Course duration

24 to 48 months

Application requirements

- research project, written in Portuguese

- updated curriculum vitae

- two letters of recommendation

- Exam for the Certification of Proficiency in Portuguese (CELPE-BRAS), upper intermediate level.

See more details in each year's specific call.

Doctoral Degree Requirements

Course credits

The student must fulfill at least 32 course credits.

Students can validate up to 16 credits (two courses) from courses previously taken in PPG-LA as special student or in other graduate programs, passed with A or B, pending on comissional approval

The courses must be chosen in agreement with their Advisor. Optionally, students can attend two elective courses in other Post-Graduation programs, provided that it is authorized by the post-graduate commission and by their advisor.

PhD students who do not hold a Master's degree are strongly advised to take additional credits from the course list.

Supervision and Doctoral thesis

An advisor will be appointed by the graduate studies commission for every incoming student. Foreign students are highly recommended to contact prospective advisors among the staff to discuss supervision possibilities before applying.

Language Proficiency

PhD students a required to demonstrate reading proficiency in English and French by the third semester of the course. A reading proficiency exam for both languages is offered by PPG-LA yearly.  For native English of French speaking students, CELPE-Bras is eligible as substitute for one of the two proficiency exams.  

Qualification exams

PhD students must pass three qualification exams, which are:

(1) the Project qualification exam, up to the third course semester, by which time all course credits must have been completed with a coefficient of performance equal to or higher than 2.75;

(2) the Area qualification exam which corresponds to the publication of a paper in a cientific journal ranked A or B in the Capes Qualis system;

(3) the Thesis qualification exam, in which a partial or complete version of the thesis must be submitted to an evaluating panel comprised of three members,  six months prior to the defense panel at the latest.

Research Dissemination

It is recommended that, by the end of the course, the student has published at least one paper or  presented in at least two qualified national or international  events focusing on the PhD research project.

Panel

The thesis must pass an examination panel, in accordance with the rules of the General Regulations for Postgraduate Courses at Unicamp.