• Master’s diploma minimum with ‘good’ qualification. Candidates who have not yet passed their final examination by the date of the admission interview, but who will do so no later than the semester of admission may also apply.
• In the case of a diploma with ‘satisfactory’ or lower qualification, candidates may not apply until at least 3 years after graduation.
• A state-accredited minimum intermediate level (B2) complex (C) language examination or equivalent.
• Individual doctoral schools and doctoral programs may require specific conditions (e.g. degree, language skills) - see below.
• Successful entrance examination. More information

• Obtaining the Pre-degree Certificate (Absolutorium).
• Language proficiency of two languages at the level specified in the doctoral regulations - see below
• 3 publications on the subject of the doctoral dissertation, uploaded in MTMT (Database of Hungarian Scientific Works).
• Successful research centre disputation (in-house defence).
• Submission of the doctoral dissertation within a maximum of 3 (6 in cases of child birth, see below) academic years from the comprehensive examination.
• The doctoral candidate successfully defends the submitted doctoral dissertation in a public disputation.

• Student status is established by enrolment, which consists of two parts
  • Online registration via the NEPTUN system: Administration/ Enrolment/Registration (make sure that the "Active only" field is not checked).
  • Enrol in person (present original documents: diploma and language certificate(s), sign the enrolment sheet).
• Registration period at the beginning of the semester: at the beginning of each semester, students must declare in the NEPTUN system under Administration/Enrolment/Registration whether they wish to have active or passive status for the semester.
• The deadline for the registration is the end of the registration period, which is published each semester in academic calendar published by the Department of Doctoral and Academic Affairs.
• From the end of the registration period, the "Certificate of university studies" can be printed separately (Information/General forms).
     ► Same data content as the student status certificate

• The full-time doctoral program is taught on a full-time basis, five days a week, on working days.
• During their studies, doctoral students are entitled to full-time student status, a student card and (in case of Hungarian state scholarship or Stipendium Hungaricum) health insurance until they obtain their absolutorium.
• Duration of doctoral studies: up to 4 years (8 semesters), ends with the Pre-degree Certificate (Absolutorium). After the 8th semester, students are not allowed to enrol for further semesters.
• During the doctoral studies, the student must accumulate a total of 240 credits.
• The doctoral program consists of two main parts:
  • The first and second years (1-4 semesters) are the Training and Research period. During the training period, the student takes courses designed to deepen his/her knowledge of the research topic and methods, and to prepare him/her for a career in science. In the Training and Research period, 120 credits have to be collected, and the digital humanities workshop must be completed. The Training and Research period ends with the comprehensive examination.
  • The third and fourth years (5-8 semesters) are the Research and Dissertation period. The 120 credits of the second part are obtained through research work supervised by the topic supervisor, publications, teaching, and participation in conferences, giving lectures, and other scientific activities.
• During the course of their training, students must complete the curriculum of their doctoral program.

• Courses to be taken during the doctoral studies (classes, consultations, scientific and education credits) must be registered in NEPTUN at the beginning of each semester, during the registration period, which is published in the acedemic calendar by the Office of Doctoral and Academic Affairs.
• The course enrolment is available in NEPTUN under Subjects/Register for subject. If an announced subject does not appear under "Subjects from curriculum", click on "All other subjects in the institution".

• In passive status, the candidate’s student status at the university is maintained, but the student does not benefit from the advantages of being a student (e.g. student card, scholarship).
• Declaration of student status: during the registration period via NEPTUN: Administration/ Enrolment/Registration (make sure that the "Only active" field is not checked)
• Training and Research period: two consecutive passive semesters are allowed, but after one more active semester the student can have passive status again. Permission for a third (or any additional) passive semester(s) shall be subject to a request for Dean’s Equity.
• Research and Dissertation phase: up to two (in case of child birth: six) passive semesters are allowed (consecutively or separately), and no passive semesters are allowed even with the Dean’s Equity. It is important to note that these passive semesters do not affect the deadline for submitting the dissertation.
• Extraordinary passivation during the semester: NEPTUN/Administration/Requests/Student’s request for interruption of studies due to extraordinary circumstances

• 120 credits must be collected.
• The aim of the doctoral courses/subjects is to deepen professional knowledge in an academic context, to acquire research methods and to develop research and teaching skills.
• Doctoral candidates are required to complete 8 classes over 4 semesters (Some programs of the Doctoral School of Literary Studies may also require the completion of IR-11 Doctoral Special Elective Course) and 4 consultations.
• In addition to the classes required in the curriculum and announced in NEPTUN, a Digital Humanities Workshop is announced each semester, one of which must be completed before the comprehensive examination.

• At the end of the fourth active semester, at the end of the Training and Research period, doctoral students must pass the comprehensive examination.
• In order to apply for the comprehensive examination students must complete 8 doctoral courses, 4 consultations and the Digital Humanities Workshop.
• Passing the comprehensive examination is a prerequisite for the start of the Research and Dissertation period; failure or non-passing of the comprehensive examination will result in the termination of the student status.
• Information on the comprehensive examination and how to apply is available on our website.

• A total of 120 credits must be completed during the research and dissertation period from among the subjects specified in the curriculum for this period.
• Registration and enrolment in the NEPTUN system is still required!
• Starting from the 5th active semester, the student will take up each semester the due consultation (4 in total) courses and the scientific and/or teaching module courses during the course registration period (see the curriculum).
• The total number of credits to be completed in the scientific and/or educational module is 80, including at least 3 scientific publications. Credits for a publication can only be given if its bibliographic data are available in the MTMT database. Faculty administrators can assist with uploading the publications.
• Completed scientific/education module courses, after the approval from the head of the doctoral program, must be recorded in NEPTUN no later than the last day of the exam period each semester.

• At the end of the semester in which the student has acquired 240 credits (80 credits of doctoral courses, 80 credits of consultations, 80 credits of completed academic units) and fulfilled the requirements of the curriculum (mainly publications and consultations), he/she will be awarded the Pre-degree certificate (Absolutorium).
• If the student has fulfilled the requirements for the award of the Pre-degree Certificate (Absolutorium), the doctoral office will issue it within 20 days, with the date of completion. The end date of the student's enrolment is 31 January for the autumn semester and 31 August for the spring semester (regardless of the date of the Pre-degree Certificate).
• Scholarship eligibility lasts until the end of the semester in which the student gets the Pre-degree certificate (Absolutorium).

• Before the planned submission of the dissertation, but no later than the date of the award of the Pre-degree Certificate (Absolutorium), the doctoral candidate must submit an application for the initiation of the doctoral procedure using the form provided for this purpose (see Documents). The Doctoral Council of the Faculty of Humanities decides on the acceptance of the application (and on the composition of the evaluation committee).
• The evaluation committee is composed of five members and a maximum of two additional members. One-third of the members of the evaluation committee, but no less than two members shall be persons who do not have either a full-time or part-time employment status with the University. The evaluation committee shall include the officially invited opponents as voting members. The committee may be chaired by a professor or professor emeritus of the University. At least one of the officially invited opponent shall not be a full-time or part-time employee (lecturer, researcher) of the University.
• The dissertation may only be submitted after the doctoral procedure has been initiated and the dissertation has been approved by the BDT (Doctoral Council of the Faculty of Humanities).
• The deadline for submission of the application for the start of the doctoral procedure is 6 months before the submission deadline.
• Requirements and annexes for starting the procedure

At the same time as submitting the dissertation, the latest, students must also submit proof of the second language proficiency required for awarding the doctoral degree (if it is not already done so). This may be:

1. A state-accredited (or equivalent) intermediate (B2) or advanced (C1), complex (written + oral) or partial (written or oral) language examination certificate.
2. For languages other than English, the so-called PhD language proficiency, administered by the Faculty's foreign language departments, which aims to measure the comprehension of scientific texts written in a foreign language. For further information on the PhD language examinations, please contact Péter Vörös (voros.peter@btk.elte.hu). The PhD language exam costs 20 000 HUF.

For students beginning in AY 2024/2025 or earlier: on the basis of an individual assessment (application), the councils of the doctoral schools may accept other language examination documents or equivalent (at least four semesters of prior higher education studies in a living or extinct language) as proof of knowledge of a second language proficiency required for awarding the doctoral degree. 

• Prior to submission, the preliminary version of the doctoral dissertation must be presented for pre-evaluation to the scientific community in a research center disputation (in-house defence). The research center disputation is organised by the doctoral programme with the involvement of the relevant department (institute) or research group.
• The research center disputation (in-house defence) must be held at least 90 days before the submission of the dissertation (planned, but at the latest by the deadline specified in the regulations), so that the results of the research center disputation can be incorporated into the dissertation. The 90-day time limit may be reduced to a maximum of 30 days in justified cases on the written professional recommendation of the refereeing committee involved in the research center disputation (recorded in the minutes of the research center disputation).
• The research centre disputation may be held at any time from the beginning of the research and dissertation period, as soon as the supervisor considers that the thesis has reached the level of preparation required for the pre-evaluation.

Rules of organising the research center disputation (in-house defence)

• The research center disputation is organised by the supervisor and the head of the doctoral programme in collaboration with the relevant department/institute or research group. Two or three pre-opponents, preferably a lecturer from the doctoral programme and, if possible, a lecturer who is not a member of the University staff, shall be invited to the research center disputation. It is also recommended to invite a doctoral student as a pre-opponent. The pre-opponent (except the doctoral student) must hold an academic degree. The pre-opponents with an academic degree may also be members of the defence committee for the public debate (also in the capacity of opponent).
• The manuscript of the dissertation to be submitted for discussion in the research center must be made available (digitally and/or on paper) to the scientific community (of the relevant department, the students of the doctoral programme, experts in the field and other interested parties).
• The minutes of the debate should be sent to the candidate, his/her supervisor, the head of the doctoral programme involved as well as to the doctoral office (voros.peter@btk.elte.hu)

• The final version of the dissertation (which had undergone the in-house defence), must be submitted within three academic years of the complex examination. The deadline for submitting the dissertation may be extended by up to one year (in case of childbirth: three years) in cases of special merit. A request may be submitted to the Doctoral Council of the Faculty of Humanities before the deadline. The request must be accompanied by document(s) supporting the application of the merit and a supporting statement from the supervisor. 
• The dissertation may only be submitted after the approval of the doctoral procedure and the thesis committee by the Doctoral Council of the Faculty of Humanities! 
• At the same time as submitting the dissertation, the latest, students must also submit proof of the second language proficiency required for awarding the doctoral degree (if it is not already done so).
• The guidelines for submitting a doctoral thesis can be found at the following website.

A public disputation may take place if both opponents consider the submitted dissertation to be open to public disputation.

The public disputation must be scheduled for a date beyond 15 days but within 60 days of the candidate's written response to the opponents' comments. No public defence shall be held in July or August.

Procedures for organising the defence

The public disputation will take place in front of an evaluation committee approved by the Doctoral Council of the Faculty of Humanities; the candidate shall invite the scientific community of the given research field to the public debate by sending the invitation and the thesis booklet.

Qualification of the public disputation

a) "summa cum laude" up to 90-100% of the possible score,

(b) 'cum laude' up to 75-89% of the possible marks,

c) "rite" up to 60-74% of the possible score,

d) "insufficienter" if the candidate does not obtain 60% of the possible score.

The award of the doctorate is decided by the University Doctoral Council, after which the doctoral candidate takes the doctoral oath at a centrally organised ceremony.