Cotutelles de thèse

The University of Basel offers its PhD students the opportunity of obtaining a joint PhD degree with a university abroad. Within this programme called “Cotutelles de these” the State Secretariat for Education and Research (SER) each year offers an allowance of up to CHF 10’000 for students writing their dissertation at a Swiss university and a university abroad. The funding mainly finances travel and living expenses arising from the joint doctoral projects.

From 2012, applications can be handed in for a joint degree with universities in the whole European Union and Israel (EHEA). Joint PhD degrees can be obtained with any university in the designated countries, following the below steps:

First step towards a joint PhD degree is the existence of a cooperation contract between the University of Basel and a university in France or Italy (check list of universities in France and Italy for existing collaboration with the University of Basel). Should the university you wish to obtain your degree from not be in the above lists, a new cooperation contract [DOC/466 KB] needs to be drafted.

In a second step candidates may apply for a Cotutelle subsidy [DOC/480 KB] by drafting an agreement with their PhD supervisors from both universities.

Please note that the application deadline for each year is March 31.

If you are interested in obtaining a doctoral title from two universities, please contact:

Erich Thaler
Tel.: +41 61 267 28 30

Please click here for further information [PDF/1.8 MB] and FAQs concerning Cotutelle agreements.