Obligatory for external PhD candidates, and in some cases, PhD candidates from partner institutions.
The annual membership fee is charged by the Graduate School SRT VU to cover the infrastructural expenses made by the Graduate School SRT VU (e.g. staff, organizing PhD courses, communication etc.). Supervision is not part of this infrastructure, and does not need to be paid for by the PhD candidate. The fee for the academic year 2022-2023 is €500. The membership fee must be paid immediately after receiving the letter of acceptance from the Graduate School SRT VU and every subsequent year during which a PhD candidate is a member until their manuscript has been formally approved by the Doctorate Committee. PhD candidates must pay the fee every year before 1st September. The fee is applicable to both EU and non-EU residents.
PhD candidates who enter our programme in February (winter cohort) get 50% off for their first year of membership (€250). Fees for the Graduate School SRT VU and all other costs are non-refundable. If a PhD candidate should decide to discontinue their PhD trajectory, or the Graduate School SRT VU decides to terminate their membership, they will not be refunded any fees paid thus far. However, a partial refund of the annual fee is possible if the manuscript is submitted before February 1st and has been approved by the Doctorate Committee.
If the yearly fee has not been paid, the Graduate School SRT VU will be forced to freeze the PhD candidate’s membership. This means that this person cannot make use of supervision from the supervision team. This also means that the PhD research cannot be completed because the Hora Finita account will be blocked.