General pre-conditions for admission into Doctoral studies (PhD.)

The conditions of admission to the 3rd level of study are regulated by the Study Regulations of the University of Matej Bel in Banská Bystrica and the Methodological Instruction of the PF UMB No.1/2022 to ensure the quality of doctoral studies at the Faculty of Education MBU. 

The basic condition for admission to doctoral studies is the completion of a second-degree study program and the successful completion of an entrance examination. The condition of admission is the successful completion of the second stage of university study in the relevant field of study according to the fields listed below. The candidate registers for one of the listed thesis topics for a specific supervisor. The lists of topics and supervisors will be published on www.pdf.umb.sk after February 28, 2025. 

The applicant for doctoral studies is obliged to enter in the application a foreign language from which he / she will take the entrance examination (English, French, Russian, German). The method and content of the admission procedure will be carried out by the faculty in such a way that the candidates with the best preconditions for a high-quality scientific research plan are accepted. The admission procedure takes place before the admissions committee, which is common to all study programs. 

The applicant attaches to the application: 

• curriculum vitae, 

• declaration / certificate of permanent residence, 

• certified copies of educational attainment; the applicant who has completed the second degree of study at the Faculty of MBU, for which he / she is applying for a doctoral study, submits copies of the documents on the achieved education without official verification, 

• proposal of the dissertation project, in which the applicant demonstrates knowledge of the issue, research methodology and literature according to the topic (2 copies), 

• an overview of his/her previous scientific and publishing activity, listing all current activities related to scientific activity or topic of the thesis (participation in research and other projects, participation and placement in SVOUČ (university scientific or art competition), active presentations at conferences and seminars, education completed, other activities of the applicant related to the chosen field of study), a list of own publications including professional publishing on websites, foreign internships and stays at relevant institutions, including Erasmus, volunteering activities, etc., 

• other documents required by the faculty (proof of payment of the fee for the admission procedure and others). 

If the applicant does not meet the conditions published on the faculty's website, the faculty will return the application form together with the attached documents with a brief justification to the applicant for doctoral studies. If the applicant fulfils the conditions published on the faculty's website, the faculty shall send the applicant a written invitation to the entrance examination no later than 14 days before the date of the admission procedure and shall also inform him/her of the content of the entrance examination. A copy of the invitation shall be included in the applicant's personal file.  

 

The condition for acceptance is a successful completion of the admission test in three parts:    

1. the professional knowledge of the relevant department with emphasis on the proposed topic and its context according to the researched project,    

2. knowledge of research methodology and preconditions of the applicant for scientific-research, resp. scientific and organizational activities; they are verified from two aspects: 1. knowledge of research methods, procedures, resp. tools according to the topic of the work and the researched project, but also 2. all previous activities related to scientific, project, publishing or practice related to the topic of the work    

3. knowledge of a foreign language, which allows independent study of foreign literature and especially ability to communicate in a foreign language, ability to communicate professionally on the topic of the thesis, ability to understand a professional text.     

A relevant scoring system is developed for the evaluation, based on which all candidates are ranked according to two forms of study (full-time and part-time) and the candidates with the highest scoring are accepted, regardless of the study program. The number of students admitted to individual doctoral study programs is not determined in advance, but only based on the results of entrance exams. An exception is the case if the workplace to which the study program belongs, obtained funds for a doctoral position, e.g. from the project, resp. from other external sources.    

Pre-primary and Primary Pedagogy (Doctoral degree PhD.) - the basic condition for admission is the completion of the 2nd cycle of studies in the following study programmes: teaching for 1. Primary school level, teaching for primary education and pre-school pedagogy, exceptionally in the study programmes: pedagogy, social pedagogy, special pedagogy, leisure time pedagogy and teaching of general education subjects in any approbation, if the candidate will interdisciplinary develop the issue of education of pre-school or younger school-age children, or interdisciplinary relevant issues and successful completion of the entrance examination.  

Career opportunities for the graduates

Pre-primary and Primary Pedagogy (Doctoral degree PhD.) - The study programme responds to the current needs of educational practice, as well as to international requirements for quality research and the potential development of individual scientific disciplines. By its offer it creates a prerequisite for the continuous quality improvement of the preparation of a new generation of creative, internationally and interdisciplinarily prepared university teachers - assistant professors, researchers (in the sense of the requirement for the preparation of 'young researchers'), capable of quality research in the field of education and training at the international level, in teamwork with other experts, contributing to the development of educational sciences, as well as managers and experts competent to carry out analyses in the field of education and training.  

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