PhD education program

COEUR organizes approximately 10 courses in a two-year cycle format. Most courses comprise two consecutive days and require a similar workload in self-study.

Each course is concluded with an examination, a certificategiving ceremony and an evaluation. European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) credit is 1.5 points per course.
PhD candidates are expected to attend at least six COEUR courses during their PhD trajectory and, additionally, COEUR seminars (credit: 2 ECTS points per 5 seminars), symposia and other lectures.

Individual PhD candidates will thus be able to obtain at least 20 ECTS points (of the required 30 ECTS points) by following the COEUR education program during a four year period.

In addition to the specific COEUR PhD education program, Erasmus MC offers a set of general courses.
These courses are organized centrally, cover topics that are relevant to a large group of
PhD candidates, and train general knowledge and basic academic skills.
Of course, PhD candidates from COEUR can also attend courses given by other Erasmus MC research schools or courses given elsewhere in the Netherlands or abroad. As from now on, PhD candidates are required to provide details of their education (“portfolio”) in their thesis.

Since 2006, monitoring of the actual PhD training program has been given higher priority
in the form of regular, yearly, meetings with the PhD’s. These group meetings were used to update the individual education plans and to stimulate participation in the various education opportunities.
Fortunately, these efforts have paid off: participation in the various courses was considerably higher than in previous years.
However, monitoring of the actual education progress of individual PhD candidates is time
consuming and efforts will be intensified in the coming years to make this process for both parties -students as well as secretariat more efficient.