When you start at the faculty Educational Sciences as an external PhD we expect you to:

• be prepared and motivated to concentrate the coming 4 to 5 years on your research question without losing the practical relevance of your research out of sight.
• formulate a well-thought out research question: what problem do you want to investigate and how do you expect your research to contribute to the solution of this problem.
• choose a research question that fits within one or more of the areas of interest of the research programme of the faculty Educational Sciences.
• be competent in the English language: English is the language of our research world and as such your publications and dissertation will be in English.
• have a preliminary conversation with your intended PhD supervisor after which you will be asked to elaborate your research question under his or her guidance into a complete research proposal.
• invest sufficient time (i.e. at least between 16 and 24 hours per week) during the years of your PhD trajectory into your research; external PhD's often have an agreement with their employers that they can do part of their research during working hours.
• write approximately one article every year for publication in an internationally recognized scientific journal.
• participate in the educational activities agreed upon in your individual Education and Supervision Plan.
• write your dissertation at the end of the trajectory, submit it to a commission for evaluation and approval and, after approval, defend it.

Before the start of the PhD trajectory, the mutual expectations (your own and of your supervisor) are made explicit and recorded in a declaration of intent, an individual Education and Supervision Plan and finally the PhD contract.