Complex Exam

All PhD students have to take their complex exam by the end of their 4th active semester in front of an HBDT-approved examination committee. Students must pass their complex exam in order to enter the second phase of their PhD course.

Organising Your Complex Exam:

Details about the steps and tasks for organising your complex exam can be found in the following document: Organising your complex exam

An email containing current deadlines and upcoming tasks is sent out by the administrator of the Doctoral School every semester. This information is also found HERE.

Applying For Your Complex Exam:

PhD students must apply to take their complex exam by filling and submitting the „081 PhD Complex exam application – VBK” Neptun request and uploading the attachments listed there. The request can be accessed in Neptun under the Administration / Requests menu by searching for the name of the request. The request opens in October (autumn term) or in February (spring term).

Academic Requirements Of Holding Complex Exams:

• Fulfilling the requirement for the "first language" (see BME DHSZ) of the foreign language requirement for the doctoral degree.
• At least one accepted publication in a journal listed in the Web of Science and/or Scopus (Elsevier) databases or a registered patent.*
• Documented delivery of at least one presentation (poster or lecture).
• Acquisition of all the required credits included in the recommended curriculum in the first four semesters of the doctoral programme (i.e. 120 credits in total) spread over the semesters as required.

 

* If the publication/patent has not yet been accepted, you can request the HBDT to examine the contents of the submitted publication. If the contents are found to be satisfactory, the publication requirement of the complex exam is met. You can download the request form here: Request for acceptance of a submitted publication for complex exam.

How Complex Exams Are Structured:

The complex exam consists of two main parts, one assessing the theoretical preparedness of the candidate ("theoretical part") and the other assessing the candidate's scientific/artistic progress ("dissertation part").

1. In the theoretical part of the complex exam, the candidate takes an exam in two subjects. The list of these subjects is available here and on the website of the Doctoral School. In the theoretical part, candidates demonstrate their familiarity with the literature of the relevant discipline, art subject as well as their current theoretical and methodological knowledge.
2. During the complex exam, candidates give a 15-minute presentation to demonstrate their familiarity with the specialised literature of their research topics, sharing their research goals set based on the literary background, reporting on their research findings, describing their research plans for the second phase of their doctoral programme including the time schedule for preparing the dissertation and publishing the results. The presentation includes the description of the scientific relevance and innovation content of the candidate’s findings and, if relevant, the technological motivations of the research and the applicability of the results. No later than one week prior to the exam, candidates must submit a short summary of their theory level findings achieved up to date as well as their articles submitted for publication and published to the board in an electronic form.
3. The members of the exam board independently evaluate the theoretical and the dissertation part of the exam. The complex exam is successfully taken if the majority of the members of the board consider both parts of the exam to be successful.
4. The exam results should be announced on the day of the oral exam.

 

In case of a failed theoretical exam, candidates may retake the exam in the failed subject(s) only once in the same exam period.

If the dissertation part is unsuccessful, the dissertation part of the exam cannot be retaken in the same exam period. 

Rules to follow when putting together a complex exam committee:

• The exam board consists of at least three members, with at least one third of the members having no employment relationship with the institution by which the doctoral school is operated.
• The chairperson of the exam board is a lecturer or a researcher holding the academic title of professor, professor emeritus or Doctor of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.
• All the members of the exam board are required to have an academic degree.
• The candidate’s supervisor may not be a member of the board.
• The examination committee must be approved by the HBDT.

 

Complex Exams - Rules and Regulations:

George A. Oláh Doctoral School Training Plan excerpt – Complex exam

Code of Studies and Exams excerpt – Complex exam

Doctoral and Habilitation Procedures excerpt – Complex exam