Completing your doctoral studies
The final stage of the doctoral programme is the submission of a final dissertation.
The supervisor can opt to verify the originality of the student’s research, both in the preliminary and final versions of their thesis, using the Compilatio.net plagiarism checking software, as described at the page Servizio di verifica originalità tesi di Laurea e Dottorato.
The thesis is evaluated by a minimum of two external examiners who can decide whether to recommend that the student be admitted to debate his/her work publicly, or that he/she revise and resubmit it if, in their opinion, the thesis requires additional work or correction.
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As a general rule, the 38th PhD cycle began on 1 October 2022 and will end on 30 September 2025.
The PhD end date is automatically postponed in the following cases:
- the PhD started on a later date: for example, for PhD candidates who began their PhD in November 2022 (those enrolled in Intersectoral Innovation and certain recipients of PNRR-funded scholarships), the PhD will end on 31 October 2025; for PhD candidates who began their PhD in February 2023 (Spoke and P.E. scholarship recipients), the PhD will end on 31 January 2026;
- the PhD candidate has been granted a deferral as per article 27, paragraphs 8 or 9, of the University Regulation for PhD Programmes and Students;
- the PhD candidate enrolled at least one month after the beginning of activities, as a result of another student's withdrawal;
- in the event of authorised suspensions of the PhD.
All deadlines specified here below are postponed for a period equal to the duration of the suspension/deferral or the delay in enrolment.
Title page template
This template shows the essential information that must be included on the title page of any thesis. The graphic layout is at the student's discretion.
Please note that you must include your ORCID on the title page.
15-30 September (or later, depending on the PhD end date, as explained above)
PhD students must submit their thesis to the Academic Board according to the procedures set out.
The Academic Board sends the theses – accompanied by a report on the research activity carried out – to highly qualified external professors who, after assessing them, return them to the students with a recommendation that the students be admitted to debate their work publicly, or that they revise and resubmit it within a maximum of six months.
The University of Milan asks soon-to-be PhD graduates to express their opinion on their doctoral programme by answering the questionnaires made available by ANVUR (Italian National Agency for the Evaluation of Universities and Research Institutes).
Completing the questionnaire is a requirement for PhD students enrolled in their last programme year, to submit their application for admission to the final PhD exam.
Important: the submission of the application for admission to the final exam is available 24 hours after making the AVUR questionnaire.
From 14 October onwards
Only those students who have been granted permission by the Academic Board can apply online for admission to the final exam, without having to hand any documents in to the PhD Students Office:
- Select ‘ammissione’ (admission) in the field that asks for the type of application to be entered
- Pay the diploma fee of €116 Euros (including the €16 revenue stamp) with Pago PA
Students who requested the extension must apply online at the end of the established period, upon approval by the Academic Board.
Important: 24 hours after the application for admission to the final exm, the thesis will be available for completion in AIR (see below "Upload the thesis on AIR and Almalaurea questionnaire").
Prior to the discussion of their thesis, students must send a copy of the thesis in electronic format, accompanied by an abstract in Italian and in English, to the members of the exam board as soon as they know the exam board members’ names.
Students can find out the names of the members of the exam boards by consulting the webpage “Exam Boards and Exam Dates” or by contacting the PhD Coordinator,
Before sitting the examination, students must:
- Upload their thesis on AIR. In the event of technical issues, please contact [email protected]
- Print the declaration for the automatic filing of doctoral theses, fill in and sign the declaration and upload it, together with a copy of an identity document, by using the following link: declaratorie.dottorato.unimi.it
- Complete the AlmaLaurea questionnaire, accessing UNIMIA > Jobs and Traineeships.
Important:
The uploading service onto AIR is available 24 hours after making the online application.
The University of Milan asks PhD students and soon-to-be PhD graduates to express their opinion on their doctoral programme by answering the questionnaires made available by ANVUR (Italian National Agency for the Evaluation of Universities and Research Institutes).
The survey process is coordinated by the Quality Assurance Board, as gathering feedback from PhD students and soon-to-be PhD graduates is a fundamental part of the Quality Assurance System for PhD programmes.
Data collected through the survey are processed, aggregated and then sent to the Academic Board, the Departments, the Doctoral School and the Independent Evaluation Unit.
The Quality Assurance Board has issued ad-hoc guidelines on the collection, processing, use and dissemination of data on the opinions and satisfaction levels of PhD students and graduates.
Because your opinion matters! The questionnaire allows you to:
- contribute to improving the quality of your PhD programme
- let your voice be heard by the bodies dealing with quality in the University at all levels.
It is important that you answer the questionnaire with the utmost care, because feedback from PhD students is an invaluable resource for the University. In fact, your opinions help us identify problems and useful suggestions to constantly improve not only our educational offerings, but also any other service provided.
To access the questionnaires, click on the links below:
Please bear in mind that:
- the questionnaire is anonymous
- you have to answer it only once per year
- completing the questionnaire is a requirement for PhD students enrolled in their last programme year, to submit their application for admission to the final PhD exam.
Should you encounter technical issues while completing the questionnaire, please write to [email protected]
Our support team is available during office hours. In your email, please specify which questionnaire you are trying to complete and provide a brief description of the issue.