IDHEAP’s doctoral programme is coordinated outside the University Conference of Western Switzerland and is offered jointly by the universities of Lausanne, Bern and Lugano. The programme enables doctoral students to interact with leaders in the field of public administration research, thus providing them with the opportunity to familiarise themselves with key methodologies and the most influential publications. The doctoral school’s goal is to accompany students throughout their PhD process. In addition to attending courses, doctoral students receive the necessary support with which to move forward in their research activities, and they are regularly encouraged to share their progress.
IDHEAP’s doctoral students must attend a doctoral school (either IDHEAP’s doctoral school or one recognised as equivalent and approved by the student’s supervisor) before their private thesis defence conference. A total of 15 ECTS are necessary for the obtention of the doctorate, including 9 credits for following courses on theory and 6 credits for courses on methodology. Three of these courses are mandatory: “Public Administration: History and Evolution” (theory, 1.5 credits), “Comparative Public Administration” (theory, 2 credits) and “Methodology and Research Design” (methodology, 1.5 credits). Unless stated otherwise, doctoral school courses are given in English. We strongly urge all potential doctoral students to remember that these mandatory courses only take place every two years.
Doctoral students from outside IDHEAP (i.e. those who do not have a contract with IDHEAP) may attend its courses, workshops and seminars as long as they are enrolled at a Swiss university and that the subject of their thesis is in some way linked to public administration or governance. For more information about its courses, doctoral students from outside IDHEAP should contact the doctoral school’s representative. External doctoral students will be given certificates for course participation.
For more information about the doctoral school, please refer to IDHEAP’s current regulations :
