University of Silesia in Katowice

• The Act of 20 July 2018 – Act on higher education and science. Journal of Laws 2018 item 1668 – link
• The Act of 3 July 2018 – The introductory provisions to the Act on higher education and science. Journal of Laws 2018 item 1669 – link
• The Act of 14 March 2003 on Academic Degrees and Academic Title, and Degrees and Title in Art. Journal of Laws 2003 number 65 item 595 – link
•  The resolution no. 433/2019 of 24 September 2019 of the Senate of the University of Silesia (US) on the procedure for awarding a doctoral degree – link

Promotion proceedings initiated and not completed by 1/10/2018 will be conducted under the current rules. The degree or title obtained after 30/04/2019 will be conferred in accordance with the classification established in the Regulation of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education (MNiSW) of 20 September 2018 on scientific fields and disciplines, and artistic disciplines (Journal of Laws of 2018, item 1818).

Doctoral theses not completed by December 31, 2021 will be discontinued or closed, as appropriate.

• a doctoral thesis in three copies (including one bound and printed double-sided)
• an abstract of the thesis in Polish and English included in the paper
• a doctoral thesis and its abstract in an electronic form (CD/DVD) saved in pdf format
• a license agreement (three copies)
• a supervisor’s statement of acceptance of the doctoral thesis that meets the requirements for a scientific dissertation
• an author’s statement on the originality of his/her thesis
• a composition of the examination committee of the basic discipline, additional discipline
• a composition of the doctoral committee
• the documents necessary to get a credit for the 4th year (index, credit card, report)

In case of theses initiated in compliance with the rules in force according to the amended Act on Academic Degrees and Titles (as of October 1, 2013), the examination committee, in the basic discipline, must include at least four members holding the title of professor or the degree of  associate professor in this scientific or artistic discipline, including a supervisor or a supervisor and a co-supervisor. The doctoral committee must be composed of at least seven independent academics, in addition to the supervisor and reviewers (in accordance with Article 20, paragraph 5 of the Act on Academic Degrees and Title – In doctoral programmes at least two reviewers are appointed from among persons employed in a higher education institution or an organizational unit other than that in which an applicant for a doctoral degree is an employee and who are not members of the board of the organizational unit conducting the doctoral program), therefore the committee under the new procedure must have at least 7 members. Committees in additional disciplines are composed of three members – an examiner appointed by the unit (in case of an examination in a modern foreign language, it must be a person who teaches that language at the university), a supervisor and a chairperson.

At the moment of acceptance of a doctoral thesis by a supervisor, a meeting of the competent authority determines the composition of the examination and doctoral committees proposed by the supervisor – in case of doctoral programmes initiated according to the rules in force before the amendment of the Act on Academic Degrees and Titles, the examination committee in the basic discipline consists of a supervisor, reviewers, a chairman and three members (the Act allows for a six-person committee, but an odd number of members improves voting), the composition of the doctoral committee may be the same.   Committees in additional disciplines are composed of three members – an examiner appointed by the unit, a supervisor and a chairperson (the same one who chairs the examination and doctoral committees).

• information on filing
• synaba (SYNABA – an online database containing data on various types of scientific papers, including doctoral and post-doctoral theses)
• an appendix to synaba
• a notice of the award of a doctoral degree