision of the Rector shall be final.
5. The results of the admission procedure are public.