Prior to the commencement of proceedings, an applicant for an extramural doctoral degree shall submit an application to the competent council of the scientific discipline for the appointment of a supervisor or supervisors.

The application for the appointment of a supervisor shall include:

1. personal questionnaire;
2. a copy of a diploma certifying the possession of a master's degree or equivalent, or a diploma conferring the right to apply for the award of a doctoral degree in the country in whose system of higher education the university that issued it operates;
3. declaration by the candidate for the supervisor that he/she has no contraindication to perform the function/consent to perform the function.

A person can become a supervisor:

1. holding a post-doctoral degree or a title of professor;
2. who does not fulfil the condition set out in point 1, if he/she is an employee of a foreign university or scientific institution and if the council of the scientific discipline considers that the person has significant achievements in the scientific field to which the doctoral thesis relates.

A supervisor cannot be a person who, within the last 5 years:

1. was the supervisor of 4 doctoral students who were removed from the list of doctoral students at the doctoral school due to a negative mid-term evaluation, or
2. supervised the preparation of a dissertation by at least 2 applicants for a doctoral degree who did not obtain positive reviews, or
3. has not significantly increased the scientific output.

Initiation of proceedings for the award of the doctoral degree:

Before submitting an application for a doctoral degree, the candidate should:

1. give a scientific seminar in which he presents his research findings:
2. achieve the learning outcomes for the qualification at the PRK level 8, whereby the learning outcomes for the knowledge of a modern foreign language are confirmed by a certificate or diploma certifying the knowledge of that language at a language proficiency level of at least B2.

Verification of the candidate's learning outcomes for a PRK level 8 qualification is carried out by an examination board appointed by the competent board of the academic discipline. The committee carries out the verification on the basis of a self-presentation (example in the documents to be downloaded) prepared by the candidate and an examination in the discipline corresponding to the subject of the doctoral dissertation.

Once the above-mentioned conditions have been fulfilled, the candidate shall submit a request to the competent council of the scientific discipline to initiate proceedings for the award of the doctoral degree.

The applicant shall attach to the application:

• dissertation meeting the requirements set out in § 5 of the Regulations for the Awarding of Academic Degrees at Wrocław University of Science and Technology:

if the dissertation is a written work:

• in 4 hard copies, including 3 bound copies for the reviewers and 1 double-sided printed copy without binding for the archive;
• in electronic version, in PDF format, on one digital storage device
• an abstract in English and, for a dissertation prepared in a foreign language, also an abstract in Polish;

if the dissertation is not a written work, the candidate shall attach to the application:

• description in Polish and English

• a favourable opinion of the supervisor
• list of achievements:
  • one scientific article published in a scientific journal or in the peer-reviewed materials of an international conference which, in the year of publication of the article in its final form, was included in the list drawn up in accordance with the regulations issued pursuant to Article 267(2)(2)(b) of the Act, or
  • one scientific monograph published by a publishing house which, in the year of publication of the monograph in its final form, was included in the list drawn up in accordance with the regulations issued pursuant to Article 267(2)(2)(a) of the Act, or a chapter in such a monograph;

• in the case of multi-author publications, the candidate shall attach to the application a statement specifying his/her individual substantive (not percentage) contribution to each publication.

Fees for extramural doctoral degree proceedings:

The University shall charge a fee for proceedings for the award of a doctoral degree in an extramural procedure on the basis of an agreement. The contract shall be concluded before the first action in the case is taken by the University.  The amount of the fee may not exceed the costs of the proceedings, taking into account in particular: the costs of the remuneration of the supervisor(s) and reviewers, the costs of per diems, travel, accommodation and other expenses determined in accordance with the Regulation of the Minister of Labour and Social Policy of 29.01.2013 on the receivables to which an employee employed in a state or local government unit of the budgetary sphere is entitled on account of business travel and other actual costs of the proceedings.

No fee is charged:

• from a candidate who is employed at the University as an academic staff member for whom the University is the primary place of work;
• a fee shall be charged to a candidate who is not an employee of the University, with the proviso that in the case of an academic teacher or researcher, the costs of the proceedings shall be borne by the entity employing them in the higher education and science system.

In justified cases (e.g. social, material, random), the Rector may exempt a candidate from the fee for the proceedings for the award of the doctoral degree, in whole or in part.  

A candidate who applies for the award of a doctoral degree, together with the application for the proceedings, may request the Rector to waive the fee in whole or in part.